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I'm trying to unzip a zip file which contains a video... right away it says:

7-Zip [64] 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18 p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=en_US.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,2 CPUs)

Error: /home/cyberproxy/Downloads/Floating1a.zip: Can not open file as archive

Errors: 1

Unzips on my Android, unzips on my Windows desktop, unzips on my mother's iOS device with unzipper app.

What can I do to fix this?

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9
  • 1
    Can you post the command you used to open the file?
    – Aaron
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:01
  • I right clicked "Extract Here."
    – Mike Wentworth
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:04
  • 1
    Does the file unzip on another system? It seems like you may have a corrupt file.
    – RolandiXor
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:04
  • Unzips on my Android, unzips on my Windows desktop, unzips on my mother's iOS device with unzipper app.
    – Mike Wentworth
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:05
  • 2
    When comments ask for clarification, always edit that clarification into the answer, then comment (with @name to the person) to say that you have done so. Comments are often unread, and may be deleted. Also, in general, it's better for a question to be self-contained, rather than relying on comments.
    – TRiG
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:06

2 Answers 2

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Try downloading p7zip-full from the standard repository.

"p7zip-full provides utilities to pack and unpack 7z archives within a shell or using a GUI (such as Ark, File Roller or Nautilus)."

EDIT: It seems that newer versions of File Roller can open 7Z files automatically, according to the installation notes.

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6
  • Please add instructions on how to use it (less experienced users who wouldn't have a clue what to type).
    – RolandiXor
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:10
  • Once installed, "p7zip-full provides utilities to pack and unpack 7z archives within a shell or using a GUI (such as Ark, File Roller or Nautilus)." IE, It will work just like normal zip, no extra commands required.
    – Marty Fried
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:11
  • It says it's already been installed. Weird.
    – Mike Wentworth
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:15
  • In that case, are you sure that the copy on Ubuntu is exactly the same as the one you can open successfully? Perhaps it got corrupted. Or, check permissions to make sure you have permissions (check owner and permissions in properties).
    – Marty Fried
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:23
  • Yup! Same copy [Bluetooth transfer]. Nothing seems off about the permission. I just installed Kubuntu and it opened the zip instantly -- although nothing was in it, it still unzipped.
    – Mike Wentworth
    Jun 14, 2014 at 3:34
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My first thought is that the archive is not properly formatted as such. The unzip program doesn't think that it's a valid zip file.

Try opening a terminal (search for it in your programs menu). For the purposes of this demonstration, I'm going to assume it's in your downloads folder.

Once you've opened the terminal do the following:

  1. Change directory to the downloads folder.

    cd ~/Downloads

  2. Unzip the file using the command-line tool, unzip

    unzip Floating1a.zip

This should put it into a folder (or give you a zip-bomb in the current directory) of everything that's in it. If this fails, it is almost guaranteed to be a problem with the file, not the unzip program.

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7
  • It still didn't work -- what I don't understand is how an Android device can open it but a real Linux machine can't. I'm baffled.
    – Mike Wentworth
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:12
  • 7z format is a newer format, and not a standard zip format. It is probably a licensing issue, but the required addon is freely available from the Ubuntu repository, as are other non-standard formats.
    – Marty Fried
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:19
  • But that still doesn't explain why Android can do it. Although I understand you,
    – Mike Wentworth
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:23
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    I'm wondering if it's not really zipped at all and the other sources are recognizing this and opening it as it should be opened (in a media player)? try opening it with VLC or whatever program you have installed for media.
    – Mitch
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:25
  • On further investigation, I see that on my system (xubuntu), file-roller has the ability to open 7z files. But the previous suggestion might also be good. BTW, Android != Linux; it is only built on parts of the Linux Kernel. I doubt that Linux includes this ability anyway, though.
    – Marty Fried
    Jun 13, 2014 at 16:28

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