ZIP Extractor Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

ZIP Extractor is a free web app for opening and creating ZIP files. It runs entirely in your browser (nothing to install) and works with files from your computer, Google Drive, or Gmail. You can use it at zipextractor.app.

A ZIP file is a single file that groups one or more files (and folders) together. The contents are usually compressed, so they take up less space. That single ZIP file can then be sent or shared as one attachment, and opened on any computer or mobile device.

1. Bundle related files. Instead of attaching a dozen files individually, you can group them into one ZIP and send that.
2. Save space and time. Compression reduces file size, which makes uploads, downloads, and storage faster.
3. Universal access. ZIP is supported almost everywhere. With tools like ZIP Extractor, anyone can open ZIP files for free without installing dedicated software.

No. ZIP Extractor runs entirely in your browser at zipextractor.app. There's no app or extension to install.

ZIP Extractor works best in current versions of Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox. Safari is also supported, but has tighter memory limits than Chromium-based browsers, so very large archives may not open as reliably.

In addition to ZIP (including ZIPX), ZIP Extractor supports RAR, 7-Zip (.7z), TAR, and compressed TARs like GZIP (.gz), BZIP2 (.bz2), LZIP (.lz), XZ (.xz), Zstandard (.zst), LZ4 (.lz4), Brotli (.br), and Unix compress (.Z). Several less common archive formats also work, including CPIO, DEB, ISO, and CAB.

Yes. ZIP Extractor handles split ZIPs (.z01, .z02, .zip) and multi-volume RAR archives (.part1.rar, .part2.rar, or .r01, .r02). When opening, select all the parts together.

Yes. When you preview an archive that lives inside another archive, click Open ZIP in the preview header to open it. You can nest as deep as you want. To go back up, click Previous ZIP, press Backspace, or click the close (X) button.

Practical limits depend on your device and how much memory your browser gives each tab:

• Most computers: archives up to about 2 GB open reliably.
• Newer machines with more RAM: often handle 4 GB or more.
• Phones, tablets, and Chromebooks: archives around 1 GB or less work best.

If you run into a memory limit, see File too large for available browser memory in the Help page.

Yes. You can preview many common file types directly from inside the archive, without extracting first:

• Documents and data: PDF; text files like TXT and LOG; Markdown, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, RTF, and LaTeX render as formatted documents, tables, and trees rather than raw text; plus code in many languages with syntax highlighting.
• Images: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, AVIF, SVG, BMP, ICO, HEIC/HEIF, TIFF.
• Video and audio: MP4, WebM, MOV, MKV, M4V, OGV; MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, FLAC, OGG, OPUS (built-in audio player included).
• Via "Preview in Drive": Microsoft Office files (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), OpenDocument and Apple iWork files, PSD, AI, EPS, DXF, RAW camera files, MOBI and AZW e-books, XPS, DjVu, and older video formats such as AVI and WMV.
• E-books: EPUB (in E-Book Mode).
• Archives: ZIP, RAR, 7z, TAR, and the other supported formats open in place, so you can browse an archive that lives inside another archive.

Yes. ZIP Extractor includes a built-in audio player for MP3, WAV, and other common audio formats. Click any audio file in the listing to start playback. The player includes play/pause, previous/next, shuffle, autoplay, and repeat controls.

Yes. Open a ZIP and choose Grid view from the view selector in the upper right. Grid view is useful for archives full of photos, since you can scan thumbnails instead of opening each file individually.

Yes. Click the contrast icon in the upper-right corner of the header to cycle through System, Light, and Dark. System follows your operating system setting. Your choice is remembered in a small first-party cookie and applies to every ZIP Extractor page.

Yes. Press / to open the search box, then type a filename or extension. Matching files are filtered instantly. Tip: while a search is active, any extract or download-all action applies to just the filtered results.

ZIP Extractor is fully keyboard accessible. On Mac, use Cmd where Ctrl is shown. Shortcuts shown next to a menu item also work while that menu is open.

Navigation

• Tab / Shift + Tab: Move focus
• Enter: Activate focused item
• Space: Select or toggle
• Esc: Close dialogs or preview
• Up Down Left Right: Move selection
• Home / End, PageUp / PageDown: Jump within the file list
• Backspace: Go back (close preview, or return to the previous ZIP)

Selected file actions

• d: Download the selected file
• t: Open the selected file in a new tab (on Mac, Cmd + click does the same). To act on several files at once, use the checkboxes in the file list.
• s: Save the selected file to Google Drive
• F2: Rename the selected file
• Delete: Remove the selected file from the ZIP (on Mac keyboards, press Fn + Delete)

App actions

• /: Open search (also Ctrl + F)
• `: Cycle views (Standard / List / Grid; Shift + ` reverses)
• F2: Rename the ZIP (when no file rename applies)
• .: Open "More actions" menu
• ,: Focus the toolbar
• Ctrl + E: Extract to Drive
• Ctrl + Shift + E: Extract to computer
• Ctrl + S: Download ZIP
• Ctrl + Shift + S: Save ZIP to Drive

Preview actions

• e: Expand or restore preview
• r: Rotate image
• + / -: Zoom image
• w: Toggle word wrap (text preview)
• F2: Rename the previewed file
• Ctrl + C: Copy the previewed text or image to the clipboard (with text selected, copies just the selection)
• d: Download the previewed file
• t: Open the previewed file in a new tab
• s: Save the previewed file to Google Drive

Yes. Click Create New ZIP on the main page, or use the shortcut zip.new. Add files and folders from your computer or Google Drive (drag-and-drop works too), then download the finished ZIP or save it directly to Google Drive.

You can also work on a ZIP you already have. The More actions menu offers Add password to ZIP, Remove password from ZIP, Merge another ZIP, Convert to ZIP, and Repair ZIP.

Yes. When creating a ZIP, you can set a password to encrypt its contents. ZIP Extractor supports two encryption methods:

• Basic (ZipCrypto). Widely compatible with older tools, but considered weak by modern standards.
• Strong (AES-256, WinZip AES). Much more secure, and supported by modern archive tools such as 7-Zip, WinZip, WinRAR, and Keka. Note that the built-in macOS Archive Utility and Windows File Explorer cannot open AES-encrypted ZIP files, so recipients on those need a third-party unzipper, or ZIP Extractor itself.

For sensitive files, choose Strong. ZIP Extractor can also open password-protected RAR and 7-Zip archives created by other tools.

Yes. On desktop Chrome, Edge, and other Chromium browsers, choose Extract to Computer to save files straight into a folder you pick. Firefox and Safari don't offer that option, so use Download all files instead, which drops each file into your Downloads folder. On phones and tablets, use Extract to Drive, which is also handy any time you want your files in the cloud.

Yes, once the file is in Google Drive. After you save a file (or the whole ZIP) to Drive, choose Share to open Google's own sharing dialog, or Open in Drive to view it there. Sharing uses Google Drive's permissions; ZIP Extractor doesn't host or serve your files.

Yes. You can "install" ZIP Extractor from the Google Workspace Marketplace so it appears in Google Drive's Open with and New menus. It's optional. ZIP Extractor works fine without installation too.

Yes. ZIP Extractor uses Google Sign-In, so you can use it with any Google account you're signed in to. If you open a Drive file owned by a different account than the one you're signed in with, ZIP Extractor will prompt you to switch.

To switch accounts manually, click your profile picture in the upper-right corner (its tooltip reads "Switch Google Account") and pick a different account. For a clean slate, sign out of Google in your browser and reload ZIP Extractor.

If you only use ZIP Extractor with files from your computer, no Google permissions are required.

The first time you use ZIP Extractor with Google Drive, you'll be asked to grant two non-sensitive Google Drive scopes, plus basic sign-in (your name and email address) so ZIP Extractor can confirm you are using the right account:

• drive.file: Lets ZIP Extractor open the specific file you chose with "Open with" or the Drive picker, and save extracted files back to your Drive. ZIP Extractor cannot see any other files in your Drive.
• drive.install: Lets ZIP Extractor appear as an option in Drive's "Open with" and "New" menus.
• openid, email, profile: Your name and email address for the current browser session, used only to confirm the right Google account and to show who is signed in. See Does ZIP Extractor store my email address? below.

For more on these scopes, see Google's documentation on Google Drive API Scopes.

To remove ZIP Extractor from your Google account:

1. Open Google Drive settings: drive.google.com/drive/settings.
2. Select Manage apps in the left panel.
3. Find ZIP Extractor in the list.
4. Open the options menu and choose Disconnect from Drive, then confirm.

Your Google account itself isn't affected. Any files you previously extracted to Drive, and any ZIPs you previously opened with ZIP Extractor, will remain in your Drive.

See also: Google's help article on removing Google Drive apps.

No. ZIP Extractor is private by design. All file processing happens in your browser. There is no backend server that reads, processes, or stores your data, and the contents of your archive stay in your browser rather than passing through any server of ours.

When you open a file from Google Drive or Gmail, ZIP Extractor reads it directly into your browser using Google's official APIs, with the permissions you grant. If you choose to save extracted files to Google Drive, they're written directly to your Drive through those same authenticated APIs. You can revoke ZIP Extractor's access at any time (see How do I uninstall or disconnect ZIP Extractor? above).

For the full details, see our Privacy Policy.

No. ZIP Extractor does not store, log, or share your email address.

When you sign in with Google, ZIP Extractor receives your name and email from Google for that browser session only, for two purposes:

1. To confirm you're using the right Google account for the file you opened (helpful if you're signed in to multiple accounts).
2. To display your name and email in the upper-right corner of the app while you're signed in.

We don't keep a mailing list and won't contact you unless you contact us first.

ZIP Extractor does not set its own tracking cookies. Google services used in the app may set cookies or use local storage. You can control cookie behavior in your browser settings. ZIP Extractor does store one small first-party cookie, zeTheme, to remember whether you chose the Light, Dark, or System appearance. It holds no identifier and isn't used for tracking.

Both are linked in the footer of every page. You can also go directly to the Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service.

To open a ZIP, ZIP Extractor downloads the entire file to your browser before extraction can begin. On a metered cellular connection, downloading a large archive could use a noticeable chunk of your data plan. To avoid surprises, ZIP Extractor shows a warning before downloading a file of 10 MB or more when it detects a metered cellular connection. On iPhone and iPad, where browsers don't report the connection type, the warning instead appears for files of 100 MB or more. It never appears on desktop.

For more details, see Cellular data warning in the Help page.

If something isn't working, these steps resolve most issues:

• Reload the page.
• Check your internet connection.
• Try Incognito/Private mode. This disables extensions that may be interfering.
• Temporarily disable extensions. Ad blockers, antivirus, and privacy tools are common causes of trouble.
• Clear your browser cache and cookies.
• Try a different browser, or update yours.

For specific error messages (download failures, memory limits, preview errors), see the Help page. If problems persist, email support@zipextractor.app with a description of what's happening.

Yes. ZIP Extractor® is a registered trademark of Visware LLC, registered in the United States with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Yes. Reach out via the ZIP Extractor Support page and we'll respond by email.