.ZIP File Extension
What is a ZIP file?
A ZIP file is an archive that contains one or more files compressed or “zipped” using Zip compression. It stores files separately from each other allowing the files to be compressed using different methods and extracted without compressing or decompressing the entire archive.
The Zip format was created in 1989 by Phil Katz and was used in the PKZIP utility developed by PKWARE, Inc. The format grew in popularity and is now supported by most file compression/decompression programs.
Windows users can create ZIP archives by right-clicking a file and selecting “Send to → Compressed (zipped) Folder.” Mac OS X users can create ZIP archives by right-clicking a file and selecting “Compress [filename].”
New Compressed (zipped) Folder.zip – The name Microsoft Windows gives to new ZIP files created via the context menu (right-click and choose ).
.ZIP File Association 2
Game file used by MAME arcade video game emulators; may contain the entire contents of the arcade game data, or may be supplemented by .CHD arcade hard disk file, which is required in order to play the game; stored in a compressed .ZIP format.
MAME ROMs are sometimes difficult to load properly due to file format and emulation software differences. Therefore, some emulators are distributed with a tool that verifies whether a ROM can be loaded or not.