# Extracting Files in the Media Library

The plugin offers several ways to open ZIP files and extract them, either individually or in their entirety.

## Preparing to Work with ZIP Files

By default, uploading ZIP files to WordPress is not allowed. However, you can change this by going to Settings > External Files in the Media Library and selecting "ZIP" in the file type dropdown menu. Click Save—and you’re done.

## Opening an External ZIP File and Extracting It to the Media Library

With this method, you don’t need to explicitly enable ZIP files for the Media Library as described above. **Just follow these steps:**

1. Go to Media > Add External File > ZIP.
2. Enter the URL of the ZIP file in the input field, e.g., `https://example.com/gepackt.zip`.
3. Click "Use this file" and then wait until the file and its contents have loaded.

**Once the file has loaded, you have the following options:**

- Extract a single file from the ZIP to your media library by clicking the "Import" button next to the file.
- Extract all files from the ZIP to your media library by clicking "Extract current directory to media library."

For both methods, depending on your settings, the [file import dialog](https://plugins.thomaszwirner.de/2025/10/26/der-import-dialog/) will appear for you to configure and confirm. Go through it and confirm your selections. The selected files will then be extracted from the ZIP file and imported into your media library.

## Open and extract a ZIP file located in the media library

If you haven’t already done so, you’ll need to upload a ZIP file to the media library. **There are several ways to do this:**

- Under Media > Add Media, upload a ZIP file from your local computer using the standard WordPress method. Please note the following: 
 - The file size is limited by your hosting provider and/or WordPress.
    - You must enable the upload of ZIP files in WordPress; see the note above for details.
- Under Media > Add Media, you can also enter an external URL that you want to add to your media library. Just make sure that ZIP files are enabled, as described above. There are no fixed size limits.

**Once the ZIP file appears in your media library, you’ll see two new options for it:**

- "Extract File" – extracts the entire contents of the file into the media library. Only the files permitted by the plugin settings will be extracted.
- "Open File" – opens the ZIP file for viewing. This allows you to choose which files you want to extract from it.