Terminal 101: Creating Encrypted ZIP Files

Every Monday, we’ll show you how to do something new and simple with Apple’s built-in command line application. You don’t need any fancy software, or a knowledge of coding to do any of these. All you need is a keyboard to type ’em out!

Ever wanted to share a group of sensitive files, but didn’t want to trust them to just any sharing service or email provider? While you could certainly hand-deliver the files on physical media to the recipient, sometimes you just have to trust your files to the Internet. For these times, it’s good to encrypt your files, and that’s exactly what we’ll show you how to do in this Terminal 101. We’ll be creating encrypted ZIP files that can be emailed or uploaded securely to an online sharing service.

To begin, you need to have a group of files that you wish to add to the encrypted zip file.