Overview
At TitanFile, we prioritize user experience and strive to provide seamless and efficient file management solutions. Some users may experience time zone discrepancies when downloading multiple files as a zip file on Windows computers. This article aims to explain the issue, provide context, and suggest alternative approaches to ensure accurate timestamps.
The Issue
When users download a zip file containing multiple files from TitanFile on a Windows computer, the download timestamp of the zip file itself is correct. However, the "Modified Date" of the extracted documents may show a time in the future. This discrepancy can be confusing and may cause concerns about the accuracy of file modification times.
Understanding the Behaviour
According to Microsoft, when files are extracted from a Zip archive, the Created/Modified date is interpreted in MS Windows as being in the local time zone of the user’s device rather than in UTC. This interpretation of the timestamp is problematic because files from the same Zip archive may have different interpretations on different devices. The more common approach is to specify the timezone in UTC so it can be interpreted consistently across multiple devices and time zones.
TitanFile, as well as most cloud services including Microsoft’s SharePoint and OneDrive, set the UTC timestamp on files included in a Zip archive.
This is also a limitation of the ZIP format itself, which does not support explicitly specifying the time zone of the file, making it subject to interpretation. Technically speaking, the ZIP format itself doesn't prescribe one way or the other. Windows interprets it as being in the local time zone, whereas other systems follow the convention to use UTC. Unfortunately, there are no built-in features in Windows to change this behaviour.
You can read the response from Microsoft support here.
You can read more about the ZIP file format in this Wikipedia article.
Suggested Workarounds
Based on our findings, we recommend the following approaches to mitigate this issue:
-
Download Files Individually
- To ensure the correct timestamp, you may download files one by one. This method avoids the timezone discrepancy that occurs when files are downloaded as a zip file.
-
Use Alternative Zip File Browsers
- Consider using other zip file browsers like 7-Zip or WinZip. Both of these tools display the correctly localized time in Windows, ensuring that your file timestamps are accurate.
Steps to Use 7-Zip
- Download and install 7-Zip.
- After downloading the zip file from TitanFile, right-click on the zip file.
- Select "7-Zip" from the context menu.
- Choose "Extract Here" or another extraction option.
Steps to Use WinZip
- Download and install WinZip.
- After downloading the zip file from TitanFile, right-click on the zip file.
- Select "WinZip" from the context menu.
- Choose "Extract to [folder name]" or another extraction option.
Conclusion
We want to assure you that everything is working as expected on TitanFile’s end. The discrepancy observed is a known behaviour due to the ZIP format's handling of timestamps and Windows' interpretation of those timestamps. There is no material impact on users and their data.
Rest assured, your data integrity is un-compromised, and this behaviour does not affect the actual content of your files. We recommend using the suggested workarounds to ensure that your file timestamps appear as expected.
If you have any further questions or need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our support team at support@titanfile.com.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.