How to Create Password-Protected and Multi-Volume Split Archives on Mac

When sending commercial agreements, financial records, client deliverables, or intellectual property over the internet, raw unencrypted attachments pose significant privacy and compliance risks.

At the same time, email servers and messaging platforms enforce strict attachment size limits:

• Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail typically reject attachments larger than 25MB.
• Enterprise chat tools and cloud portals often restrict single-file uploads to 100MB or 500MB.

If you need to compress a 300MB pitch deck into password-protected archives or split a 2GB raw design library into bite-sized 50MB chunks on macOS, the default Finder tool offers zero help: macOS built-in compression has no password prompt and no split-volume feature.

Here is how to solve both security and size constraints natively on your Mac using ZipGo.

1. Strong AES Encryption: Protecting Sensitive Data

Creating an encrypted archive ensures that even if an email is intercepted or a cloud storage link is accidentally leaked, unauthorized parties cannot inspect the contents without your master passphrase.

Why Standard ZIP Encryption Isn’t Enough

Legacy zip encryption (ZipCrypto) was cracked years ago and can be brute-forced in minutes with modern GPUs.

Modern security demands AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard with 256-bit keys):

• Approved by national security agencies worldwide for top-secret data.
• Mathematically infeasible to crack via brute force when paired with a strong password.

How to Encrypt Files with ZipGo:

1. Select the files or folders in Finder that you wish to secure.
2. Right-click and choose Compress with ZipGo.
3. Choose your format (.zip or .7z) and check Password Protection.
4. Enter your passphrase and click Compress.

ZipGo utilizes hardware-accelerated AES cryptography on Apple Silicon, encrypting your sensitive data in seconds without lagging your system.

2. Multi-Volume Split Compression: Bypassing File Size Caps

When an archive exceeds email or file transfer limits, you can break it into multiple sequenced parts (e.g., archive.z01, archive.z02, archive.zip or .7z.001, .7z.002).

Real-World Scenarios:

• Email Attachments: Split a 70MB presentation into three 24MB parts so every file easily clears email server limits.
• FAT32 USB Sticks: Fat32 cannot store single files over 4GB. Splitting a 15GB virtual machine disk into 2GB segments allows it to fit onto any USB drive without formatting.
• Unreliable Network Uploads: If a 10GB single file upload drops at 99%, you usually have to restart from zero. Uploading smaller parts allows you to resume failed chunks individually.

How to Split Archives with ZipGo:

1. Right-click the folder or files and open ZipGo’s compression options.
2. Under Split Volume, pick a preset size (e.g., 25MB for Email, 100MB, 1GB, or enter a custom size).
3. Start compression. ZipGo automatically slices the archive into sequentially numbered volumes.

When the recipient receives all parts, they simply right-click the first file with ZipGo, and the software reconstructs and extracts the entire project seamlessly.

Formats Comparison: ZIP vs. 7Z

• ZIP: Maximum compatibility. Opens natively on virtually any Mac, Windows, or Linux system.
• 7Z: Maximum compression ratio. Reduces file sizes by an additional 20–40% compared to ZIP, ideal for codebases, text documents, and raw assets.

Summary

Data privacy and file size limits shouldn’t complicate your daily communications. With ZipGo, bank-grade encryption and versatile multi-volume splitting become effortless right-click actions in Finder.

Download ZipGo from the Mac App Store to secure and package your files with confidence.