Create and Download ZIP file with PHP

In this post, i will explain the PHP code to create a zip file of some files on a folder and then download it. You can add as many files as you wish. If you want users to select files to download, you can create a form for that. This is a simple code which shows how to create and add files to zip.

Demo Download

PHP code

This is the PHP code to create a zip files and then add files to the archive.

$error = ""; //error holder
if(isset($_POST['download'])){
$post = $_POST;
$file_folder = "files/"; // folder to load files
if(extension_loaded('zip')){ // Checking ZIP extension is available
// Checking files are selected
$zip = new ZipArchive(); // Load zip library
$zip_name = time().".zip"; // Zip name
if($zip->open($zip_name, ZIPARCHIVE::CREATE)!==TRUE)
{ // Opening zip file to load files
$error .= "* Sorry ZIP creation failed at this time<br/>";
}
$zip->addFile('files/webtips.docx'); // Adding files into zip

$zip->close();
if(file_exists($zip_name)){
// push to download the zip
header('Content-type: application/zip');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.$zip_name.'"');
readfile($zip_name);
// remove zip file is exists in temp path
unlink($zip_name);
}

}else
$error .= "* You dont have ZIP extension<br/>";
}

I have only added a single docx file. You can add as many files in the ZIP as you wish.