How to Remove Double Blue Arrows from Every Icon – Windows 10 (FIXED)

Do you see two small blue arrows on the icons of your files, folders or shortcuts in Windows 10? In this video tutorial, I show you how to remove these double blue arrows.

The arrows can seem to appear randomly, especially on shortcuts, but they are not a bug. They show that the file or folder is compressed to save disk space. Windows can compress files like this when your disk is running out of space.

There are two ways to get rid of the arrows:

• Method 1 (the real fix): free up disk space and uncompress the files. The arrows disappear because the files are no longer compressed.
• Method 2 (cosmetic): hide the blue arrows icon with a registry change. The files stay compressed and nothing changes on your disk: you only cover up the icon.

In this article

1. Method 1: Free Up Space and Uncompress the Files
2. Method 2: Hide the Blue Arrows Icon (Download)
   1. What Is in the Download
   2. How to Use It

Method 1: Free Up Space and Uncompress the Files

1. Free up some disk space. Delete files you don’t need and free up about 1 to 3 GB.
2. Select the files with blue arrows. If the whole desktop has double arrows, simply select everything (Ctrl + A). If not, select the specific folder.
3. Right-click the selection, choose Properties, then click Advanced.
4. Uncheck Compress contents to save disk space and click OK, then Apply. For a folder, choose to apply the change to the folder, its subfolders and files.

The same steps also work in Windows 11.

Tip: If your drive has unallocated space, you can add it to your C: drive. See how to use unallocated drive space in Windows 10.

Method 2: Hide the Blue Arrows Icon (Download)

Windows 10 added this “compressed” indicator to icons with the November 2015 update (version 1511). Hiding it works the same way as hiding shortcut arrows: a value in the registry makes Windows load a blank icon instead of the blue arrows.

What Is in the Download

• empty.ico: a blank icon file.
• Remove_Compression_Overlay.reg: hides the blue arrows.
• Restore_Compression_Overlay.reg: brings the blue arrows back.
• run.cmd: copies the blank icon to your %SYSTEMROOT%\System32 folder and applies the registry change in one step.

Download Remove_Compression_Overlay.zip

Or download it here: Remove_Compression_Overlay

How to Use It

1. Download the ZIP file and extract it.
2. Right-click run.cmd and choose Run as administrator.
3. Check the window for errors, then sign out and sign back in. The blue arrows should be gone.

This is the registry change that the file makes:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons]
"179"="empty.ico,0"

To undo it: double-click Restore_Compression_Overlay.reg, confirm, and restart Windows Explorer (or sign out and back in).

Source of these files: nerdshack.co.uk