Test files › Archives

Sample Archives test files

What are archive test files?

ZIP, TAR, GZIP and 7z files built to exercise extraction code: valid archives in several layouts, plus the cases a safe extractor must refuse, including Zip Slip paths, absolute paths, a decompression bomb, deep nesting and a corrupt central directory.

Sample ZIP fileSample 7z, TAR and GZIP filesUpload validation checklistFile signatures

14 free archives test files for QA and developers: absolute-path.zip, corrupt-central-directory.zip, empty.zip, mixed-content-50mb.zip and more. Each with a…

FileFormatSizeWhat it catches
absolute-path.zipZIP161 bytesArchive whose entry name is an absolute path (/tmp/qa-absolute.txt).
corrupt-central-directory.zipZIP219 bytesValid local file headers, but the central directory signature is overwritten with garbage.
empty.zipZIP22 bytesA structurally valid ZIP containing zero entries (22-byte end-of-central-directory only).
mixed-content-50mb.zipZIP40.0 MBRealistic ~50 MB archive mixing incompressible binary blobs with highly compressible text.
modest-zip-bomb.zipZIP996 KBA ~1 MB archive that expands to roughly 1 GB: ten entries of 100 MB of zeroes each. Deliberately modest - this is not a 42 KB / 4.5 PB bomb.
nested-10-deep.zipZIP1.2 KBA ZIP containing a ZIP containing a ZIP, ten levels down, with a text file at the centre.
single-file.gzGZIP146 bytesA single gzip-compressed text file (not a tar), with the original filename in the header.
stored.7z7z303 bytesA valid .7z archive holding three files, including one in a subdirectory. Entries use the Copy codec, so they are stored rather than compressed.
unicode-entry-names.zipZIP563 bytesEntries named in Japanese, Arabic, Russian and emoji, with the UTF-8 flag (bit 11) set correctly.
valid-flat.zipZIP376 bytesThree deflated text files at the archive root, no directories.
valid-nested-dirs.zipZIP390 bytesArchive with entries five directory levels deep.
valid.tarTAR4.0 KBA USTAR tar archive with three files, including one in a subdirectory.
valid.tar.gzTAR+GZIP188 bytesThe gzip-compressed form of a tar archive - the ubiquitous .tar.gz.
zip-slip-traversal.zipZIP357 bytesArchive containing an entry named ../../../../tmp/qa-zip-slip.txt. The payload is a harmless text marker, but the path escapes the extraction directory.

← All test files