How to Unzip Files in Windows 11

You should be able to unzip files with a simple right-click, but we will show you other ways, too

By
Saikat Basu
Saikat Basu
Saikat Basu
Writer
  • University of Pune (India)
Saikat has been a technology writer for 12+ years. His writing has appeared at MakeUseOf, OnlineTechTips, GoSkills, and many others.
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Published on January 29, 2024

What to Know

  • Easiest: Right-click on the ZIP file and select Extract All.
  • Next Easiest: Select the ZIP file in a File Explorer window and select Extract All from the toolbar.
  • Alternative: Use the Command Prompt.

A ZIP file is a common way to compress data and save space while sharing or archiving your files. Windows 11 has built-in features to unzip files when you want to view your files again. 

Extract a ZIP File With a Right-Click

Any compressed file on your PC can be extracted with a right-click. Browse to a ZIP file of your choice and use the context menu.

  1. Select the compressed file and right-click to display the context menu.

  2. Select Extract All.

    Extract All option highlighted in Windows 11 context menu.

  3. In the Select a Destination and Extract Files dialog box, browse to the location of your choice and press Extract. 

    The destination picker for extracted files highlighted in Windows 11.

  4. You can check Show extracted files when complete to display the unzipped folder with all uncompressed files.  

Tip:

You can add a new folder's name to the destination path to create a sub-folder to hold all the uncompressed files. 

Extract a ZIP File With File Explorer

When you want to extract a specific file or files from a bunch in a compressed folder, use File Explorer. But first, let's look at how to uncompress a ZIP folder.

  1. Browse to the ZIP folder and open it. (Alternatively, open File Explorer with the Win + E keyboard shortcut and locate the folder.)

  2. Select Extract all from the toolbar at the top.

    Extract All button highlighted on Windows 11 File Explorer.

  3. In the Select a Destination and Extract Files dialog box, browse to the location of your choice and press Extract. 

  4. Like earlier, you can use the Show extracted files when complete checkbox to display the uncompressed files.  

How to Extract a Specific File from the ZIP Folder

One of the benefits of the File Explorer method is that you can extract one single file or a select group of files from a zipped archive. 

  1. Select and open the ZIP folder.

  2. Select a single file or use Ctrl + click to select items that aren't next to each other. Hold the Shift key and click the first and last items in a group to select them all at once.

  3. Drag and drop the selections to a new location as Windows automatically uncompresses them. Alternatively, you can also Cut / Copy and Paste them in any location.

Extract a ZIP File With the Command Prompt

Like other functions, the command line can also handle extraction of ZIP files.

  1. Open File Explorer and browse to the folder where your ZIP file is stored.

  2. On the address bar, type cmd and press Enter to open the Command Prompt window with the path of the same directory.

  3. Type the following command and hit Enter to unzip your file. Substitute "FileName" with the name of the ZIP file.  

     tar -xf FileName.zip

  4. The ZIP file or folder is extracted in the same directory. 

In the above command, "tar" (tape archive) is the command line tool that extracts your file. The "XF" switches tell the tar command to extract the contents from the specified ZIP file.

Note:

More methods exist to extract ZIP files, such as using PowerShell and third-party archiving tools. Popular software like WinZip, WinRAR, and 7-ZIP support many more compression formats and have advanced features like managing password protection in ZIP files. For instance, a useful file management feature is the flexibility to preview the files before you unzip them. 

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