$ Linux Command

Files

zipsplit

Split a ZIP archive into smaller parts.

zipsplitarchivepartsspan

Additional Notes

zipsplit splits a large ZIP archive into multiple smaller ZIP archives. Each split archive retains the .zip extension and can be individually decompressed with unzip. The split archives are designed to fit within a specified size limit, which is useful for fitting archives onto removable media (floppy disks, CDs) or for email attachment size limits.

The split archives are independent — each contains a subset of the original files. This is different from spanned/volume ZIP archives (created with zip -s) where all parts are needed to extract any file.

Syntax

zipsplit [options] archive.zip [files...]

Parameters

  • archive.zip: The ZIP file to split.
  • files: Optional patterns to include only specific files.

Common Options

  • -n size: Set the maximum size for each split archive (in bytes, or with k, m, g suffix).
  • -t: Report how many splits would be created without actually splitting.
  • -p: Pause between creating each split archive.
  • -b: Generate split archives with monotonically increasing sizes.
  • -r: Remove the original archive after successful splitting.
  • -s: Be silent (no progress output).
  • -v: Verbose output.
  • -x pattern: Exclude files matching the pattern.

Examples

zipsplit -n 1440k large.zip

Split large.zip into parts no larger than 1440 KB (standard floppy disk size).

zipsplit -t -n 10m large.zip

Test-split without actually creating files, using 10 MB per part.

zipsplit -n 5m -r large.zip

Split into 5 MB parts and remove the original archive.

Practical Notes

  • Each split file is a valid, independent ZIP archive that can be extracted with unzip.
  • To create spanned ZIP archives that depend on each other, use zip -s instead.
  • The split files are named like large.z01, large.z02, etc., or with custom prefixes.
  • For modern use, consider simpler alternatives: compression tools that support splitting natively, or splitting after compression with split.
  • The minimum split size is limited by the largest individual file in the archive (a file cannot be split across volumes).