How to Unzip a File
Every modern device can unzip files without extra software. Here's how to extract zip archives on every platform.
Unzip on Windows
Find the zip file
Open File Explorer and navigate to the .zip file.
Right-click and Extract All
Right-click the zip file and choose "Extract All...".
Windows right-click Extract All option on a zip file
Choose destination and extract
Choose where to extract the files (the default is a new folder in the same location). Click "Extract".
Quick method: On Windows 11, you can also double-click the zip file to open it like a folder, then drag files out to extract them.
Unzip on Mac
Double-click the zip file
Simply double-click the .zip file in Finder. macOS will automatically extract its contents into a new folder in the same location.
Double-clicking a zip file in macOS Finder
Access extracted files
A new folder will appear with the same name as the zip file, containing all the extracted files.
Terminal method:
# Unzip to current directory
unzip archive.zip
# Unzip to a specific folder
unzip archive.zip -d ~/Desktop/extracted/
Unzip on Linux
# Install unzip if needed
sudo apt install unzip
# Unzip to current directory
unzip archive.zip
# Unzip to a specific folder
unzip archive.zip -d /path/to/destination/
# List contents without extracting
unzip -l archive.zip
# Extract a tar.gz archive
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz
# Decompress a gzip file
gunzip file.txt.gz
Unzip on iPhone / iPad
Open the Files app
Open the Files app and navigate to the zip file.
Tap the zip file
Simply tap the .zip file. iOS will extract its contents into a new folder automatically.
Unzip on Android
Open your file manager
Open the Files app or your device's built-in file manager.
Tap the zip file
Tap the .zip file. Your phone will show the contents and offer to extract them.
Choose Extract
Tap "Extract" and choose a destination. The files will be extracted.
Troubleshooting
"The compressed folder is invalid" (Windows)
This usually means the zip file is corrupted or incomplete. Try downloading it again. If the problem persists, try opening it with 7-Zip, which can sometimes recover partially corrupted archives.
"Cannot open as archive" / password prompt
The zip file is password-protected. You'll need the password from whoever sent you the file.
Zip file is too large
The built-in zip tools on some systems struggle with very large archives (over 4 GB). Use 7-Zip (Windows/Linux) or Keka (Mac) for large files.
.rar, .7z, or .tar.gz files
These are not zip files and may require additional software. See our best zip software page for tools that handle all archive formats.
Last updated: March 2026