How to open a .EX_ file online
No extra software to download or install.
Pick your .EX_ file
Drag it in or click to choose it. We read its contents list first, so it opens right away without unpacking everything.
Browse what's inside
See every file with its size, how much it's compressed and its date, and search by name across all the folders.
Preview or download
Click a file to preview text or images, or save just that one. Need everything? Download it all as a single ZIP.
About .EX_ files
What a .EX_ file is, and what's inside it.
An EX_ file is a compressed copy of a Windows .exe, created by Microsoft's old install tools to save space on floppies and CDs. It cannot run as-is. On Windows, open Command Prompt and run "expand file.ex_ file.exe" to recover the executable, or open the file with 7-Zip. The file is not malware.
Programs that open .EX_ files
| Full name | Compressed Windows Executable |
|---|---|
| Developer | Microsoft |
| First released | early 1990s (MS-DOS/Windows install media; COMPRESS.EXE / EXPAND.EXE) |
| Category | Archives |
| MIME type | application/octet-stream |
| Signature | 53 5A 44 44 88 F0 27 33 "SZDD" + signature bytes (88 F0 27 33) - MS-Compress SZDD header |
Related viewers
Found something inside the archive? Open it here.
Do I have to unpack the whole .EX_ file?
No. The viewer reads its table of contents first and only unpacks a file when you click it. That works even with multi-gigabyte archives, because we read just the bytes we need.
Can I open password-protected archives?
Yes, for ZIP (ZipCrypto and AES) and 7Z. You'll be asked for the password,. We can't recover forgotten passwords.
Is my .EX_ file uploaded anywhere?
No. The code that unpacks the file is downloaded once and then reused.
Why does a .docx or .apk open as an archive?
Because they are ZIP archives under the hood. Office documents, Android apps, Java programs and EPUB books all use ZIP as their container.
What about split archives (.001, .z01, .part1.rar)?
Multi-part archives need all their parts. Today you can open the first part to see the file list; joining parts is on our roadmap.
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