‘存档’ is a verb meaning ‘to save (a file or game progress)’ on a computer or digital device. It combines the character 存 (cún), meaning ‘to store’ or ‘to keep’, and 档 (dàng), which here stands for ‘file’ or ‘record’—originally from the word 档案 (dàng’àn), meaning ‘archive’ or ‘file’. Together, they literally mean ‘to store a file’, and are used almost exclusively in digital contexts, especially when saving documents, images, software projects, or video game states.

This term is common in everyday computing and gaming. Unlike the more formal 档案 (dàng’àn), which refers to official records, 存档 is informal and action-oriented—it always implies an active, user-initiated saving process. You’ll see it as a button label (e.g., ‘存档’ or ‘保存并存档’), in software menus, or in instructions like ‘请记得及时存档’. It’s rarely used for physical storage or non-digital contexts.