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📦 Folder Compressor

A command-line Python script that lets you pick any sub-folder to compress, or compress all folders in one go — each one individually with its own live progress bar. Uses 7-Zip store mode (no compression) for maximum speed and zero CPU overhead.

Features

  • Browse all sub-folders with their sizes before choosing
  • Two modes at runtime:
    • Single folder — select one folder by number
    • Compress all — process every folder sequentially, one by one
  • Real-time progress bar per job showing:
    • Percentage complete
    • Elapsed time
    • Live transfer speed (MB/s)
    • File count
    • Currently processing file name
  • Pause between jobs in batch mode so you can read each result before continuing
  • Batch summary table at the end showing all jobs, sizes, times, and speeds
  • Color-coded terminal output (auto-disabled if not supported)
  • Cross-platform: Windows, macOS, Linux

Requirements

Python

Version 3.10 or higher is required (uses str | None union type syntax).

Check your version:

python --version
# or
python3 --version

No third-party packages are needed — only Python's standard library is used.

7-Zip

7-Zip must be installed and accessible on your system PATH.

Platform Install command
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) sudo apt install p7zip-full
Linux (Fedora/RHEL) sudo dnf install p7zip p7zip-plugins
macOS (Homebrew) brew install p7zip
macOS (MacPorts) sudo port install p7zip
Windows Download installer from https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

Windows note: After installing, make sure C:\Program Files\7-Zip\ is added to your system PATH, or the script will auto-detect it from the default install location automatically.

Minimum version: 7-Zip 15.06 or newer is required for the -bsp1 progress flag used for real-time output. Most current installs will meet this requirement.

Verify 7-Zip is available:

7z i

Installation

No installation needed. Just download the script:

# Download compress_folder.py to any directory, then run it directly with Python

Optionally make it executable on Linux/macOS:

chmod +x compress_folder.py

Usage

Basic — scan the current directory

python compress_folder.py

Specify a directory to scan

python compress_folder.py /path/to/directory

On Linux/macOS (if made executable)

./compress_folder.py
./compress_folder.py /path/to/directory

On Windows

python compress_folder.py
python compress_folder.py C:\Users\YourName\Documents

Step-by-step walkthrough

Step 1 — Launch the script

📦  Folder Compressor
    Scanning: /home/user/projects

Step 2 — Browse folders and choose a mode

All sub-folders are listed with their sizes, followed by the option to compress all:

Available folders:

  [  1]  archive  (240.0 MB)
  [  2]  builds   (1.4 GB)
  [  3]  logs     (88.3 MB)
  [  4]  source   (320.5 MB)

  [  A]  Compress ALL folders one by one

Enter a folder number or  A  to compress all:

To compress a single folder: type its number and press Enter.
To compress all folders: type A and press Enter.

Single folder mode

Enter a folder number or  A  to compress all: 2

  ✔  Mode: Single folder  →  builds
  Calculating source size… 1.4 GB

  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  ████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   62%  elapsed 0m 08s  178.4 MB/s  files: 312
  ↳ builds/release/v2.1.0/installer.exe

  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  ✅  Archive created successfully!
     Path     : /home/user/projects/builds.7z
     Source   : 1.4 GB
     Archive  : 1.4 GB
     Time     : 0m 09s
     Avg speed: 159.2 MB/s

Compress all mode

Each folder gets a numbered job header and its own progress bar. After each job finishes, the script pauses and waits for you to press Enter before starting the next one:

Enter a folder number or  A  to compress all: A

  ✔  Mode: Compress all folders sequentially


  [1/4]  archive  ────────────────────────────────────────────

  Calculating source size… 240.0 MB
  ...
  ✅  Archive created successfully!  (240.0 MB · 1s · 240.0 MB/s)

  Press Enter to continue to the next folder…


  [2/4]  builds  ─────────────────────────────────────────────

  ...

After all jobs complete, a batch summary is printed:

  ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  BATCH SUMMARY  —  4 folder(s) processed
  ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  ✅  archive        240.0 MB  →  1s   @  240.0 MB/s
  ✅  builds           1.4 GB  →  9s   @  159.2 MB/s
  ✅  logs            88.3 MB  →  0s   @  310.5 MB/s
  ✅  source         320.5 MB  →  2s   @  192.1 MB/s
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Total source size : 2.0 GB
  Total archive size: 2.0 GB
  Total time        : 12s
  Overall avg speed : 170.4 MB/s
  ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

If any jobs fail, they are flagged in the summary with their error code.

Progress bar reference

Element Description
████░░░ Progress bar filling left to right
62% Percentage of data processed
elapsed 0m 08s Time since this job started
178.4 MB/s Rolling average throughput speed
files: 312 Number of files added so far
↳ filename The file currently being processed

Compression settings

The script uses the following 7-Zip flags:

Flag Value Meaning
-t7z — Output format: 7z
-mx=0 0 Compression level 0 = store (no compression)
-ms=off off Solid archive disabled (faster for many files)
-bsp1 — Stream progress output to stdout (enables live display)

Why no compression?
Store mode (-mx=0) copies files into the archive as-is without compressing them. This is ideal when:

  • Speed matters more than file size reduction
  • The contents are already compressed (videos, images, zip files, etc.)
  • You want to bundle files for transfer without the CPU cost of compression

How the real-time progress works

7-Zip does not write progress on separate lines — instead it continuously overwrites the same terminal line using special control characters. The exact character it uses depends on the platform:

Platform Character used Code
Linux / macOS Backspace \x08
Windows Carriage return \r

The script reads 7-Zip's output as a raw binary stream and splits on both characters, so progress is captured correctly on every platform. The percentage, file count, and current filename are extracted from each segment using a regex and rendered live into two reserved terminal lines that update in place.

Output location

Each archive is created in the same directory that contains the source folder.

Example:

/home/user/projects/          ← scanned directory
    archive/                  ← source folder
    archive.7z                ← archive created here
    builds/
    builds.7z

If an archive with the same name already exists, 7-Zip will update it (adding/replacing files). Delete the existing .7z first if you want a clean archive.

Interrupting a batch

Press Ctrl+C at any "Press Enter to continue" prompt to stop the batch early. Any jobs already completed will have their archives saved. A partial batch summary will be printed for the jobs that ran.

Troubleshooting

7-Zip not found error

  • Ensure 7-Zip is installed (see Requirements above)
  • Confirm 7z is on your PATH: run which 7z (Linux/macOS) or where 7z (Windows)
  • On Windows, try re-installing 7-Zip and ticking the "Add to PATH" option, or place 7z.exe in C:\Program Files\7-Zip\ which the script checks automatically

Progress bar stays at 0% / no stats shown

  • Make sure you are using the latest version of the script
  • The root cause of this bug was that Windows 7-Zip uses \r to update progress lines while Linux/macOS uses \x08 (backspace). The current version handles both
  • If you still see 0% after updating, confirm your 7-Zip version is 15.06 or newer: run 7z i and check the version line at the top

No progress bar / garbled output

  • The live progress display requires a terminal that supports ANSI escape codes
  • On older Windows CMD, switch to Windows Terminal or PowerShell
  • Progress and stats are still printed even if color/ANSI is not supported

SyntaxError on startup

  • Your Python version is below 3.10 — upgrade to Python 3.10+

Permission denied on folder

  • Run the script with elevated permissions (sudo on Linux/macOS, Run as Administrator on Windows)
  • Or select a folder you have read access to

Examples

# Compress a single folder or all folders in the current directory
python compress_folder.py

# Compress a single folder or all folders inside a specific path
python compress_folder.py /mnt/data/backups

# Windows example
python compress_folder.py "C:\Users\Alice\Desktop"

License

This script is provided as-is for personal and commercial use. No warranty is expressed or implied.

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