ISO to ZIP Converter
Drop an .iso disc image below and get its files back as a ZIP, without mounting a virtual drive. The disc’s file table is read and repacked in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
- Runs in your browser
- No upload
- No signup or watermark
- Free
Convert ISO to ZIP free and private, without mounting the image
To convert ISO to ZIP free and private, drag your .iso file onto the converter above (or click it to browse), keep ZIP selected and press Convert to ZIP. The image’s file table is read directly, with no mounting and no virtual drive, and every file and folder is repacked into a ZIP inside your browser. A download named after the image appears, so drivers.iso becomes drivers.zip. Nothing is uploaded; check the Network tab in DevTools if you want proof.
An ISO file is a sector-by-sector copy of an optical disc. Its file table is normally ISO 9660, the CD-ROM file system standardised in 1988, often with Rock Ridge extensions (Unix names, permissions and symbolic links) or Joliet extensions (long Unicode names, added by Microsoft). Windows 8 and later and macOS can mount an ISO by double-clicking it, so you do not always need a conversion; a ZIP helps when you want a portable copy, only some of the files, or are on a device that cannot mount disc images.
In our tests, a plain ISO 9660 image with no extensions produced upper-case names such as README.TXT, which is all the disc stores, while Joliet and Rock Ridge images kept spaces and accented letters. For a Linux download, compare the image with its published checksum using the file hash calculator first. Other archive formats have their own pages, such as RAR to ZIP, 7Z to ZIP and TAR.GZ to ZIP.
Your files stay on this device
This converter runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. When you add your first archive, the page fetches its engine, a WebAssembly build of libarchive of about 1 MB, from zipconvert.com. Your ISO file is then read from disk and rewritten as ZIP inside the tab. To check, open DevTools, switch to the Network tab and convert a file: apart from those engine files, no request carries it. The privacy policy covers the rest of the site.
Table of Use: ISO to ZIP by kind of image
| Your ISO | What to do | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| A driver disc, utility CD or small Linux image under 2 GB | Drop it, keep ZIP selected and press Convert to ZIP | A ZIP with the disc’s folders and files |
| An image with Rock Ridge (Linux, Unix) or Joliet (Windows) names | The same steps | Long names with spaces and accented letters are kept; Rock Ridge also keeps permissions and symbolic links |
| A plain ISO 9660 image with neither extension | The same steps | Names exactly as the disc stores them, in upper case, such as README.TXT |
| An image that holds only a UDF file system, as most Blu-ray images do | Mount it in your operating system instead | The converter says no files could be read from the archive |
| A bootable installer image | Write the original ISO to a USB stick with Rufus, balenaEtcher or the vendor’s tool | A ZIP of the files is not a bootable disc |
| An image over 2 GB | Mount it, or extract it with a desktop tool | Refused before conversion starts: “Over the 2 GB in-browser limit for archives.” |
Full desktop installers for Windows or Ubuntu are typically several gigabytes, so this page suits smaller images: driver discs, utility CDs, firmware bundles and old software discs.
Features
- Reads the file table, not the disc. libarchive 3.7.2, compiled to WebAssembly, walks the ISO 9660 directory tree. Nothing is mounted, so no drivers or administrator rights are needed.
- Understands Rock Ridge and Joliet. Long names, Unicode names, Unix permissions and symbolic links come through when the disc stores them, and a hybrid image with both ISO 9660 and UDF is read through its ISO 9660 tree.
- Keeps what the disc records. Dates, folders (empty ones too) and, from Rock Ridge, permissions and symbolic links are written into the ZIP, with names as UTF-8. Unsafe paths are cleaned and counted.
- Notices a cut-off image. If the file ends inside a file’s data, the converter reports that the archive is damaged or incomplete, with the reason “Truncated input file”, instead of writing shortened files.
- Honest about what is missing. Boot records are not files, so they are not in the ZIP, and a UDF-only image cannot be read. Images over 2 GB are refused, with a warning above 1 GB.
Files headed for a Linux machine can be repacked with the ZIP to TAR.GZ converter, and the home page converter also reads CAB, LHA, CPIO and DEB files.
How to convert ISO to ZIP, step by step
Add the ISO image
Drag the .iso onto the box labelled “Drop ISO files here or click to browse”, or click the box and choose the file. The converter finds the ISO 9660 signature in the image and starts fetching its engine, about 1 MB, at that moment.
Leave “Convert to” on ZIP
Once the image is listed, a “Convert to” menu appears with ZIP selected. Tick “Keep macOS metadata files” only if the disc was made on a Mac and you want those files.
Press Convert to ZIP
A progress bar runs on the row while the image is read and repacked. If no files can be read, the row shows a red message and nothing is written.
Download the ZIP
Click the button with the new name, such as drivers.zip. The note under it counts files, folders and links and lists anything that could not be carried over.
If a normal ISO 9660 image is refused, tell us on the contact page; every other free tool is listed under all tools.
Who can use it
- People who need a few files from a disc image. Pull a driver or a manual out of a vendor ISO without mounting anything.
- Retro-computing and software-preservation hobbyists. Old software and game discs were often ISO 9660 with Joliet names, which this page reads.
- Support staff. Share the contents of a recovery or firmware ISO as a ZIP that any customer can open.
- Anyone who would rather not upload a disc image. Backups of personal discs stay on the device that holds them.
FAQs
How do I open an ISO file without mounting it?
Drag the .iso onto the converter on this page, keep ZIP selected and press Convert to ZIP. The converter reads the disc’s ISO 9660 file table directly and repacks the files into a ZIP in your browser, so no virtual drive is created. Open the ZIP with any file manager and take the files you need.
Do I need to convert an ISO at all?
Often not: Windows 8 and later and macOS mount an ISO as a virtual drive when you double-click it. Converting to ZIP helps when you want a portable copy of the files to send or store, need only some of them, or are on a device that cannot mount disc images.
Will the ZIP still be bootable?
No. A bootable disc relies on boot records and a disc layout that a ZIP cannot reproduce, and the ZIP contains only the files. To make a bootable USB stick, write the original ISO with a tool such as Rufus, balenaEtcher or the vendor’s own media creator rather than converting it.
Why does my ISO say no files could be read?
The converter reads ISO 9660 file tables. An image that holds only a UDF file system, as most Blu-ray images do, has no such table, so you see “No files could be read from this archive”. Mount it with your operating system instead. A badly damaged image can produce the same message.
Is my ISO image uploaded anywhere?
No. The image is read from your disk and processed inside the browser tab. The page fetches only its own engine files from zipconvert.com when you add the file, and the Network tab in DevTools shows no request that carries the image. That makes it suitable for discs of personal or company software.
How large an ISO can I convert?
Up to 2 GB, with a warning above 1 GB. The whole image is loaded into the browser tab’s memory before its files are read, so larger images such as full Windows or Ubuntu installers are refused up front with the message “Over the 2 GB in-browser limit for archives.” Use your operating system’s mount function for those.
Related Tools
More archive conversions that run the same way, entirely in your browser.