Archive converter

Almost everybody arrives at this category with the same problem: an archive in a format their computer refuses to open, and no wish to install a program to fix it once. Converting it to ZIP solves that, and ZIP is the one format every operating system has understood without help for decades.

Up to 100 files at once. Mixed formats are fine.

Every archive format we handle

7 formats in this category, 36 working conversions — 0 of them without your file leaving the device.

  • ZIPZIP

    The archive format built into every operating system.

    Convert to 7Z, GZ, TAR, BZ2, XZ

  • 7Z7Z

    Compresses harder than ZIP but needs its own tool on most systems.

    Convert to ZIP, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ

  • TARTAR

    Bundles files without compressing them. The Unix packaging step, usually paired with GZ.

    Convert to ZIP, 7Z, GZ, BZ2, XZ

  • GZGZ

    Compresses a single file. Combined with TAR it becomes the standard Unix archive.

    Convert to ZIP, 7Z, TAR, BZ2, XZ

  • BZ2BZ2

    Compresses better than GZ and takes noticeably longer doing it.

    Convert to ZIP, 7Z, TAR, GZ, XZ

  • XZXZ

    The strongest of the common Unix compressors. Standard for source and package downloads.

    Convert to ZIP, 7Z, TAR, GZ, BZ2

  • RARRAR

    A proprietary archive format. Can be unpacked everywhere, created almost nowhere.

    Convert to ZIP, 7Z, GZ, TAR, BZ2 and 1 more

Tools for archive files

  • Extract a ZIP archive

    Somebody sent an archive on a machine that will not open it, or on a phone, and who wants one file out of it rather than all of them.

  • Create a ZIP archive

    Somebody who needs several files bundled into one before sending them, usually on a machine where they cannot or would rather not install anything.

Why ZIP is usually the answer

Windows, macOS and every Linux desktop open ZIP with nothing installed. 7Z compresses better and RAR often better still, but both need software the recipient may not have — which is why an archive that will not open is a far more common problem than an archive that is slightly too large.

Repacking does not recompress what is inside the archive in any way that loses data. The files that come out are byte-for-byte the files that went in; only the container around them changes.

RAR: read but never written

We can open RAR archives and we deliberately cannot create them. This is a licensing constraint rather than a technical one: the licence for the RAR decoder explicitly permits extracting archives and forbids using it to build a compatible packer. That is a line we will not cross, so RAR appears here as a source and never as a target.

In practice this costs nothing. Nobody needs to *create* a RAR; what people need is to get out of one, and that works.

Archive converter: common questions

Can I convert RAR to ZIP?

Yes. RAR is one of the formats we read, and ZIP is the target that opens everywhere without extra software. The reverse — creating a RAR — is not offered, because the decoder’s licence forbids using it to build a compatible packer.

Are the files inside re-compressed?

Nothing inside is altered in a way that loses data. The files that come out are identical to the files that went in; only the container changes.

Is my archive uploaded?

No. It is repacked in your browser and never leaves your device — which matters, because an archive is usually several files at once and often the ones somebody bothered to bundle up.

Can I convert a password-protected archive?

No. Without the password the contents cannot be read, so there is nothing to repack. Extract it locally with the password first.

Other things to convert