Open a ZIP
List what is inside a ZIP file and pull out only the files you want — in your browser, so the archive is never uploaded.
What it does
Open a ZIP reads the whole document before doing anything, so what comes back is either valid output or a specific error with the position that caused it — not a partially rewritten file.
When you need it
Usually when something has already gone wrong: a config file an application will not load, an API response that has to be read by a human, or an export that has to be checked before it goes anywhere near a database.
Limits and caveats
Key order is preserved as it appears in the input. Very large documents are limited by your device's memory rather than by an upload cap, since the parsing happens locally. Everything happens in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.
How to open a zip
- Drop the ZIP.
- See everything inside it, with sizes.
- Download the files you want.
Frequently asked questions
- Why open a ZIP here instead of on my computer?
- Mostly because you are on a phone, a locked-down work machine, or somebody else's computer — the three places where unzipping is inexplicably hard. If your own machine can do it, do it there; it will be faster.
- Can it handle a password-protected ZIP?
- No. Encrypted archives are not supported, and it says so rather than showing you a list of unreadable files. For sending something with a password, our Encrypt a File tool uses AES-256, which ZIP's own password does not.
- What about a zip bomb?
- A small archive can claim to expand to petabytes and take the tab down with it. The declared size is read from the header before anything is decompressed, and checked again against what actually came out — because the header is written by whoever built the bomb. Past half a gigabyte it refuses and says why.
- Why does it show the full path of each file?
- Because the path is part of the archive and can be hostile — an entry called ../../something is legal ZIP. Nothing here writes to your disk, and the name offered for download is flattened to a plain filename first, but you should be able to see what the archive actually said.
- Do my files get uploaded?
- No. This tool runs entirely in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.