zipfile — Work with ZIP archives¶
Source code: Lib/zipfile/
The ZIP file format is a common archive and compression standard. This module provides tools to create, read, write, append, and list a ZIP file. Any advanced use of this module will require an understanding of the format, as defined in PKZIP Application Note.
This module does not currently handle multi-disk ZIP files. It can handle ZIP files that use the ZIP64 extensions (that is ZIP files that are more than 4 GiB in size). It supports decryption of encrypted files in ZIP archives, but it currently cannot create an encrypted file. Decryption is extremely slow as it is implemented in native Python rather than C.
The module defines the following items:
- exception zipfile.BadZipFile¶
- The error raised for bad ZIP files. - Added in version 3.2. 
- exception zipfile.BadZipfile¶
- Alias of - BadZipFile, for compatibility with older Python versions.- Deprecated since version 3.2. 
- exception zipfile.LargeZipFile¶
- The error raised when a ZIP file would require ZIP64 functionality but that has not been enabled. 
- class zipfile.ZipFile
- The class for reading and writing ZIP files. See section ZipFile Objects for constructor details. 
- class zipfile.Path
- Class that implements a subset of the interface provided by - pathlib.Path, including the full- importlib.resources.abc.Traversableinterface.- Added in version 3.8. 
- class zipfile.PyZipFile
- Class for creating ZIP archives containing Python libraries. 
- class zipfile.ZipInfo(filename='NoName', date_time=(1980, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0))¶
- Class used to represent information about a member of an archive. Instances of this class are returned by the - getinfo()and- infolist()methods of- ZipFileobjects. Most users of the- zipfilemodule will not need to create these, but only use those created by this module. filename should be the full name of the archive member, and date_time should be a tuple containing six fields which describe the time of the last modification to the file; the fields are described in section ZipInfo Objects.- Changed in version 3.13: A public - compress_levelattribute has been added to expose the formerly protected- _compresslevel. The older protected name continues to work as a property for backwards compatibility.
- zipfile.is_zipfile(filename)¶
- Returns - Trueif filename is a valid ZIP file based on its magic number, otherwise returns- False. filename may be a file or file-like object too.- Changed in version 3.1: Support for file and file-like objects. 
- zipfile.ZIP_STORED¶
- The numeric constant for an uncompressed archive member. 
- zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED¶
- The numeric constant for the usual ZIP compression method. This requires the - zlibmodule.
- zipfile.ZIP_BZIP2¶
- The numeric constant for the BZIP2 compression method. This requires the - bz2module.- Added in version 3.3. 
- zipfile.ZIP_LZMA¶
- The numeric constant for the LZMA compression method. This requires the - lzmamodule.- Added in version 3.3. - Note - The ZIP file format specification has included support for bzip2 compression since 2001, and for LZMA compression since 2006. However, some tools (including older Python releases) do not support these compression methods, and may either refuse to process the ZIP file altogether, or fail to extract individual files. 
See also
- PKZIP Application Note
- Documentation on the ZIP file format by Phil Katz, the creator of the format and algorithms used. 
- Info-ZIP Home Page
- Information about the Info-ZIP project’s ZIP archive programs and development libraries. 
ZipFile Objects¶
- class zipfile.ZipFile(file, mode='r', compression=ZIP_STORED, allowZip64=True, compresslevel=None, *, strict_timestamps=True, metadata_encoding=None)¶
- Open a ZIP file, where file can be a path to a file (a string), a file-like object or a path-like object. - The mode parameter should be - 'r'to read an existing file,- 'w'to truncate and write a new file,- 'a'to append to an existing file, or- 'x'to exclusively create and write a new file. If mode is- 'x'and file refers to an existing file, a- FileExistsErrorwill be raised. If mode is- 'a'and file refers to an existing ZIP file, then additional files are added to it. If file does not refer to a ZIP file, then a new ZIP archive is appended to the file. This is meant for adding a ZIP archive to another file (such as- python.exe). If mode is- 'a'and the file does not exist at all, it is created. If mode is- 'r'or- 'a', the file should be seekable.- compression is the ZIP compression method to use when writing the archive, and should be - ZIP_STORED,- ZIP_DEFLATED,- ZIP_BZIP2or- ZIP_LZMA; unrecognized values will cause- NotImplementedErrorto be raised. If- ZIP_DEFLATED,- ZIP_BZIP2or- ZIP_LZMAis specified but the corresponding module (- zlib,- bz2or- lzma) is not available,- RuntimeErroris raised. The default is- ZIP_STORED.- If allowZip64 is - True(the default) zipfile will create ZIP files that use the ZIP64 extensions when the zipfile is larger than 4 GiB. If it is- false- zipfilewill raise an exception when the ZIP file would require ZIP64 extensions.- The compresslevel parameter controls the compression level to use when writing files to the archive. When using - ZIP_STOREDor- ZIP_LZMAit has no effect. When using- ZIP_DEFLATEDintegers- 0through- 9are accepted (see- zlibfor more information). When using- ZIP_BZIP2integers- 1through- 9are accepted (see- bz2for more information).- The strict_timestamps argument, when set to - False, allows to zip files older than 1980-01-01 at the cost of setting the timestamp to 1980-01-01. Similar behavior occurs with files newer than 2107-12-31, the timestamp is also set to the limit.- When mode is - 'r', metadata_encoding may be set to the name of a codec, which will be used to decode metadata such as the names of members and ZIP comments.- If the file is created with mode - 'w',- 'x'or- 'a'and then- closedwithout adding any files to the archive, the appropriate ZIP structures for an empty archive will be written to the file.- ZipFile is also a context manager and therefore supports the - withstatement. In the example, myzip is closed after the- withstatement’s suite is finished—even if an exception occurs:- with ZipFile('spam.zip', 'w') as myzip: myzip.write('eggs.txt') - Note - metadata_encoding is an instance-wide setting for the ZipFile. It is not currently possible to set this on a per-member basis. - This attribute is a workaround for legacy implementations which produce archives with names in the current locale encoding or code page (mostly on Windows). According to the .ZIP standard, the encoding of metadata may be specified to be either IBM code page (default) or UTF-8 by a flag in the archive header. That flag takes precedence over metadata_encoding, which is a Python-specific extension. - Changed in version 3.2: Added the ability to use - ZipFileas a context manager.- Changed in version 3.4: ZIP64 extensions are enabled by default. - Changed in version 3.5: Added support for writing to unseekable streams. Added support for the - 'x'mode.- Changed in version 3.6: Previously, a plain - RuntimeErrorwas raised for unrecognized compression values.- Changed in version 3.6.2: The file parameter accepts a path-like object. - Changed in version 3.7: Add the compresslevel parameter. - Changed in version 3.8: The strict_timestamps keyword-only parameter. - Changed in version 3.11: Added support for specifying member name encoding for reading metadata in the zipfile’s directory and file headers. 
- ZipFile.close()¶
- Close the archive file. You must call - close()before exiting your program or essential records will not be written.
- ZipFile.getinfo(name)¶
- Return a - ZipInfoobject with information about the archive member name. Calling- getinfo()for a name not currently contained in the archive will raise a- KeyError.
- ZipFile.infolist()¶
- Return a list containing a - ZipInfoobject for each member of the archive. The objects are in the same order as their entries in the actual ZIP file on disk if an existing archive was opened.
- ZipFile.namelist()¶
- Return a list of archive members by name. 
- ZipFile.open(name, mode='r', pwd=None, *, force_zip64=False)¶
- Access a member of the archive as a binary file-like object. name can be either the name of a file within the archive or a - ZipInfoobject. The mode parameter, if included, must be- 'r'(the default) or- 'w'. pwd is the password used to decrypt encrypted ZIP files as a- bytesobject.- open()is also a context manager and therefore supports the- withstatement:- with ZipFile('spam.zip') as myzip: with myzip.open('eggs.txt') as myfile: print(myfile.read()) - With mode - 'r'the file-like object (- ZipExtFile) is read-only and provides the following methods:- read(),- readline(),- readlines(),- seek(),- tell(),- __iter__(),- __next__(). These objects can operate independently of the ZipFile.- With - mode='w', a writable file handle is returned, which supports the- write()method. While a writable file handle is open, attempting to read or write other files in the ZIP file will raise a- ValueError.- In both cases the file-like object has also attributes - name, which is equivalent to the name of a file within the archive, and- mode, which is- 'rb'or- 'wb'depending on the input mode.- When writing a file, if the file size is not known in advance but may exceed 2 GiB, pass - force_zip64=Trueto ensure that the header format is capable of supporting large files. If the file size is known in advance, construct a- ZipInfoobject with- file_sizeset, and use that as the name parameter.- Note - The - open(),- read()and- extract()methods can take a filename or a- ZipInfoobject. You will appreciate this when trying to read a ZIP file that contains members with duplicate names.- Changed in version 3.6: Removed support of - mode='U'. Use- io.TextIOWrapperfor reading compressed text files in universal newlines mode.- Changed in version 3.6: - ZipFile.open()can now be used to write files into the archive with the- mode='w'option.- Changed in version 3.6: Calling - open()on a closed ZipFile will raise a- ValueError. Previously, a- RuntimeErrorwas raised.- Changed in version 3.13: Added attributes - nameand- modefor the writeable file-like object. The value of the- modeattribute for the readable file-like object was changed from- 'r'to- 'rb'.
- ZipFile.extract(member, path=None, pwd=None)¶
- Extract a member from the archive to the current working directory; member must be its full name or a - ZipInfoobject. Its file information is extracted as accurately as possible. path specifies a different directory to extract to. member can be a filename or a- ZipInfoobject. pwd is the password used for encrypted files as a- bytesobject.- Returns the normalized path created (a directory or new file). - Note - If a member filename is an absolute path, a drive/UNC sharepoint and leading (back)slashes will be stripped, e.g.: - ///foo/barbecomes- foo/baron Unix, and- C:\foo\barbecomes- foo\baron Windows. And all- ".."components in a member filename will be removed, e.g.:- ../../foo../../ba..rbecomes- foo../ba..r. On Windows illegal characters (- :,- <,- >,- |,- ",- ?, and- *) replaced by underscore (- _).- Changed in version 3.6: Calling - extract()on a closed ZipFile will raise a- ValueError. Previously, a- RuntimeErrorwas raised.- Changed in version 3.6.2: The path parameter accepts a path-like object. 
- ZipFile.extractall(path=None, members=None, pwd=None)¶
- Extract all members from the archive to the current working directory. path specifies a different directory to extract to. members is optional and must be a subset of the list returned by - namelist(). pwd is the password used for encrypted files as a- bytesobject.- Warning - Never extract archives from untrusted sources without prior inspection. It is possible that files are created outside of path, e.g. members that have absolute filenames starting with - "/"or filenames with two dots- "..". This module attempts to prevent that. See- extract()note.- Changed in version 3.6: Calling - extractall()on a closed ZipFile will raise a- ValueError. Previously, a- RuntimeErrorwas raised.- Changed in version 3.6.2: The path parameter accepts a path-like object. 
- ZipFile.printdir()¶
- Print a table of contents for the archive to - sys.stdout.
- ZipFile.read(name, pwd=None)¶
- Return the bytes of the file name in the archive. name is the name of the file in the archive, or a - ZipInfoobject. The archive must be open for read or append. pwd is the password used for encrypted files as a- bytesobject and, if specified, overrides the default password set with- setpassword(). Calling- read()on a ZipFile that uses a compression method other than- ZIP_STORED,- ZIP_DEFLATED,- ZIP_BZIP2or- ZIP_LZMAwill raise a- NotImplementedError. An error will also be raised if the corresponding compression module is not available.- Changed in version 3.6: Calling - read()on a closed ZipFile will raise a- ValueError. Previously, a- RuntimeErrorwas raised.
- ZipFile.testzip()¶
- Read all the files in the archive and check their CRC’s and file headers. Return the name of the first bad file, or else return - None.- Changed in version 3.6: Calling - testzip()on a closed ZipFile will raise a- ValueError. Previously, a- RuntimeErrorwas raised.
- ZipFile.write(filename, arcname=None, compress_type=None, compresslevel=None)¶
- Write the file named filename to the archive, giving it the archive name arcname (by default, this will be the same as filename, but without a drive letter and with leading path separators removed). If given, compress_type overrides the value given for the compression parameter to the constructor for the new entry. Similarly, compresslevel will override the constructor if given. The archive must be open with mode - 'w',- 'x'or- 'a'.- Note - The ZIP file standard historically did not specify a metadata encoding, but strongly recommended CP437 (the original IBM PC encoding) for interoperability. Recent versions allow use of UTF-8 (only). In this module, UTF-8 will automatically be used to write the member names if they contain any non-ASCII characters. It is not possible to write member names in any encoding other than ASCII or UTF-8. - Note - Archive names should be relative to the archive root, that is, they should not start with a path separator. - Note - If - arcname(or- filename, if- arcnameis not given) contains a null byte, the name of the file in the archive will be truncated at the null byte.- Note - A leading slash in the filename may lead to the archive being impossible to open in some zip programs on Windows systems. - Changed in version 3.6: Calling - write()on a ZipFile created with mode- 'r'or a closed ZipFile will raise a- ValueError. Previously, a- RuntimeErrorwas raised.
- ZipFile.writestr(zinfo_or_arcname, data, compress_type=None, compresslevel=None)¶
- Write a file into the archive. The contents is data, which may be either a - stror a- bytesinstance; if it is a- str, it is encoded as UTF-8 first. zinfo_or_arcname is either the file name it will be given in the archive, or a- ZipInfoinstance. If it’s an instance, at least the filename, date, and time must be given. If it’s a name, the date and time is set to the current date and time. The archive must be opened with mode- 'w',- 'x'or- 'a'.- If given, compress_type overrides the value given for the compression parameter to the constructor for the new entry, or in the zinfo_or_arcname (if that is a - ZipInfoinstance). Similarly, compresslevel will override the constructor if given.- Note - When passing a - ZipInfoinstance as the zinfo_or_arcname parameter, the compression method used will be that specified in the compress_type member of the given- ZipInfoinstance. By default, the- ZipInfoconstructor sets this member to- ZIP_STORED.- Changed in version 3.2: The compress_type argument. - Changed in version 3.6: Calling - writestr()on a ZipFile created with mode- 'r'or a closed ZipFile will raise a- ValueError. Previously, a- RuntimeErrorwas raised.
- ZipFile.mkdir(zinfo_or_directory, mode=511)¶
- Create a directory inside the archive. If zinfo_or_directory is a string, a directory is created inside the archive with the mode that is specified in the mode argument. If, however, zinfo_or_directory is a - ZipInfoinstance then the mode argument is ignored.- The archive must be opened with mode - 'w',- 'x'or- 'a'.- Added in version 3.11. 
The following data attributes are also available:
- ZipFile.filename¶
- Name of the ZIP file. 
- ZipFile.debug¶
- The level of debug output to use. This may be set from - 0(the default, no output) to- 3(the most output). Debugging information is written to- sys.stdout.
Path Objects¶
- class zipfile.Path(root, at='')¶
- Construct a Path object from a - rootzipfile (which may be a- ZipFileinstance or- filesuitable for passing to the- ZipFileconstructor).- atspecifies the location of this Path within the zipfile, e.g. ‘dir/file.txt’, ‘dir/’, or ‘’. Defaults to the empty string, indicating the root.- Note - The - Pathclass does not sanitize filenames within the ZIP archive. Unlike the- ZipFile.extract()and- ZipFile.extractall()methods, it is the caller’s responsibility to validate or sanitize filenames to prevent path traversal vulnerabilities (e.g., filenames containing “..” or absolute paths). When handling untrusted archives, consider resolving filenames using- os.path.abspath()and checking against the target directory with- os.path.commonpath().
Path objects expose the following features of pathlib.Path
objects:
Path objects are traversable using the / operator or joinpath.
- Path.name¶
- The final path component. 
- Path.open(mode='r', *, pwd, **)¶
- Invoke - ZipFile.open()on the current path. Allows opening for read or write, text or binary through supported modes: ‘r’, ‘w’, ‘rb’, ‘wb’. Positional and keyword arguments are passed through to- io.TextIOWrapperwhen opened as text and ignored otherwise.- pwdis the- pwdparameter to- ZipFile.open().- Changed in version 3.9: Added support for text and binary modes for open. Default mode is now text. - Changed in version 3.11.2: The - encodingparameter can be supplied as a positional argument without causing a- TypeError. As it could in 3.9. Code needing to be compatible with unpatched 3.10 and 3.11 versions must pass all- io.TextIOWrapperarguments,- encodingincluded, as keywords.
- Path.iterdir()¶
- Enumerate the children of the current directory. 
- Path.is_dir()¶
- Return - Trueif the current context references a directory.
- Path.is_file()¶
- Return - Trueif the current context references a file.
- Path.is_symlink()¶
- Return - Trueif the current context references a symbolic link.- Added in version 3.12. - Changed in version 3.13: Previously, - is_symlinkwould unconditionally return- False.
- Path.exists()¶
- Return - Trueif the current context references a file or directory in the zip file.
- Path.suffix¶
- The last dot-separated portion of the final component, if any. This is commonly called the file extension. - Added in version 3.11: Added - Path.suffixproperty.
- Path.stem¶
- The final path component, without its suffix. - Added in version 3.11: Added - Path.stemproperty.
- Path.suffixes¶
- A list of the path’s suffixes, commonly called file extensions. - Added in version 3.11: Added - Path.suffixesproperty.
- Path.read_text(*, **)¶
- Read the current file as unicode text. Positional and keyword arguments are passed through to - io.TextIOWrapper(except- buffer, which is implied by the context).- Changed in version 3.11.2: The - encodingparameter can be supplied as a positional argument without causing a- TypeError. As it could in 3.9. Code needing to be compatible with unpatched 3.10 and 3.11 versions must pass all- io.TextIOWrapperarguments,- encodingincluded, as keywords.
- Path.read_bytes()¶
- Read the current file as bytes. 
- Path.joinpath(*other)¶
- Return a new Path object with each of the other arguments joined. The following are equivalent: - >>> Path(...).joinpath('child').joinpath('grandchild') >>> Path(...).joinpath('child', 'grandchild') >>> Path(...) / 'child' / 'grandchild' - Changed in version 3.10: Prior to 3.10, - joinpathwas undocumented and accepted exactly one parameter.
The zipp project provides backports
of the latest path object functionality to older Pythons. Use
zipp.Path in place of zipfile.Path for early access to
changes.
PyZipFile Objects¶
The PyZipFile constructor takes the same parameters as the
ZipFile constructor, and one additional parameter, optimize.
- class zipfile.PyZipFile(file, mode='r', compression=ZIP_STORED, allowZip64=True, optimize=-1)¶
- Changed in version 3.2: Added the optimize parameter. - Changed in version 3.4: ZIP64 extensions are enabled by default. - Instances have one method in addition to those of - ZipFileobjects:- writepy(pathname, basename='', filterfunc=None)¶
- Search for files - *.pyand add the corresponding file to the archive.- If the optimize parameter to - PyZipFilewas not given or- -1, the corresponding file is a- *.pycfile, compiling if necessary.- If the optimize parameter to - PyZipFilewas- 0,- 1or- 2, only files with that optimization level (see- compile()) are added to the archive, compiling if necessary.- If pathname is a file, the filename must end with - .py, and just the (corresponding- *.pyc) file is added at the top level (no path information). If pathname is a file that does not end with- .py, a- RuntimeErrorwill be raised. If it is a directory, and the directory is not a package directory, then all the files- *.pycare added at the top level. If the directory is a package directory, then all- *.pycare added under the package name as a file path, and if any subdirectories are package directories, all of these are added recursively in sorted order.- basename is intended for internal use only. - filterfunc, if given, must be a function taking a single string argument. It will be passed each path (including each individual full file path) before it is added to the archive. If filterfunc returns a false value, the path will not be added, and if it is a directory its contents will be ignored. For example, if our test files are all either in - testdirectories or start with the string- test_, we can use a filterfunc to exclude them:- >>> zf = PyZipFile('myprog.zip') >>> def notests(s): ... fn = os.path.basename(s) ... return (not (fn == 'test' or fn.startswith('test_'))) ... >>> zf.writepy('myprog', filterfunc=notests) - The - writepy()method makes archives with file names like this:- string.pyc # Top level name test/__init__.pyc # Package directory test/testall.pyc # Module test.testall test/bogus/__init__.pyc # Subpackage directory test/bogus/myfile.pyc # Submodule test.bogus.myfile - Changed in version 3.4: Added the filterfunc parameter. - Changed in version 3.6.2: The pathname parameter accepts a path-like object. - Changed in version 3.7: Recursion sorts directory entries. 
 
ZipInfo Objects¶
Instances of the ZipInfo class are returned by the getinfo() and
infolist() methods of ZipFile objects.  Each object stores
information about a single member of the ZIP archive.
There is one classmethod to make a ZipInfo instance for a filesystem
file:
- classmethod ZipInfo.from_file(filename, arcname=None, *, strict_timestamps=True)¶
- Construct a - ZipInfoinstance for a file on the filesystem, in preparation for adding it to a zip file.- filename should be the path to a file or directory on the filesystem. - If arcname is specified, it is used as the name within the archive. If arcname is not specified, the name will be the same as filename, but with any drive letter and leading path separators removed. - The strict_timestamps argument, when set to - False, allows to zip files older than 1980-01-01 at the cost of setting the timestamp to 1980-01-01. Similar behavior occurs with files newer than 2107-12-31, the timestamp is also set to the limit.- Added in version 3.6. - Changed in version 3.6.2: The filename parameter accepts a path-like object. - Changed in version 3.8: Added the strict_timestamps keyword-only parameter. 
Instances have the following methods and attributes:
- ZipInfo.is_dir()¶
- Return - Trueif this archive member is a directory.- This uses the entry’s name: directories should always end with - /.- Added in version 3.6. 
- ZipInfo.filename¶
- Name of the file in the archive. 
- ZipInfo.date_time¶
- The time and date of the last modification to the archive member. This is a tuple of six values: - Index - Value - 0- Year (>= 1980) - 1- Month (one-based) - 2- Day of month (one-based) - 3- Hours (zero-based) - 4- Minutes (zero-based) - 5- Seconds (zero-based) - Note - The ZIP file format does not support timestamps before 1980. 
- ZipInfo.compress_type¶
- Type of compression for the archive member. 
- ZipInfo.extra¶
- Expansion field data. The PKZIP Application Note contains some comments on the internal structure of the data contained in this - bytesobject.
- ZipInfo.create_system¶
- System which created ZIP archive. 
- ZipInfo.create_version¶
- PKZIP version which created ZIP archive. 
- ZipInfo.extract_version¶
- PKZIP version needed to extract archive. 
- ZipInfo.reserved¶
- Must be zero. 
- ZipInfo.flag_bits¶
- ZIP flag bits. 
- ZipInfo.volume¶
- Volume number of file header. 
- ZipInfo.internal_attr¶
- Internal attributes. 
- ZipInfo.external_attr¶
- External file attributes. 
- ZipInfo.header_offset¶
- Byte offset to the file header. 
- ZipInfo.CRC¶
- CRC-32 of the uncompressed file. 
- ZipInfo.compress_size¶
- Size of the compressed data. 
- ZipInfo.file_size¶
- Size of the uncompressed file. 
Command-Line Interface¶
The zipfile module provides a simple command-line interface to interact
with ZIP archives.
If you want to create a new ZIP archive, specify its name after the -c
option and then list the filename(s) that should be included:
$ python -m zipfile -c monty.zip spam.txt eggs.txt
Passing a directory is also acceptable:
$ python -m zipfile -c monty.zip life-of-brian_1979/
If you want to extract a ZIP archive into the specified directory, use
the -e option:
$ python -m zipfile -e monty.zip target-dir/
For a list of the files in a ZIP archive, use the -l option:
$ python -m zipfile -l monty.zip
Command-line options¶
Decompression pitfalls¶
The extraction in zipfile module might fail due to some pitfalls listed below.
From file itself¶
Decompression may fail due to incorrect password / CRC checksum / ZIP format or unsupported compression method / decryption.
File System limitations¶
Exceeding limitations on different file systems can cause decompression failed. Such as allowable characters in the directory entries, length of the file name, length of the pathname, size of a single file, and number of files, etc.
Resources limitations¶
The lack of memory or disk volume would lead to decompression failed. For example, decompression bombs (aka ZIP bomb) apply to zipfile library that can cause disk volume exhaustion.
Interruption¶
Interruption during the decompression, such as pressing control-C or killing the decompression process may result in incomplete decompression of the archive.
Default behaviors of extraction¶
Not knowing the default extraction behaviors can cause unexpected decompression results. For example, when extracting the same archive twice, it overwrites files without asking.