how to view archive content         
DOWNLOAD PEAZIP         
ONLINE SUPPORT         
SCREENSHOTS         
BENCHMARKS         
DONATE




open 7z rar zip archives for browsing






How to open, list, browse, search 7Z RAR ZIP files


search inside 7z rar zip files
how to read 7z rar zip archive files

FAQ, HOW TO
ONLINE TUTORIAL
ISSUE TRACKER, CVE

CHANGE LOG

TOS, PRIVACY

WHAT IS PEAZIP

REVIEWS

View, explore, filter content in 7Z RAR TAR ZIP archives



Open a supported archive format in PeaZip archive explorer

If the file extension is associated with the application, it is only needed to double click the file to open it in PeaZip's archive explorer to inspect its content to preview it before extraction- i.e. to check if the data matches to the expected content, or to browse to a specific archive sub-path to selectively extract specific content.

search inside 7z rar zip archive files


File association is set by default, from the Windows installer, for most common archive types (7Z, ACE, RAR, TAR, ZIP, ZIPX...), but PeaZip provides read support - open (preview), browse archive structure, and extract - and can work as opener for over 200 archive formats, compressed files, or data containers, including: 7z, apk, bz2, gz, tar, zip, zipx, arj, cab, chm, cpio, deb, lzh, lha, rar, rpm, z, iso, Java (jar, ear, war), xpi, wim, u3p, lzma, udf, dmg, swm, Open Office / Libre Office (ods, ots, odm, oth, oxt, odb, odf, odg, otg, odp, otp, odt, ott), Microsoft Office (doc, dot, xls, xlt, ppt, pps, pot, docx, dotx, xlsx, xltx), Flash (swf, flv), quad, balz, bcm, zpaq, paq*, lpaq*, ace, arc, pea and more...

Open and browse ZIPX archives with PeaZip

ZIPX files can be created, opened and extracted with PeaZip archive manager utility but when opening a ZIPX archive please remember it may feature content compressed with newer or even proprietary algorithms not (yet) supported by PeaZip, as ZIPX standard is subject to constant development from WinZip company.

Open multi-volume archive files

how to preview 7z rar zip files

To open spanned (split) archive files it is recommended to save all the parts (i.e. files with .001, .002, etc extensions) in the same directory, and to open the first part - the one usually having extension .001, .R01, Z01 - this allows to read and navigate the split archive content as for non-spanned archives.

preview archive content


Open unsupported file formats with PeaZip


PeaZip can also manage and explore many not explicitly supported formats with arbitrary file extension, as many container format being variations of other archive formats - frequently, package formats have structures similar to or derived from ZIP standard, which is under public domain.
To attempt opening a file with unknown, non supported, extension, rightclick the file and select "Open as archive" from PeaZip's group in system context menu.
This action is available for any file type, and will try to open and list arbitrary unsupported format as it was a supported archive type to attempt previewing its content.
Same function is available in PeaZip application's context menu: when browsing the filesystem a unknown file type can be selected and attempted to be opened and explored as it was a know archive type.

When it is not possible to browse arbitrary files as archives
Some files, however, cannot be opened no matter what... unreadable files which cannot be opened may be encountered due to data corruption (that can be checked against a known hash or checksum value), or simply due to a changed extension to try to hide the nature of the file, or when trying to open encrypted archives if password is not known and the original author used an option to hide archive content encrypting names of files iside the archive.


Browse and search archive content


PeaZip file / archive manager can navigate and search archive content the same way it does for the filesystem: address bar provides back, forward, up navigation button, breadcrumb provides shortcuts to explore parent nodes (both in the filesystem and inside the archive) and jump to directories in each node, and navigation sidepanel (on the left) shows archive directory tree allowing quick inspection of archive's content.


Browse encrypted archive files


A password may be required to read the table of content of some types of encrypted archives, it can be provided clicking on "Enter password" (padlock icon) in context menu.

how to read encrypted archives



Dispay all files and folders contained in the archive (flat mode)


Pressing F6 toggles on/off flat mode view, showing all the content of the archive at once.


Search files in archives


Clicking on magnifying glass icon on the right of address bar or pressing F3 provides in-archive search popup, to find files, folders or extensions inside archives - optionally recursive (search in subfolders) or non-recursive.

Filter archive content, inclusion and exclusion
Tools > Use advanced filters (Shift+Ctlr+F9) allows to apply multiple inclusion and exclusion filters to content to be displayed (also apply to archive/extraction operations).

Filter by matching typed string
Typing in address bar filters displayed results showing only items matching the typed string, helping to reduce on-screen results.

Batch select items in archive
To further refine selection of files and folders to work with, "Select..." from search context menu (clicking magnifying glass icon on the right of address bar) provides advanced selection features: by newer or older date, by smaller or larger size, by same initial, by same extension, etc.

Once the intended content is reached, or found, several actions are possible:
  • double click a file inside the archive to preview the file: the file is transparently extracted to a temporary folder and opened with associated application; closing the file it is posssible to chose if to save changes made to the file during the preview
  • drag&drop items from the archive to the system to extract them, or red more to use other selective extraction from archive features
  • add or remove data from existing archive or update files already in archive applying specific rules

List / test archive content, and save report to file


Once archive is opened, or expanded to flat view, or browsed to desired content, or filtered to show relevant search results (depending on user's needs) you can save to Unicode text file what is displayed in PeaZip's archive explorer, rightclick on file browser's column header and select "Save to TXT" entry - same function is available in application's context menu Navigation > Save as TXT.

In application's tool bar (and context menu, More submenu) it is featured Test button, performing a thorough test of integrity of archive's content and find problems preventing correct extraction of the content.
"List" and "List (with details)" are featured in Test button dropdown menu, creating a list of archive's content, all these functions shows "Save task log" allowing to export result of the analysis to Unicode text file.
List with details function shows one line for each known property of each item in archive's table of content (size, comprtessed size, date/time, compression and encryption algorithms, etc), while List create a classic "dir" or "ls" -like list with archive's TOC, one item per line.

Read more about how to open 7Z files, open ISO files as archives (or other imaging format as DMG, IMG, UDF, VMDK...), open paq / zpaq files, open TAR files, open WIM packages for browsing and extraction as a standard archive, and to open ZIP files.

Synopsis: How to open, list, browse, search inside 7Z RAR TAR ZIP files with PeaZip free archive manager utility. Read, preview archive content, explore archive structure, find ile in archive, select and filter archive content, test archives' data integrity.

Topics: open 7z rar zip archives, browse archive content, search files in archive

PeaZip > FAQ > How to open, list, browse, search 7Z RAR ZIP files


how to open archive filesARCHIVE MANAGER

7Z RAR TAR ZIP archive formats limitations

Atomic TAR files extraction, how to automatically untar compressed TAR archives in a single step

Comparison of compression algorithms and archive formats

How file compression (lossy, lossless) and archiving works?

How to add files and folders to a new archive

How to convert existing archives

How to extract single or multiple archives at once

How to open, list, browse, and search archive file

How to update existing archives

How to improve file compression performances

Self extracting archives

What is solid compression?

Why some types of files cannot be compressed?






preview 7z rar tar zip files content
DOWNLOADS
List / test archive content, and save report to file
All PeaZip downloads
PeaZip for Linux
PeaZip for macOS
PeaZip for Windows
PeaZip sources
Browse and search archive content
SUPPORT
How to open, list, browse, search inside 7Z RAR TAR ZIP files
Online help
Frequently Asked Questions

peazip file compression software
ABOUT
peazip free archiver utility
PeaZip project: TOS, Privacy
Releases Feed how to preview 7z rar zip files
PeaZip Wiki browse 7z rar zip files
Developer email read 7z rar zip files
Search knowledge-base
preview archive content