A ZIP password unlocker for Windows that works on archives you own. It finds the forgotten password and saves the archive again without protection.
Drag a .ZIP file into the window or click Add Files. Add Folder adds every archive in a directory at once.
The program identifies legacy ZipCrypto or WinZip AES protection, then searches with a dictionary and patterns. Progress stays on screen.
Once the password is confirmed on the file, the program writes the archive again without protection into the folder you choose. Your original file stays where it was.
Four of the ten results for zip password recovery tool are web services. They require an upload to someone else's server. This desktop program keeps the file on your machine.
You run the recovery yourself on your own computer, and the answer comes from the program.
The archive is opened read-only, every check happens in memory, and the result is written as a separate file. If the password is not found, you still have exactly the archive you started with.
The program reads the archive headers, reports whether it found legacy ZipCrypto or WinZip AES (AE-1 and AE-2, AES-128 and AES-256), and switches to the matching mode.
Start with a word list. If you remember an eleven letter word plus three characters, describe that shape as a mask and the program will try only passwords that match it.
The search runs on the GPU when the PC has one, which matters most for WinZip AES. The format derives its key with PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA1 at 1000 iterations, roughly a hundred times lighter than Office 2013 and newer. Without a GPU, the program uses the CPU and warns that the search can take a very long time.
Point the program at a folder and every .ZIP inside joins the queue.
The program decodes the content and rebuilds the archive without protection. The result is a normal .ZIP that opens on double click, with no prompt and no extra software needed on the computer you send it to.
The program names the protection it found and what it means in practice before the search begins. Some archives take minutes. A random password on AES is not something we promise, and you are told that before the search starts.
A family-photo archive from a computer two computers ago, with a password that felt obvious in 2011.
Configs and log exports arrive as protected archives, and the colleague who knew the password has left the company. Now it is your ticket.
A client sends scans in a locked .ZIP and goes on vacation without sending the password. If the deck for the same report turns out to be a password protected presentation too, that is a separate one-file fix.
Prefer installing apps through the Microsoft Store? You can also get ZIP Password Recovery Tool on Microsoft Store.
What to expect depends on how the archive was made.