Finding the right compression tools on Mac can be challenging. Most of them require an expensive license, which somehow has gulls to ask for annual subscription and/or upgrade. When it comes to included Archive Utility, it only gets the job half done.

Let’s say you are compressing your photos into monthly folders. You should be expecting each folders to be compressed into ‘photos-JAN.zip’, ‘photos-FEB.zip’, and so on. But on Archive Utility, it is easier said than done.

So here’s my two proposals; either use non-preinstalled app —highly recommend Keka for compression, available free from the website or $1.99 from App Store— to compress, or use the following method. I’ll explain why I have decided to recommend an app at the end of the post as well.

This is the solution for such an occasion:

1. Open the Archive Utility app. (Try Spotlight)
2. Open the preferences in the menu bar.
3. Change “Use archive format:” to “Zip Archive”.
4. Now all of the selected items should be housed in its own Zip files.

The reason why I have decided to add an app to the list is quite simple. Archive Utility has been around since 2003 as a vital component to Mac, but Apple ceased any updates since 2014. In fact, I highly doubt there had been any rigorous works behind the tool, considering all the glitches I have encountered so far. One of which included creating a faulty ZIP file.

You can get a hang of where this is going. Most Mac users are already getting used to installing Unarchiver, or any other freely available apps, to better adapt to different archive formats. Unless Apple decides to at least update copyright statements, there is little to no reason to “compress” anything with Archive Utility.

updated Dec 8, 2017: edited since for improved readability.

updated Mar 8, 2018: added information on regards to Keka.