Sample Archive Files for Download — ZIP, TAR, TAR.GZ, 7Z, GZ

7 formats · 17 files · direct links · no ads · free for any use

Each archive contains real files from the other categories — images, documents, audio, data — rather than padding, so extracting it gives you a mixed fixture set in one download. The ZIP page also covers the edge cases that trip up upload handlers: an empty archive, a nested ZIP-inside-a-ZIP, an archive with 100 entries, and one stored without compression.

Use them to test extraction services, zip-bomb and path-traversal protections, attachment scanners, and anything that accepts a compressed upload. Entry counts and compression methods are listed for every file.

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Frequently asked questions

Why is there no RAR file?

RAR is a proprietary format that can only be created with WinRAR's licensed tool, so we cannot generate one in an open, reproducible pipeline. 7Z gives you a comparable high-compression, multi-file archive for testing, and every major extractor handles it.

Are the archives safe to extract automatically?

Yes. Every entry lives under a single pine-birch-samples/ directory, there are no absolute paths, no ../ traversal entries, no symlinks and no executables. The nested ZIP contains two small ZIPs two levels deep — enough to test recursion limits without being a zip bomb.

Other sample file categories

Free sample files by Pine & Birch — technology consulting, Toronto. Free for any use, no attribution required.