android open zip file hero

Opening ZIP files is something people associate with computers, but it can be done on a phone or tablet too. If you download a compressed file on your Android device, it’s not too difficult to extract its contents. We’ll show you how.

Every Android phone comes with a file manager app, but they’re typically barebones and can’t open ZIP files. Thankfully, there are a number of apps on the Google Play Store that can do it for free.

One app that we like is “Files by Google.” Not only is this a good app for uncompressing ZIPs, but it’s also a good all-around file manager that can also be used to free up space on your smartphone.

RELATED: How to Free Up Storage Space on Your Android Phone with Files by Google

First, download Files by Google from the Google Play Store on your Android device. Next, open the app and locate the ZIP file you would like to open. If you downloaded the compressed file, look for a “Downloads” folder.

find the ZIP file

From there, select the file to bring up the Extracting dialog. Tap the “Extract” button to open the file.

tap extract to open

You’ll see a progress bar and then the dialog will tell you the file has been unzipped. Tap “Done” to finish. If you’d like to discard the ZIP file, you can check the “Delete ZIP File” box while closing the pop-up menu.

finished extracting file

That’s it! The extracted contents from the ZIP file will be placed in the same folder location as the ZIP file itself.

RELATED: How to Find Files You Downloaded on Android