Time in ADM-ZIP for NodeJS

I am using adm-zip in NodeJS but my files in compressed packages have always got the timestamp of zip creation. I would like that files keep the original date and hour, not the moment when I create the zip. Which option should I apply to zip.addFile(...) ? I checked the source but I don't understand how it sets the attributes. Thanks.

zip.addFile(filename, content, comment, date) doesn't work

You’re right — many versions of adm-zip ignore the date parameter in zip.addFile(...), and your ZIP entries always end up with the current timestamp.

Instead of trying to pass the date as a fourth argument (which is unreliable), you can manually set the correct timestamp on the internal ZIP entry using header.time:

const zip = new AdmZip();

const filePath = 'your-file.txt';
const content = fs.readFileSync(filePath);
const stats = fs.statSync(filePath); // original modified time

// Add the file to the ZIP
const entry = (zip.addFile as any)('your-file.txt', content);

// Override the modified time in ZIP metadata
entry.header.time = stats.mtime;

zip.writeZip('output.zip');

Example for folders (recursive zip with timestamps)

async function zipFiles(folderPath: string): Promise<Buffer> {
    const zip = new AdmZip();

    function addFilesRecursively(currentPath: string, relativePath = '') {
        const entries = fs.readdirSync(currentPath, { withFileTypes: true });

        for (const entry of entries) {
            const fullPath = path.join(currentPath, entry.name);
            const zipEntryPath = path.join(relativePath, entry.name);

            if (entry.isDirectory()) {
                addFilesRecursively(fullPath, zipEntryPath);
            } else {
                const content = fs.readFileSync(fullPath);
                const stats = fs.statSync(fullPath);

                // Add file to the ZIP
                const zipEntry = (zip.addFile as any)(zipEntryPath, content);

                // Override timestamp
                if (zipEntry && zipEntry.header) {
                    zipEntry.header.time = stats.mtime;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    addFilesRecursively(folderPath);

    return zip.toBuffer();
}