Compress WPS documents
The .wps extension is used by two different programs. Microsoft Works, the home office suite bundled with many Windows PCs from the 1990s through 2009, saved word processor documents as .wps. WPS Office by Kingsoft, a popular free office suite today, uses .wps for its Writer documents. This tool recognizes both and offers two ways to make the file smaller: compact it so it stays a normal, editable .wps, or pack it into a ZIP or gzip archive for storage and sharing.
Everything happens in your browser. Your documents are never uploaded.
How to use it
- Choose one or more
.wpsfiles, or drag them onto the box. - The tool identifies each file and shows three options with their sizes. The smallest is highlighted.
- Download the version you need, or download everything at once as a ZIP.
Your three options
| Option | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Compacted .wps | The same document, rebuilt without unused space. It opens in Works, WPS Office, LibreOffice, and anything else that reads the original. | Files you'll keep editing |
| ZIP archive | The document packed into a standard ZIP file. Text-heavy documents usually shrink by 60 to 90 percent. | Email attachments and sharing. Every computer can open a ZIP. |
| Gzip (.wps.gz) | The same compression as ZIP, in a single-file format | Backups and archives, especially on Mac and Linux |
What compacting does
Works 4 and later, and WPS Office, store documents in Microsoft's Compound File format, a small file system inside a single file. It's the same container used by older Word .doc and Excel .xls files. When you edit and save a document, the program often marks old blocks as unused instead of removing them, and old text can linger there. Compacting rebuilds the container with only the parts the document actually uses, the same way "Save As" does in the original program.
Every internal part of the document, from the text and formatting to embedded pictures and document properties, is copied byte for byte. After rebuilding, the tool reads the new file back and compares each part with the original. The green Verified badge means they're identical. In testing, compacted compound files rendered pixel-identically to their originals in LibreOffice, including a deliberately fragmented file that went from 63 KB to 22 KB.
How much compacting saves depends on the file's history. A document saved once has little unused space. One that was edited and saved many times may have a lot. Either way, the tool shows you the actual result, and if compacting wouldn't help, it says so.
Very old Works files
Documents from Works 1 through 3, mostly from the DOS and early Windows era, use an older format that isn't a compound file. They can't be compacted, but ZIP and gzip work on any file and usually shrink them a lot.
Should you convert WPS files?
Microsoft Works was discontinued in 2009, and current versions of Microsoft Word can't open Works .wps files without extra converters. If you're keeping these documents long term, it's worth converting them. The free LibreOffice suite opens Works documents and can save them as .docx or .odt, both of which are compressed formats that are often smaller than the original and open almost anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. Files are read, rebuilt, and compressed inside your browser, and nothing is sent to a server.
Will compacting change my document?
No. Every part of the document is copied exactly, and the tool verifies this byte by byte before offering the download. Only unused space is left out.
Why did compacting barely change the size?
That means the file had little or no unused space, which is common for documents saved only once. Use the ZIP or gzip version for real savings.
How do I open the ZIP or gzip version?
On Windows and Mac, double-click a ZIP file to open it. Gzip files open with 7-Zip on Windows, the built-in Archive Utility on Mac, or gunzip on Linux. Either way you get your original .wps file back, unchanged.
Does it work on WPS Office spreadsheets and presentations?
WPS Office spreadsheets (.et) and presentations (.dps) use the same container, but this page is set up for word processor files. The ZIP and gzip options work for any file.