Unpacking Linux ZIP: How to open the file on Linux

Archive files are designed to bundle and compress multiple files or folders into a single archive. To get to the original files, the archive must be decompressed again later. ZIP is the standard Windows compression method, but it can also be unpacked on Linux.

How to unzip a ZIP file on Linux?

In most Linux versions, unpacking programs are pre-installed and can be used with a few clicks.

1. Right-click on the ZIP archive.
2. A menu will open where you can select "Extract here" or "Extract to...".
3. If you choose "Unpack here", the contents of the ZIP archive will be unpacked directly on the spot, i.e. in the same folder where the archive is located.
4. With "Unpack to..." you can choose the folder where the archive file should be unpacked.
5. Of course, unpacking via the console is also possible. To do this, open a terminal with the key combination "Ctrl + T".
6. Navigate with "cd <folder name>" and "cd ..." (einen Ordner nach oben) in den Ordner, in dem sich die Archivdatei befindet.
7. Für Zip nutzen Sie nun „unzip <Name der Archivdatei>“, bei einer Tar-Datei „tar xfv <Name der Archivdatei>“.
8. Bei .gz-Dateien nutzen Sie „gunzip …“ und bei .bz2-Dateien „bunzip2 …“.

Es existieren auch andere Archivformate. Generell existiert für jedes Format ein Linux-Paket.