Free Online ZIP Viewer
Don't unzip everything. Look inside first.
Drop in a ZIP and explore it like a real file system. Browse folders, search instantly and preview individual files without unpacking the whole archive.
Drag your archive here or choose it from your device.
Choose ZIP file Standard ZIP archives · processed inside your browserBuilding its file map.
Please try another archive.
See what's inside the ZIP before you unpack it.
A ZIP file can contain one document or hundreds of folders, images, scripts and other archives. Extracting all of it just to discover what is inside is often unnecessary.
Xplore's ZIP Viewer turns the archive into an interactive workspace. You can explore its folder tree, search across the archive, preview supported files and save only what you actually need.
How to view a ZIP file online
Archive Lens is designed to behave more like a tiny file manager than a traditional ZIP extractor.
Choose the ZIP you want to inspect.
Drag the archive into the viewer or click Choose ZIP file and select it from your device.
Before building the workspace, Xplore checks that the selected
file actually contains a recognizable ZIP signature. Changing
another file's extension to .zip is not enough
to make it a valid archive.
Get the archive's big picture first.
As soon as the ZIP opens, the right side starts with an Archive Snapshot. This gives you a quick idea of what kind of archive you are dealing with before you start opening individual files.
You can see the number of files and folders, archive size, estimated uncompressed size, common file extensions and a compression snapshot.
Explore folders without extracting them.
The Tree view on the left preserves the archive's folder hierarchy. Expand a folder to reveal its children, collapse it when you're finished, or use the expand/collapse controls when working with a larger project.
The tree scrolls inside its own panel, so even a ZIP containing hundreds of entries does not turn the whole page into one extremely long list.
Switch to All Files when folders don't matter.
Sometimes you don't care where a file lives. Choose All files to flatten the archive into one clean list.
Large lists are automatically split into pages, so an archive containing hundreds of files stays manageable instead of dumping every entry into one endless panel.
Search the entire ZIP in seconds.
Already know what you're looking for? Start typing in the search field. Results are matched against paths throughout the archive, not just the folder currently visible on screen.
Search by filename, part of a folder name or even an extension
such as .json, .pdf or .jpg.
Large result sets are paginated automatically.
Click a file and watch the other side come alive.
This is the part that makes Archive Lens different from a plain ZIP file list. Click a supported file on the left and the right panel becomes its live preview.
Images appear visually. Text, JSON and source code open in a readable line-by-line view. PDFs can open inside the viewer, while supported audio and video files get browser playback controls.
Even unknown files still tell you something.
Not every file format has a meaningful browser preview. Instead of ending with a generic “unsupported” message, Archive Lens can display the opening bytes of many unknown binary files as a hexadecimal preview.
It won't magically interpret a proprietary format, but it gives technical users a little more information without forcing an immediate download.
000000 50 4B 03 04 14 00 00 00 000010 08 00 2A 73 38 5D B1 A4 000020 7C 31 58 01 00 00 D3 04 000030 00 00 0F 00 00 00 64 61
Open a ZIP inside another ZIP.
If Archive Lens discovers another .zip inside your
archive, you don't have to download it, return to the homepage
and upload it again.
Select the nested archive and choose Open nested ZIP. Xplore moves into it inside the same workspace, while a back button lets you return to the parent archive afterward.
Download one file — or build your own smaller ZIP.
When a file is open in the preview panel, use Download to save that individual item.
If you need several files, tick their checkboxes instead. Archive Lens can collect those selections and build a new ZIP containing only the files you chose while preserving their paths.
That is useful when a large archive contains a small group of useful files and you want to leave everything else behind.
Different files deserve different previews.
Archive Lens chooses a preview style based on the file it finds. Browser capabilities can vary, but these are the main preview experiences built into the current viewer.
Images
JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP and AVIF can be displayed visually without extracting the entire archive.
Text & code
TXT, JSON, CSV, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, Markdown and many common source-code formats get a readable text preview.
PDF documents
Supported browsers can display PDFs directly in the preview pane using their built-in PDF renderer.
Audio & video
Common browser-supported media formats can use native playback controls directly from inside the archive.
Nested archives
ZIP files discovered inside the current ZIP can be opened as another Archive Lens session.
Unknown binaries
When a visual preview is unavailable, the viewer may show a small hexadecimal sample instead.
Viewing a ZIP and extracting a ZIP aren't quite the same job.
You want to investigate first.
Use Archive Lens when you want to understand an archive, browse folders, search filenames or preview individual files before deciding what to save.
Best for inspectionYou already know you want the files out.
If your goal is extraction rather than inspection, you can extract ZIP files online and work directly with the contents.
Best for extractionA viewer still has to respect the archive.
ZIP is a flexible format, and not every ZIP file is built the same way. These limits are worth knowing before assuming a file or browser is broken.
Password-protected archives
The current ZIP Viewer does not decrypt encrypted ZIP files. Password handling belongs in Xplore's dedicated protected archive workflow.
Very large previews
Archive Lens intentionally avoids automatically decompressing individual files larger than roughly 30 MB just to generate a preview. You can still download the file.
Damaged ZIP files
If an archive is incomplete or corrupted, the viewer may be unable to reconstruct its file map. Conversion or viewing cannot restore data that is missing from the source archive.
Browser support
Image, media and PDF rendering ultimately depends on features available in the browser you are using. Some formats may download correctly even when they cannot be previewed.
Your browser does the heavy lifting.
This ZIP Viewer is designed to read and preview supported archive contents locally in your browser rather than intentionally sending the ZIP to Xplore's server for inspection.
It is part of the broader Xplore File Manager toolbox: small, focused tools designed around everyday file problems without adding unnecessary steps between the user and the result.
A few things people usually want to know.
Do I have to extract the ZIP to see what's inside?
No. The viewer reads the archive structure and lets you navigate folders and filenames before extracting the entire archive. Supported individual files can also be previewed.
Can I search inside a large ZIP file?
Yes. Search works across file paths in the archive, and large result sets are split into pages to keep the workspace manageable.
Can I download only one file from the ZIP?
Yes. Open the file in the preview panel and use its Download action without unpacking every other file first.
Can I download several selected files together?
Yes. Select multiple files using their checkboxes and Archive Lens can create a new ZIP containing only that selection.
Can ZIP Viewer open another ZIP stored inside my ZIP?
Yes, when the nested archive is a supported ZIP. Select it and use Open nested ZIP to enter it without first downloading and re-uploading the inner archive.
Why won't a large file preview automatically?
Automatically decompressing a very large file just for a preview can consume a significant amount of browser memory. The viewer therefore pauses automatic previews for particularly large entries, while keeping the Download action available.
Can the ZIP Viewer open encrypted archives?
Not in the current version. Password-protected and encrypted ZIP files require a dedicated workflow with support for their encryption method.
A ZIP doesn't need to be a black box.
Open it, understand it, preview what matters and save only the files you actually came for.
Open a ZIP