Download workflow: compression scheme (or lack thereof) for multiple files/folders

[jessicaschilling]

As originally discussed in ipfs/ipfs-desktop#1639: Current practice of downloading multiple files/folders results in the user receiving a .tar.gz file. Investigate and possibly implement the following to improve overall UX:

• Default to using .zip as a compression scheme since not all OSes natively support .tar.gz uncompression
• Add a prefs option for .zip vs .tar.gz for those who'd prefer the smaller files but possibly more work in uncompressing
• Opt out of compression altogether if user is just downloading something off localhost (is there a foolproof way to detect this?); this could also be a prefs option

[lidel]

Adding support for ZIP archive format requires changes to go-ipfs/js-ipfs.

If we want to prioritize improvements that do not require landing changes to the backend:

• Disable download compression by default
  Rationale: nearly all users are running local node so download is instant and compression only slows things down
• Make it possible to enable compression via Settings screen:
  • Add Files section somewhere (maybe between Language and Analytics?) with a single checkbox option to "Enable compression of downloaded TAR archives" (unchecked by default)
• Research and document open source software that is able to open .tar.gz and .tar.gz on each platform (macOS, Windows, Linux)
  • I suspect we only need a hint that is displayed for Windows users
  • For the sake of discoverability, it could be a link on Settings screen, perhaps a short explainer next to/below the compression checkbox?

[jessicaschilling]

Mockup below. I'd recommend just explaining that the user may need a decompression app rather than creating an ongoing-maintenance item for keeping a list of third-party apps up to date.