Explorer & CLI

Windows Explorer shell integration for right-click archive operations, plus a comprehensive command-line interface for scripting and automation.

Shell Integration

Register Brutal Zip’s shell extension to add context menu entries in Windows Explorer:

  • Extract here / Extract to folder
  • Create archive / Add to existing
  • Test archive integrity
  • File properties

Archive files show a flyout with quick actions. Registration is managed from Settings or the CLI.

CLI Commands

CommandPurpose
--wizardLaunch interactive create/extract wizard
--extract-here (-xh)Extract to same folder as archive
--extract-smart (-x)Extract to auto-named folder
--extract-to [dir] (-xto)Extract to specified folder
--extract-eachExtract each archive to separate folder
--extract-to-desktopExtract to desktop
--create-quick [files...]Quick archive creation
--create-to [files...]Create with destination dialog
--create-each [files...]Create separate archive per item
--create-to-desktop [files...]Create on desktop
--create-aes [files...]Create with AES-256 encryption
--create-store [files...]Create with Store (no compression)
--add-to [archive] [files...]Add to existing archive
--test [archive]Test archive integrity
--repair [archive]Repair corrupted archive
--sfx [archive]Build SFX executable
--crack [archive]Launch password cracker
--comment [archive]Edit archive comment
--export-list [archive]Export file listing
--delete-zipDelete archive after extraction

CLI Examples

BrutalZip.exe --create-quick C:\MyFiles -o backup.zip
BrutalZip.exe --create-aes C:\Sensitive -o encrypted.zip
BrutalZip.exe --extract-to C:\Output archive.zip
BrutalZip.exe --test archive.zip
BrutalZip.exe --repair damaged.zip
BrutalZip.exe --sfx installer.zip
BrutalZip.exe --crack encrypted.zip
BrutalZip.exe --export-list archive.zip > listing.csv