At times you may have to split a large file into several smaller pieces. For example, you may want to split a large file into 700MB sections that will fit on CD's, or split a 50MB file into 10MB chunks so you can email them.

In this tutorial we will show you how to split a file into separate pieces using the 7-Zip archive program.

You will need 7-Zip installed for this tutorial, it is a free open sourced archiving software that is available online, and can be downloaded here.

Since the split files will be created in the same folder your original file is in, I recommend creating a new folder and putting the file you are splitting in it.

Splitting a File:

1. Right click the file you want to split, then roll your mouse over the 7-Zip, then click Add to archive. In my tests I am splitting a testfile.exe that is 625MB.
   
2. The Add to Archive menu will come up, in the Archive format section click the drop-down box and select zip. Then in the Split to volumes, bytes section, enter or choose a size from the drop down menu. In my tests I am entering 20M for 20MB. You can also change the name in the Archive: section, be sure to keep the .zip extension at the end of the file name.
   
3. Click the OK button. You will see a progress window displaying the status. This will take some time, depending on the size of the file.
   
   After this completes, you will see the separate files in the same location as the original file.
   
   Congratulations, now you know how to split a file in to separate pieces using 7-Zip!