Decide on synonyms: expand, extract, uncompress, etc.

[gingerbeardman]

In

• Archive *
• Compress

Out

• Expand *
• Extract
• Uncompress

And variations thereof

* = macOS uses this in Archive Utility

[aonez]

I see it like:

• Archive/Expand : TAR, ISO
• Compress/Uncompress (or Extract): 7Z, ZIP, BZIP2...

To keep things simple, I prefer to respect Finder texts, so maybe Compress/Uncompress will be the best.

As for the macOS uses, I'm getting this from Mac OS X 10.11:

Finder:

Archive Utility:

[gingerbeardman]

Maybe not so clear cut, then!

[VaslD]

Actually, Archive Utility doesn't use "archive" as a verb (to mean zipping files). If you try to zip something from Archive Utility UI itself, the menu is called "Create Archive" (and "Expand Archive" for unzipping). So Archive Utility uses the word "archive" only as a noun to refer to the single-file format created from one or more files. (Kinda fitting since it's called "Archive" Utility.) That leaves the action to zip something "Compress" as shown in the Finder screenshot.

As to why the screenshot of creating progress shows "Archiving.." I'm wondering if selecting different format in Archive Utility preferences affects it.

[aonez]

@VaslD I'm not sure if it has changed in newer OSs, but if you see the screenshots AU always uses Archiving <FILE> and Expanding <FILE>, for any format. Maybe it has changed in Big Sur, not sure.