How to Repair Damaged Zip Files on Windows 10/8/7

“I’m working on a business program and I need to access an old zipped archive folder that contains a lot of important Docx files, images and spread sheets. But when I try to extract my files from the Zip file, it shows an error message: “the archive is corrupt or damaged”. I’ve tried several times but with no luck. Any solution to repair this damaged Zip file? Thanks!”

Zip files are are easily to get damaged due to transfer error when you download it form the Internet. When a Zip file become damaged, you cannot extract all of your data from the file correctly. There are many people have experienced Zip file corruption problems with PC but seldom people know how to repair damaged Zip files. If fact, it is possible repair and extract broken Zip files on Windows computer. In this post, we’ll show you 3 methods to make it.

How to Repair Damaged Zip Files on Windows 10/8/7

Method 1: Repair Corrupted Zip Archive with WinRAR

If you have WinRAR installed on your computer, you can easily repair Zip files with this software.

Step 1. Launch WinRAR software.

Step 2. In address bar, navigate to the location where you save your Zip file.

Step 3. Select the file you want open and click Repair button in tool bar.

Step 4. Choose Repair Archiver if there is a dropdown list.

Step 5. In the popup dialog, choose a location to put the repaired archive and select archive type, then click OK to save settings.

Step 6. When repairing process is completed, go to the folder you choose to save repaired archive and try opening the archive again.

Method 2: Run CMD to Repair Invalid Zip Files

You can repair a corrupted or invalid Zip file by running CMD. Here’s how you can make it:

Step 1.Open CMD as an administrator. If you are on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, right click Start and click Command Prompt (Admin). If you are using Windows 7/8/Vista/XP, click Start > All Programs > Accessories, then right click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.

Step 2. Change directories to the folder where the broken Zip file is.

Step 3. Type: “C:\Program Files\WinZip\wzzip” -yf zipfile.zip and press the Enter key.

Method 3: Repair Broken Zip Files Using File Recovery Tool

In addition to the two solutions above, using file recovery software can also be a good choice for you to repair damaged Zip files. There are number of professional Zip repair tools you can find on Google and you can download a reliable software to have a try.