How to zip a file in python?

Question:

I have been trying to make a python script to zip a file with the zipfile module. Although the text file is made into a zip file, It doesn’t seem to be compressing it; testtext.txt is 1024KB whilst testtext.zip (The code’s creation) is also equal to 1024KB. However, if I compress testtext.txt manually in File Explorer, the resulting zip file is compressed (To 2KB, specifically). How, if possible, can I combat this logical error?

Below is the script that I have used to (unsuccessfully) zip a text file.

from zipfile import ZipFile

textFile = ZipFile("compressedtextstuff.zip", "w")
textFile.write("testtext.txt")
textFile.close()
Asked By: Ihavenogoddamnclue

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Source

Answers:

https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipfile.html#:~:text=with%20ZipFile(%27spam.zip%27%2C%20%27w%27)%20as%20myzip%3A%0A%20%20%20%20myzip.write(%27eggs.txt%27)

In the docs they have it written with a with statement so I would try that first.

Edit:

I just came back to say that you have to specify your compression method but Mark beat me to the punch.

Here is a link to a StackOverflow post about it
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4166447/python-zipfile-module-doesnt-seem-to-be-compressing-my-files#:~:text=This%20is%20because%20ZipFile%20requires,the%20method%20to%20be%20zipfile.

Answered By: Austin Heard

Well that’s odd. Python’s zipfile defaults to the stored compression method, which does not compress! (Why would they do that?)

You need to specify a compression method. Use ZIP_DEFLATED, which is the most widely supported.

import zipfile
zip = zipfile.ZipFile("stuff.zip", "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)
zip.write("test.txt")
zip.close()
Answered By: Mark Adler

From the https://docs.python.org/3/library/zipfile.html#zipfile-objects it suggest example:

with ZipFile('spam.zip', 'w') as myzip:
myzip.write('eggs.txt')

So your code will be

from zipfile import ZipFile
 
with ZipFile('compressedtextstuff.zip', 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as myzip:
myzip.write('testtext.txt')
Answered By: Leo