Smart Archive
VSCode extension for compressing and decompressing files using 7-Zip WebAssembly and zstd-wasm — no native binaries required. Optionally uses a system-installed 7-Zip for faster performance.
Features
- Compress to 7z, ZIP, TAR, WIM, tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz, tar.zst
- Decompress from 30+ formats: 7z, ZIP, RAR (v4/v5), TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, CAB, ISO, VHD, DEB, RPM, ...
- System 7-Zip/zstd support — auto-detects local 7-Zip/zstd installation (Windows/macOS/Linux) for significantly faster compression and decompression; falls back to WASM when not available
- System zstd support — optionally uses system zstd binary for tar.zst compression
- AES-256 encryption — password-protect 7z and ZIP archives
- Archive browser — opens as default editor for archives; virtual-scrolled tree (Vue 3 + TanStack Virtual), search, sort, partial extract, add/delete/rename, integrity test
- File preview — double-click any file in the archive to open it in VSCode
- Copy/paste — select files in archive browser, paste to any local folder
- Multi-volume RAR — auto-resolves
.r00–.r99 to the base .rar
- RAR support — RAR4 + RAR5 extraction via 7-Zip
- Bilingual UI — English / Chinese (auto-detected from VS Code locale); settings descriptions also localized via NLS files
- Large file support — handles archives and files exceeding 2 GiB via chunked I/O; WASM supports files beyond 4 GiB (memory64)
- Security — Zip Slip protection, configurable size limits (k/m/g units), path traversal blocking
- Smart exclude — automatically skips
node_modules, .git, dist, .venv, and 30+ other noisy directories when compressing; customizable via settings
- CJK filenames — recovers GBK / Shift-JIS / EUC-KR encoded filenames in old archives
- Context menu — right-click files/folders to compress, right-click archives to decompress or browse
- Workspace compress — right-click empty space in explorer to compress entire workspace folder
Quick Start
npm install # installs root + webview-ui deps (postinstall hook)
npm run build # build Vue frontend + this extension
Then press F5 in VSCode to launch the Extension Development Host.
Usage
| Action |
How |
| Compress |
Right-click file(s)/folder(s) → Smart Archive: Compress → pick format → optional password → save |
| Decompress |
Right-click archive → Smart Archive: Decompress → optional password → extracts to *.extracted/ |
| Browse |
Right-click archive → Smart Archive: Browse Contents → interactive file tree with partial extract |
RAR files are auto-detected and processed by 7-Zip WASM.
Compression (create)
| Format |
Encryption |
Notes |
| 7z |
AES-256 |
Best ratio, solid archive, header encryption |
| zip |
AES-256 |
Universal compatibility |
| tar |
— |
No compression, archive only |
| tar.gz |
— |
TAR + GZip compressed archive |
| tar.bz2 |
— |
TAR + BZip2 compressed archive |
| tar.xz |
— |
TAR + XZ compressed archive |
| tar.zst |
— |
TAR + Zstandard compressed archive |
| wim |
— |
Windows Imaging Format |
| rar |
— |
Extraction only — creation not supported by free tools |
7z · ZIP · RAR (v4/v5) · TAR · GZ · BZ2 · XZ · Z · CAB · ARJ · LZH · CHM · MSI · WIM · CPIO · RPM · DEB · UHA · XAR · ISO · VHD · VMDK · FAT · NTFS · SquashFS · DMG · HFS · APM · MBR · ELF · Mach-O · SWF · FLV
Configuration
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
smart-archive.defaultFormat |
7z |
Default archive format (7z, zip, tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz, tar.zst, wim) |
smart-archive.defaultCompressionLevel |
5 |
Compression level (0=store, 5=normal, 9=ultra) |
smart-archive.defaultOutputDir |
source |
Output location: source (next to archive) or prompt (always ask) |
smart-archive.maxFileSize |
"1g" |
Maximum single decompressed file size. Supports k/m/g units (e.g. "500m", "1g"). Integer values treated as MiB for backward-compat. |
smart-archive.maxTotalSize |
"10g" |
Maximum total decompressed size across all files. Same format as maxFileSize. |
smart-archive.useSystem7z |
"auto" |
System 7-Zip: auto (detect + fallback), always (force, warn if missing), never (WASM only) |
smart-archive.useSystemZstd |
"auto" |
System zstd: auto (detect + fallback), always, never |
smart-archive.collapsedDirPatterns |
[30+ patterns] |
Directory name patterns kept collapsed by default in archive preview |
smart-archive.compressExcludePatterns |
[30+ patterns] |
Glob patterns for files/dirs to exclude when compressing |
smart-archive.defaultVolumeSize |
"" |
Default split volume size (e.g. 100m, 1g). Leave empty to skip. |
Requirements
- VS Code 1.85.0 or later
- System 7-Zip (optional, for faster compression):
- Windows: 7-Zip or
winget install 7zip
- macOS:
brew install sevenzip
- Linux:
apt install 7zip and so on
Development
npm install # installs root + webview-ui deps (postinstall hook)
npm run build:webview # build Vue frontend → media/vue/
npm run compile # compile TypeScript → out/
npm run build # build webview + compile (one step)
npm run watch # watch mode (TS only)
npm run dev:webview # Vite dev server with HMR for webview
npm run lint # oxlint static analysis
npm run typecheck # TypeScript type checking
npm run format # oxfmt code formatting
npm run check # format + lint + typecheck
npm run test # vitest (extension + webview-ui)
npm run test:watch # vitest watch mode
npm run test:ui # vitest UI mode
npm run clean # remove build output
npm run package # create .vsix
npm run release # build + check + package
Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host. The webview must be built first (npm run build:webview).
Dependencies
License
MIT
Acknowledgments
Thanks to everyone who contributed and the friendly community!
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