How To Download Zip File Using Jquery

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In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the process of downloading a ZIP file using jQuery. We’ll use the powerful JSZip library to create a ZIP file on the fly, and then use jQuery to trigger the download.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

  • jQuery library
  • JSZip library
  • FileSaver.js library (to save generated files on the client side)

You can download the libraries directly from their respective GitHub repositories or use a CDN to include them in your project. Here’s an example of how to include them using a CDN: 

    <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>

    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jszip/3.5.0/jszip.min.js"></script>

    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/FileSaver.js/2.0.5/FileSaver.min.js"></script>

Creating a ZIP File

First, let’s create a simple function to generate a ZIP file with some dummy data. We’ll use the JSZip library to create the ZIP file and add files to it. 

    function generateZipFile() {
        // Create a new instance of JSZip
        var zip = new JSZip();

        // Add a new file to the zip with some content
        zip.file("hello.txt", "Hello world!\n");

        // Add a folder to the zip
        var folder = zip.folder("images");

        // Add a new file to the folder
        folder.file("image.txt", "This is an image file.");

        // Generate the zip file asynchronously
        zip.generateAsync({ type: "blob" }).then(function (content) {
            // Trigger the download using FileSaver.js
            saveAs(content, "example.zip");
        });
    }

Triggering the Download

Now that we have a function to generate the ZIP file, let’s use jQuery to trigger the download when a user clicks a button. First, add a button to your HTML: 

    <button id="downloadBtn">Download ZIP</button>

Next, add a jQuery click event listener to the button, which calls the generateZipFile() function when clicked: 

    $(document).ready(function () {
        $("#downloadBtn").on("click", function () {
            generateZipFile();
        });
    });

Conclusion

That’s it! Now you know how to download a ZIP file using jQuery and the JSZip library. When a user clicks the “Download ZIP” button, it will generate a ZIP file with the specified content and trigger the download in the browser. You can customize the generateZipFile() function to include any files and folders you need.