Repair a Corrupted ZIP File
Pull the surviving files out of a broken ZIP — including one that stops partway through.
Reading the file…
How to use this tool
- Choose the damaged file. It is read inside this tab — nothing is sent anywhere.
- The whole file is scanned byte by byte for archive headers, ignoring the index that is usually the broken part.
- Each member found is decompressed on its own, so one damaged part cannot take the rest down with it.
- You get a report naming exactly what came back and what did not, a rebuilt file, and where we could read it, the text on its own.
A ZIP that fails with "unexpected end of archive" or "cannot find central directory" is usually not empty. A DOCX, XLSX, PPTX and ZIP are all the same thing underneath: a ZIP archive holding a set of XML files. A ZIP records every member twice — once in a header immediately before the member’s own bytes, and once in an index written at the very end of the file. That index is written last, so an interrupted download or a truncated attachment destroys it first, and it is also the only part most applications read. The contents are still sitting there; the map to them is gone. Recovery means ignoring the map, scanning the raw bytes for every member header, and rebuilding the index from what is actually there. This is why a truncated download so often still yields most of its contents: everything that arrived before the connection dropped is intact and individually decompressible.
Repair a Corrupted ZIP File — the specification
| Handles | .zip, and any ZIP-based format |
|---|---|
| Method | Byte scan for member headers, then per-member decompression |
| Partial members | Decoded as far as they go, and flagged as partial |
| Not supported | Encrypted archives, and RAR or 7z, which are different formats |
| Maximum input | 100 MB |
| Uploads | None |
Repair a Corrupted ZIP File: what can go wrong
These are the failures that actually come up, in roughly the order they happen:
- The archive is password-protected. The members are encrypted and we will not attempt to break that.
- It is a .rar or .7z. Those are different formats with their own structures — this reads ZIP only.
- The download stopped very early. If the first member is incomplete there may be nothing whole to recover.
- Nothing at all decompressed. That pattern means the data itself was overwritten, not merely mis-indexed.
How it works
A DOCX, XLSX, PPTX and ZIP are all the same thing underneath: a ZIP archive holding a set of XML files. A ZIP records every member twice — once in a header immediately before the member’s own bytes, and once in an index written at the very end of the file. That index is written last, so an interrupted download or a truncated attachment destroys it first, and it is also the only part most applications read. The contents are still sitting there; the map to them is gone. Recovery means ignoring the map, scanning the raw bytes for every member header, and rebuilding the index from what is actually there.Who needs Repair a Corrupted ZIP File
Anyone with a download that stopped partway, an archive that fails its integrity check, or a backup copied off a failing drive.
Repair a Corrupted ZIP File — frequently asked questions
My download stopped at 80% — is any of it usable?
Very often, yes. Members are compressed independently and stored one after another, so the first 80% is typically whole and readable. What stops the archive from opening is the missing index at the end, which this rebuilds.
Can you repair a RAR file?
No. RAR and 7z use different container structures and recovery methods. This page is ZIP only — including .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .odt, .epub and .jar, which are all ZIP underneath.
What about a password-protected archive?
We will not attempt it. The member data is encrypted, and recovering it without the password means breaking the encryption, which this site does not do.
What cannot be recovered?
Content that is no longer in the file. If a download stopped at 60%, the last 40% is absent and nothing can bring it back. If a disk fault overwrote part of the document with zeroes, that part fails its checksum and is reported as lost rather than quietly returned half-broken. Any tool claiming to fix any corrupted file is describing something that cannot be done.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read inside your browser tab and the repair runs there. Nothing is transmitted, which is the main reason to use this rather than a service that asks you to upload a damaged work document or dissertation to a server you know nothing about.
Is this tool really free?
Yes. No account, no trial period, no watermark on the output and no cap on how many times you use it. The site is funded by advertising.
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Your file never leaves your device. Open your browser's Network tab while you use this page and you will see no upload — how that works.
Disclaimer. Published requirements change without notice. Confirm against the official source before you submit. Full disclaimer.