File compression serves two important purposes. First, it can combine a large number of files into one easily manageable file archive. Second, it makes transporting and copying these archives faster due to the compressed status (reduced file size) of the files. For these reasons, many files are found in archived format on the 'net, on BBSes, and on online services. If you're going to be downloading or uploading files regularly, you'll definitely want to use one of the following compression tools in order to make the process as painless as possible.