"Unzipping" a ZIP File with ZipCentral

Sometimes, you will download a file that is in ZIP format. A ZIP file is a file that contains one or more files. Usually these files have been compressed to save file space or speed up download times, but this is not always the case.

Before you can use a ZIP file, or run it, if it contains a program, you will need to "unzip" it using a ZIP file management program. (On Vista, I use a free program called ZipCentral, which can be downloaded from http://download.cnet.com/ZipCentral/3000-2250_4-12401.html . As you will see below, the process is very easy.

(1) Audacity requires a file called "lame_enc.dll" in order to open and export audio files in MP3 format. This file is downloaded in ZIP format. To unzip it, navigate to the folder on your computer that you downloaded it to and right click on the ZIP file.





















(2) Next, left click on "Extract Here" in the menu that pops up. This will extract the contents of the ZIP file into the same folder.






















(3) A folder containing the "unzipped," or extracted, files will now appear in the same folder. Double click on this folder with the left mouse button to open it.






















(4) You will now see the contents of the extracted folder. If you had downloaded a program, there would be an executable file for it. In this case, there is the "lame_enc.dll" file, which you will need to copy to a permanent location for Audacity to use.