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There is a similar question for 3.5 here:

Is there a built-in zip library in .NET 3.5?

that speculated that 4.0 would have it, but I can't find any info about it. If not, does anyone know why not? Seems like it would be fairly high on the list of things to include support for.

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  • 1
    Looking for System.IO.Compression? Commented May 10, 2011 at 4:40
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    no: "... this class does not inherently provide functionality for adding files to or extracting files from .zip archives." Commented May 10, 2011 at 4:47
  • True, but it still enables you to roll your own. If you search around for "GZipStream multiple files" you'll see a lot of people have done just that. Commented May 10, 2011 at 4:55
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    The top result I saw for that search is a "roll your own" format that combines multiple files and then gzips them. Doesn't make much sense to me. Why re-invent .tar.gz? There are good tar libraries out there for .NET, they do gzip (using GZipStream), and they are interoperable with a format and a bunch of tools that have been around since 1996. Why invent something different? Commented May 11, 2011 at 4:18

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Take a look at the System.IO.Packaging namespace, which contains support for ZIP files, but not all of the features of ZIP files.

Still, it might be enough for your needs.

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Attempting to use these classes, I found they were able to work with things like Nuget-packages and similar "bundles" (probably XAP-files too) but unable to parse regular ZIP-files as such. If your use-case is limited to parsing these sorts of files, the System.IO.Packaging namespace should be sufficient.
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You may have already moved along, but ZiP API is added in .NET 4.5

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.compression.ziparchive.aspx

go nuts.

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OP asked for .NET 4.0
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Not for 4.0, but a ZipArchive class is being considered for the next version. You can find details about this on the BCL Team blog.

Edit: Otherwise, assuming that it's still available, and depending on your definition of built in (at least it comes/came with Visual Studio), you might be able to use the J# classes to zip files as described in this article: Using the Zip Classes in the J# Class Libraries to Compress Files and Data with C#

Edit2: Though note the comments below, that the J# option is probably not the right option except in certain unusual circumstances.

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Ohmygosh no, don't use the J# libraries. They are out of support now, if I am not mistaken, for about 4 years. Also based on Java 1.1.4, and NO security fixes in any of them. Use a real zip library.
@Cheeso: I wouldn't recommend it in general, I use sharpziplib myself, but I know that there can sometimes be companies that doesn't allow those kind of libraries but might be ok with using the J# libraries since they came with VS, so in certain situations using an older version of VS, it might be an option.
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Most easiest to deal with, is with sample code here.

You need to add a new assembly just to find he Zip archive.

Working with Zip files in .NET 4.5

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OP question was about .NET 4.0

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