utility

Archive Explorer

Explore ZIP, 7z, RAR, TAR, GZIP, CAB, ISO, LZH, and more before extraction, then preview or save only what you need.

Local processing

About your filesFiles and content selected in this tool are processed in your browser and are not uploaded to a Browser Kitty backend.

Operation demo See the basic workflow in a short video.

About this tool

Archive Explorer lets you inspect compressed files and disk images without extracting everything first. An Explorer-style interface shows folders, filenames, sizes, timestamps, compression ratios, and other metadata for ZIP, 7z, RAR5, TAR, GZIP, CAB, ISO, LZH/LHA, and related formats entirely in the browser.

Preview selected images, text, and code files, while unknown binary files can be inspected as Hex plus ASCII. Archive Map, file-type composition, largest entries, suspicious path patterns, extreme compression ratios, and nested archives help you understand what is inside before extracting. The selected archive is not uploaded to an external server.

Good for

Check whether a large ZIP contains the file you need before extracting everything
Inspect the structure of 7z, RAR, ISO, LZH, or other archives that are inconvenient to open locally
Preview only selected images, text, or code inside an archive
Review suspicious names, double extensions, extreme compression ratios, and nested archives before extraction

What it can do

Key capabilities available in this tool.

Local parsing for ZIP, 7z, RAR5, TAR, GZIP, CAB, ISO, and LZH
Explorer-style folder tree, file list, and inspector
Image, text, code, and Hex previews
Archive Map plus type, size, and compression analysis
Nested archive navigation and selective extraction

How to use

Open the tool and drop or choose a ZIP, 7z, RAR, TAR, GZIP, CAB, ISO, LZH, or other supported archive.
Check the capability summary to see whether all entries, only some entries, or listing only is available.
Navigate the folder tree and file list, then use the Inspector for preview, details, and warnings.
Use search, sorting, filters, and the analysis view to inspect sizes, types, compression, and the Archive Map.
Select only the files you need and save them; multiple selected files can be repacked into a new ZIP.

Supported

ZIP extraction supports Stored and Deflate, with on-demand passwords for legacy ZipCrypto-encrypted ZIP files.
7z supports selected LZMA layouts; RAR supports RAR5 Stored entries; CAB supports uncompressed folders; LZH/LHA targets level 0 / -lh0- entries.
TAR, GZIP / TAR.GZ / TGZ, and ISO 9660 support listing and extraction.
Search supports filenames plus patterns such as *.png, ext:js, >10MB, and <500KB.

Limitations and notes

AES-encrypted ZIP, Deflate64, and some ZIP64 cases are unsupported or limited.
7z LZMA2/BCJ/multiple-folder or encrypted cases, compressed RAR5, RAR4, and encrypted RAR are unsupported.
TAR.GZ and solid 7z may require expanding large streams in memory to access individual entries.
Warning checks are heuristic and do not determine whether a file is safe or malicious.

Frequently asked questions

Can I inspect an archive without extracting everything?

Yes. Supported formats can be listed first, and selected entries can be previewed or extracted. Some formats may still require internal stream expansion.

Can it open password-protected ZIP files?

Legacy ZipCrypto is supported with an on-demand password prompt when encrypted data is needed. AES-encrypted ZIP files are not currently supported.

Are archives or passwords sent to a server?

No. Parsing, preview, password handling, and extraction run in the browser, and entered passwords are not persisted.

Offline version and source code

The parsing code is bundled into the standalone HTML, so a generated copy can be opened locally and used offline without a local web server.

View source on GitHub