Compact Command in Windows: Explained

The compact command displays or changes the process of compressing files or folders on an NTFS partition. If used without parameters, the compact command displays the compression status of the current directory and the files contained therein.

For an example of how to use this command, please see the Example below.

Compact command syntax

 compact [/c | /u] [/s[: 

]] [/ a] [/ i] [/ f] [/ q] [[.]]

Parameters

Parameter Description / c Compress the specified directory or file. / u Extract the specified file or folder. /S[:]Apply compact commands to all subdirectories of the specified directory (or of the current directory if no directory is specified). / a Displays system files or hidden files. / i Ignore the error. / f Force compression or decompressing the specified directory or file. The / f parameter is used in case the file is partially compressed when the operation is interrupted due to a system error. To force the entire file to be fully compressed, use the / c and / f parameters and then specify the new partially compressed file. / q Only report the most necessary information. Specify file or directory. You can use multiple file names, and wildcards * and ? . /? Show help at the command prompt.

Note

• Compact command is the command line version of NTFS file system compression. The compression status of a directory indicates whether files are automatically compressed when they are added to the folder. Setting the compression status of a directory does not necessarily change the compression status of the files already in the directory.
• You cannot use the compact command to read, write or mount compressed drives using DriveSpace or DoubleSpace.
• You cannot use the compact command to compress File Allocation Table (FAT) partitions or FAT32 partitions.

As an example,

To set the compression status of the current directory, its subfolders and existing files, enter:

 compact /c /s 

To set the compression status of files and subdirectories in the current directory, without changing the compression status of the current directory, enter:

 compact /c /s *.* 

To compress a drive, from the root directory (the root directory of that drive), enter:

 compact /c /i /s: 

Note:

This example sets the compression status of all folders (including the root directory on the drive) and compresses all files on that drive. The / i parameter prevents error messages that interrupt the compression process.

To compress all files with the .bmp extension in the Tmp folder and all Tmp subdirectories , without modifying the compression properties of the directories, enter:

 compact /c /s:tmp *.bmp 

To force full compression of Zebra.bmp file , partially compressed while the system crashes, enter:

 compact /c /f zebra.bmp 

• Comp command in Windows
• The convert in Windows command
• The cipher command in Windows