# Unpack an archive

Acquire / archive

decompress or unpack zip, tar, gzip

Page: <https://meridian.online/operations/unpack-an-archive>

## Status

Not built yet.

arcform does not do this yet. [Its place on the roadmap](https://meridian.online/roadmap#unpack-an-archive)

arcform has `archive_extract` for zip archives.

## Variants

- Compress files into an archive: Pack files or content into a zip, tar or gzip archive, or recompress it with another algorithm.
- Extract email attachments: Split the attachments or MIME parts of an email into separate files.
- [List the files in an archive](https://meridian.online/operations/unpack-an-archive/list-the-files-in-an-archive): Read an archive as an index, one row per member with its name, size and date, without extracting it.
- Process each file in an archive: Run a set of steps once for each member of an archive.
- Extract the files in an archive: Decompress a zip, tar or gzip archive and hand on each member as a file or item of its own.

## What other tools call it

Meridian's classification; an independent blind rating agreed on 86.2% of 312 rows (exact class, version 2).

- Duckle: [`Extract Archive`](https://github.com/slothflowlabs/duckle/blob/f85f8960edfb6efbf4cb89d58a7b32e16df0e867/frontend/src/workflow-ui/palette-data.ts) (read 2026-09-25)
- Apache Hop: [`Unzip file`](https://hop.apache.org/manual/latest/workflow/actions/unzip.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- KNIME Analytics Platform: [`Compress Files/Folder`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*Zu6mLzbGtihImNIi?details=full) (read 2026-09-27)
- KNIME Analytics Platform: [`Compress Files/Folder (Table)`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*xELITwzuVxr5Y5D4?details=full) (read 2026-09-27)
- KNIME Analytics Platform: [`Decompress Files`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*Idv4NOkow3wYGr_Z?details=full) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache NiFi: [`CompressContent`](https://nifi.apache.org/components/org.apache.nifi.processors.standard.CompressContent/) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache NiFi: [`ExtractEmailAttachments`](https://nifi.apache.org/components/org.apache.nifi.processors.email.ExtractEmailAttachments/) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache NiFi: [`ModifyCompression`](https://nifi.apache.org/components/org.apache.nifi.processors.compress.ModifyCompression/) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache NiFi: [`PackageFlowFile`](https://nifi.apache.org/components/org.apache.nifi.processors.standard.PackageFlowFile/) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache NiFi: [`UnpackContent`](https://nifi.apache.org/components/org.apache.nifi.processors.standard.UnpackContent/) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Loop (Compressed Files)`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/extensions/Operator%20Toolbox/utility/loop_compressed.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Loop Zip-File Entries`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/utility/process_control/loops/loop_zipfile_entries.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Un-gzip`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/extensions/Operator%20Toolbox/data_access/un_gzip.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Talend: [`tFileUnarchive`](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/components/8.0/archive-unarchive/archive-unarchive-component) (read 2026-09-27)
- VisiData: [`extract-file`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/archive.py#L172) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`extract-file-to`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/archive.py#L174) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`extract-part`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/eml.py#L56) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`extract-part-selected`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/eml.py#L57) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`extract-selected`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/archive.py#L173) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`extract-selected-to`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/archive.py#L175) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`tar (loader)`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/archive.py#L30) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`zip (loader)`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/loaders/archive.py#L26) (read 2026-09-23)