"Unexpected end of archive" — how to recover the files inside.
"Unexpected end of archive" means the ZIP parser reached the end before the archive structure or a member was complete. FileFix scans the local records that arrived, rebuilds a fresh ZIP index, and shows the recovered file list before checkout. A one-time $5 — and only if the repair works.
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Try another fileGood news — your file isn't damaged. No charge.
There's nothing to repair. If it still looks broken, the issue may be the player, codec, or viewer on your device rather than the file itself.
We couldn't recover this one.
The file is too damaged to rebuild, so there is nothing to preview and no charge.
Have another clip from the same device?
A healthy video recorded on the same device — ideally the same settings — gives the repair engine a template to rebuild from. It can unlock repairs that fail on their own.
Unrepaired files are kept encrypted for up to 30 days, then deleted.
FileFix can't fix that kind of file yet.
Right now we repair video, audio, document, and image files (MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, AVI, TS, MTS, M2TS, MPG, MPEG, VOB, 3GP, WebM, FLV, M4A, WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, AIFF, XLSX, DOCX, PPTX, ODT, ZIP, PDF, AI, HEIC, and HEIF). We're adding support for more formats over time.
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Try repairing your file
FileFix can often repair this kind of damage if the file is recoverable.
Why this happens
ZIP tools show "Unexpected end of archive" when the bytes stop earlier than the archive metadata says they should. An interrupted download or copy often removes the end-of-central-directory record and part or all of the central directory. A cut can also land inside the last compressed member.
"How do I fix it myself?" has an honest answer: re-download the archive, or ask the sender to re-send it — ideally as a link rather than an attachment. WinRAR's built-in "Repair archive" can rebuild some damaged archives too. When the tail of the file genuinely never arrived, though, no tool can restore bytes that aren't there, and the job becomes recovering the members that did.
A quick way to judge the damage: check the file's size against what the source reports, where it shows one. A ZIP that is noticeably smaller was cut off in transit — the classic cause of this error — and everything after the cut simply does not exist in your copy.
FileFix does not need the old central directory to start. It scans forward for local file headers, decompresses readable stored or DEFLATE data, and writes recovered members into a new ZIP whose directory matches the rebuilt contents.
A member before the cut may be recovered; a member crossing the cut may be partial or unreadable; members that came after the missing bytes do not exist in the upload. The summary reports the new archive's entries and readability rather than claiming the original archive was complete.
What we can and can't recover
We can usually fix
- Archives that show "unexpected end of archive"
- Archives cut off during a download or copy
- ZIP files with a damaged central directory
- Archives that show the right size but won't open
We can't fix
- Encrypted archives
- Multi-part or split archives missing their other parts
- Genuinely empty (0-byte) files
- Files on physically damaged drives (that's hardware data recovery)
How it works
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Upload Drop the file in. It uploads over an encrypted connection. The repair runs automatically — no person looks at your file.
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Free Watermarked Preview You see exactly what we recovered — the list of files recovered from the archive.
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Pay & Download If the summary shows what you need, unlock the repaired ZIP archive for a one-time $5.
You see a recovery summary built from your actual file before you decide anything — so you never guess.
See what's recoverable.
Free recovery summary · private & auto-deleted
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Questions
Re-download the file or have it re-sent; an interrupted transfer is the usual cause, and a complete copy needs no repair. If a fresh copy shows the same error or the source is gone, the archive itself is truncated and a rebuild from its surviving records is the remaining option.
Yes, if the source is still available. A fresh complete download is preferable because repair cannot supply bytes that never arrived. Use FileFix when you cannot obtain a clean copy.
When a transfer ends early, earlier member data may already be complete while the member being written at the cut is truncated. The final ZIP directory, which normally follows all members, may also be absent.
Yes. It contains entries the scanner found in the uploaded bytes. The free list shows the rebuilt contents so missing entries are visible before checkout.