Z word. 'Cannot open file: it does not appear to be a valid archive'. This error can happen when part of the zip file becomes corrupt during an interrupted download, copy.

PeaZip is a free cross-platform file archiver utility that provides an unified portable GUI for many Open Source technologies like 7-Zip, FreeArc, PAQ, UPX. Free alternative to WinRar, WinZip and similar proprietary software. - Create 7Z, ARC, BZ2, GZ, *PAQ, PEA, QUAD/BALZ, TAR, UPX, WIM, XZ, ZIP files - Open and extract ACE, ARJ, CAB, DMG, ISO, LHA, RAR, UDF, ZIPX files and more, over 180 archive types supported Features of PeaZip includes: archives opener and extractor, batch creation and extraction of multiple archives at once, convert files, create self-extracting archives, split and join files, strong encryption with two factor authentication, encrypted password manager, secure deletion, find duplicate files, calculate hash and checksum, export job definition as script. PeaZip, like any archive management utility, needs the user to provide the correct password to work on, in order to access and extract encrypted files, and in some cases even to list the content of the archive - i.e.

If sender used 'encrypt filenames' option (7Z archives) making archive table of content unreadable without providing correct password. Recover lost / forgotten password The person who created (and encoded) the archive is the only one to know the decryption password, and the only one that should be contacted to retrieve the password in case it has been lost or forgotten by the recipient - or to provide a non-encrypted 'unlocked' version of the file. Current revisions of mainstream archive formats like (7Z, ARC, PEA, RAR, and ZIP) uses strong encryption, and it is unlikely to remove password-protection by trial (or with brute force password removal utilities) if the password is not known or it was forgotten. Dictionary based password remover tools may be more efficient than brute-force routines in retrieving access to the locked files, but strong passwords usually defeats the purpose of similar programs - randomly generated passwords, or long passphrases using mixed case, numbers and symbols replacements (as in Diceware rules), cannot usually get guessed & removed by such tools. Unlocking an unreadable archive by attempting password recovery is generally not a recommended solution, to find an unknown password being a time-consuming process, and not being guaranteed the result of retrieving access to the locked archive. Official PeaZip packages and website NEVER asks users a password to be downloaded / installed: if that happens please don't trust that package and use only official packages published on PeaZip official domain or on reputable software distributors.

Hint: if you have to work on different archives with the same password you will not need to re-enter it since it will be kept until you change it or close PeaZip. If you open different instances of PeaZip each will start with no password and can keep a different password. • The archive may be corrupted (it can happen quite frequently, i.e. When there is an error during a download of a file, or due to a failure on the memory support), or be a fake file (i.e. A non-archive file or random data renamed with archive type extension), or in worst case it may have been purposely altered. In those cases you will need to retrieve an intact copy of the file: re-download it from a trusted source or restore it from a reliable backup copy. In some cases PeaZip may not be able to browse archive's content because the file is corrupted (either for accidental corruption or malicious manipulation): PeaZip will always let the user in control of chosing if entering a password for trying to decrypt the archive any time an unreadable archive is encountered - even if the file extension is not usually associated with archives supporting encryption, as it can be easily changed to trick unexperienced users.