How to unzip files bigger than 4GB?

Question

I'm using RHEL 5.6 and unzip-5.52-3.el5. I'm trying to unzip a big file, but I get the error:

unzip -o test.zip -d unzip/
error:  Zip file too big (greater than 4294959102 bytes)
Archive:  test.zip
warning [test.zip]:  4294967296 extra bytes at beginning or within zipfile

Is there another program that can work with large zip files or do I have to wait until unzip 6 comes to RHEL? (might be years!)

Thanks

score 49 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 03 '12 at 17:39

49

If you've got Java on the box, you can use

jar xf test.zip

answered Oct 03 '12 at 17:39

Zac Thompson

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saved me from having to bug the SAs to install unzip6. Thanks! – plor May 15 '13 at 20:19
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life saved. [ beer token ] – Ade Oct 14 '13 at 22:17
I had a 16+GB zip file downloaded from my wife's phone using AirDroid, and this trick saved me a lot of trouble! – Bob Bell Oct 10 '14 at 18:52

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 14 '11 at 03:51

5

I've found good success with 7-zip, it appears they have a fedora core build as well that might work for you, the downloads can be found at http://www.7-zip.org/download.html. Failing the fedora one, you can download the source and/or binary and try that.

answered Feb 14 '11 at 03:51

dsteuernol

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I played around with 7-zip (7z), but when extracting files from my zip it kept saying unrecognised format. – Noodles Feb 15 '11 at 01:54
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Check if 7z isn't an alias for 7zr. Try running 7za. – Hubert Kario Feb 15 '11 at 03:36
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The package p7zip-full ships a command 7z, which accepts the x (extract) option. So in my case, using '7z x huge.zip' worked without issue. – RemusKaos Jul 24 '17 at 11:22
7z fails for me, says the file is corrupt. The most upvoted jar answer did work though – David Waterworth Oct 24 '19 at 02:14

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 24 '17 at 11:24

5

You can either use javas jar, or (in my opinion) even better: 7-zip. Most distros allow for it to be installed from repos, so you can use for example (on ubuntu):

sudo apt-get install p7zip-full
7z x huge.zip

Note how the command is not p7z or p7zip, but only 7z. Also the x option has no preceding -. Best of luck!

answered Jul 24 '17 at 11:24

RemusKaos

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This answer has already been given 6 years ago. – Gerald Schneider Jul 24 '17 at 11:43
This method worked for me with a 16GB `zip` — I trust the `jar` method also works but did not try that. Thanks. – userabuser May 12 '18 at 02:38
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@GeraldSchneider This answer helped me regardless of when it was answered. – Mercurial Oct 11 '19 at 07:08

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 15 '11 at 01:54

4

I finally ended up rolling my own rpm's for unzip 6, they can be found here: http://www.noodles.net.nz/2011/02/15/unzip-6-for-rhel-5-6/

answered Feb 15 '11 at 01:54

Noodles

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you can select your own answer as the one that solved the problem – Hubert Kario Feb 15 '11 at 03:37
I compiled the current unzip-6.0 from scratch - it didn't fix the problem. – reinierpost Jan 10 '12 at 10:28
rpm at http://www.noodles.net.nz/2011/02/15/unzip-6-for-rhel-5-6/ worked for me – BKS Feb 28 '13 at 10:50

score -2 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 14 '17 at 09:17

-2

I tried all the steps mentioned above to unzip the file, but failed miserably.

My last resort was to copy my zip file (11.1GB) into a hard drive and unzip it using 7 zip on Windows 8 OS.

Worked like a charm :D

answered Jun 14 '17 at 09:17

Vinu Joseph

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That is not an answer to this question. – Cory Knutson Jun 14 '17 at 19:18
I tried in more ways than one to get it running on Linux... None of the solutions worked... So I'm giving a better alternative... Much more easier and hassle-free alternative.. – Vinu Joseph Jun 19 '17 at 07:21
Beyond 4 GB, linux is unable to unzip files... Windows I'm afraid has a much better mechanism to unzip huge zip files... So just giving out that info... – Vinu Joseph Jun 19 '17 at 07:23
No it's not, silly. Read above. Just don't use `/bin/unzip` – Warren P Jan 31 '18 at 23:56
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`jar xf file.zip` or `7z x file.zip` and others are fine – Warren P Jan 31 '18 at 23:57
jar xf file.zip worked for me, but 7z x file.zip failed (Ubuntu, 4.4GB file) – David Waterworth Oct 24 '19 at 02:13

How to unzip files bigger than 4GB?

5 Answers5