diff --git a/.codespell-ignorewords b/.codespell-ignorewords
index 70878b38..9f2497a5 100644
--- a/.codespell-ignorewords
+++ b/.codespell-ignorewords
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 nd
 te
 fastr
+inpt
diff --git a/extras/fileformats/extras/application/archive.py b/extras/fileformats/extras/application/archive.py
index e3c02146..08d1e133 100644
--- a/extras/fileformats/extras/application/archive.py
+++ b/extras/fileformats/extras/application/archive.py
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ def create_zip(
     in_file: FsObject,
     out_file: ty.Optional[Path] = None,
     base_dir: ty.Optional[Path] = None,
-    compression: int = zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED,
+    compression: int | str = zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED,
     allowZip64: bool = True,
     compresslevel: ty.Optional[int] = None,
     strict_timestamps: bool = True,
@@ -157,6 +157,17 @@ def create_zip(
             "Can only archive file-sets with single paths currently"
         )
 
+    if isinstance(compression, str):
+        try:
+            compression_flag: int = getattr(zipfile, compression.upper())
+        except AttributeError:
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Invalid compression type, {compression!r}, "
+                "choose from 'ZIP_STORED', 'ZIP_DEFLATED', 'ZIP_BZIP2', 'ZIP_LZMA'"
+            )
+    else:
+        compression_flag = compression
+
     if out_file is None:  # type: ignore[comparison-overlap]
         out_file = Path(Path(in_file).name + ".zip")
 
@@ -169,7 +180,7 @@ def create_zip(
         zipfile.ZipFile(
             out_file,
             mode="w",
-            compression=compression,
+            compression=compression_flag,
             allowZip64=allowZip64,
             compresslevel=compresslevel,
             strict_timestamps=strict_timestamps,
diff --git a/extras/fileformats/extras/application/tests/test_application_archive.py b/extras/fileformats/extras/application/tests/test_application_archive.py
index 4a576889..45f1ed68 100644
--- a/extras/fileformats/extras/application/tests/test_application_archive.py
+++ b/extras/fileformats/extras/application/tests/test_application_archive.py
@@ -39,6 +39,19 @@ def test_zip_roundtrip(archive_input):
     _roundtrip(archive_input, Zip)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "compression", ["ZIP_STORED", "ZIP_DEFLATED", "ZIP_BZIP2", "ZIP_LZMA"]
+)
+def test_zip_roundtrip_string_compression(archive_input, compression):
+    _roundtrip(archive_input, Zip, compression=compression)
+
+
+def test_zip_string_compression_invalid(archive_input):
+    compressed_type = Directory if archive_input.is_dir() else PlainText
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Invalid compression type"):
+        Zip[compressed_type].convert(archive_input, compression="not-a-real-type")
+
+
 @pytest.mark.xfail(reason="Gzip converter is not implemented yet")
 def test_gzip_roundtrip(archive_input):
     _roundtrip(archive_input, Gzip)
@@ -52,11 +65,11 @@ def test_tar_gz_roundtrip(archive_input):
     _roundtrip(archive_input, TarGzip)
 
 
-def _roundtrip(input, archive_klass):
-    archive_klass.convert(input)  # test generic archive
+def _roundtrip(input, archive_klass, **kwargs):
+    archive_klass.convert(input, **kwargs)  # test generic archive
     # Create classified archive that can be reversed
     compressed_type = Directory if input.is_dir() else PlainText
-    archive = archive_klass[compressed_type].convert(input)
+    archive = archive_klass[compressed_type].convert(input, **kwargs)
     assert isinstance(archive, archive_klass)
     output = compressed_type.convert(archive)
     if isinstance(input, File):