ZIP Viewer & Archive Explorer (JAR, TAR, GZ)

Look inside ZIP, JAR, VSIX, TAR, TAR.GZ and GZ files in VS Code, open any file in an editor tab, and extract only what you need without unpacking the rest.

A release ZIP open in ZIP Viewer & Archive Explorer, with folders, sizes, packed sizes and ratios, and the Archive Explorer tree in the side bar

Screenshot from a real VS Code 1.142 window running the packaged extension on web-app-release.zip, a sample made by scripts/make-samples.js.

See what is inside before you unpack. Folders, sizes, packed sizes, compression ratios and dates, for archives with up to 200,000 entries.
Open any entry in a normal tab. Code gets syntax colors, images open in the image preview, and a ZIP inside a ZIP opens as another archive. Entries are read-only.
Extract safely. Names with .. or an absolute path are never written, and size limits stop zip bombs before they fill your disk.

Quick start

Install the extension.
Click a .zip, .jar, .vsix, .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz or .gz file in the Explorer.

To browse an archive in the side bar instead, right-click it and choose Browse in Archive Explorer.

What you can do

Task	How
Browse folders	Double-click a folder, use the path bar at the top, or press Backspace to go up.
Sort	Click Name, Size, Packed, Ratio or Modified. Folders stay on top.
Search names	Type in the search box. Plain text matches anywhere in the path, and `` and `?` work as wildcards, for example `.class`.
Open an entry	Double-click it or press Enter. Open to the side puts it next to the archive.
Extract	Select a file or folder and click Extract..., or use Extract all... for the whole archive. One file goes through a save dialog, a folder through a folder picker.
Copy a path	Copy path (or Cmd+C / Ctrl+C) copies the path inside the archive.
Side bar tree	The Archive Explorer section of the Explorer lists every archive you opened, with search, Extract, Copy Path and Open to the Side on right-click.

Opening an image from the Archive Explorer tree. It shows in the VS Code image preview, with the path inside the archive in the breadcrumbs

Supported files

Type	Extensions	Notes
ZIP family	`.zip`, `.jar`, `.vsix` open by default. `.war`, `.ear`, `.whl`, `.nupkg`, `.apk`, `.aar`, `.xpi` and `.epub` open through Open in Archive Explorer.	Stored and Deflate entries, ZIP64, UTF-8 and old DOS names, self-extracting archives.
TAR	`.tar`	ustar, GNU long names and pax headers. Links are listed but not created.
TAR.GZ	`.tar.gz`, `.tgz`	Unpacked in memory up to the `maxUnpackedMB` limit.
GZ	`.gz`	One file. A `.gz` that holds a TAR opens as TAR.GZ.

Entries open with the editor VS Code picks for their type. That includes other Zovo viewers when you have them, so a CSV inside a ZIP can open in the table viewer.

Safety

A zip bomb sample. The banner warns about a 1008:1 ratio, and opening a 600 MB entry is refused with a clear message

Zip slip. Entry names with .., a leading /, a drive letter or a NUL character are listed with a warning and skipped during extraction. The target path is checked again just before each write.
Zip bombs. An extraction that would write more than archiveExplorer.maxUnpackedMB (2 GB by default) is refused before anything is written. An entry that unpacks to more than its header says is stopped. Very high compression ratios get a banner.
Big archives. Archives with more than archiveExplorer.maxEntries entries (200,000 by default) are not read. Entries over archiveExplorer.maxEntryMB (512 MB) do not open in a tab but can still be extracted.
Existing files are kept unless you choose Overwrite. The archive itself is never changed.

A zip slip sample. Three entries with unsafe names are crossed out, and extracting writes only the safe file

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
`archiveExplorer.maxEntries`	200000	Most entries read from one archive, and most files written by one extraction.
`archiveExplorer.maxEntryMB`	512	Largest entry, in MB, that opens in an editor tab.
`archiveExplorer.maxUnpackedMB`	2048	Most data, in MB, that one extraction writes. Also the limit for unpacking a `.tar.gz` in memory.
`archiveExplorer.askForRating`	true	Ask one time for a Marketplace rating after a few days of use.
`archiveExplorer.showSupportLinks`	true	Show the small Sponsor and More free viewers links in the status line.

The same viewer in the Light Modern theme with a TAR file

Privacy

The extension works offline. It makes no network calls and has no telemetry. Archives are read from disk with range reads, so a large ZIP or TAR is not loaded whole. The view runs under a strict Content Security Policy, and every name from an archive is shown as plain text.

Known limits

Compression methods other than Stored and Deflate (for example BZIP2, LZMA, Zstandard and Deflate64) are listed but not opened. Encrypted entries are listed but not opened.
7z, RAR, XZ and BZ2 files are not supported.
A .tar.gz is unpacked in memory, up to 2 GB by default.
Entries are read-only. Extract a file to change it.
The size shown for a single .gz file comes from its header and is marked with ≈ until the file is opened.

Support Zovo

Zovo extensions are free, with no ads and no tracking. They are made by theluckystrike on GitHub. If this one saves you time, you can support the work:

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See all Zovo extensions on the Marketplace.

License

MIT. Bundles fflate (MIT). See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.