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How to password-protect an archive on Windows and Mac
Built-in tools can’t properly protect an archive with a password. Here’s why — and how to do it right with AES-256 encryption.
What your system can do
- Windows. File Explorer creates ZIP and 7z archives, but without a password.
- macOS. Terminal has
zip -e -r archive.zip folder. It sets a password, but uses the old ZipCrypto encryption, which can be broken.
How to protect an archive properly
Choose AES-256 encryption — the modern standard that can’t be opened without the password. Peak Zip encrypts archives with it.
- Select your files and create an archive in Peak Zip.
- Set a password.
- Check that the archive opens with that password.
Password tips
- A long phrase of several words is stronger than a short complex password.
- Send the password through a different channel than the archive: the archive by email, the password by messenger.
- Keep the password in a password manager. Without it, nobody can recover the archive — not you, not us.