Decompress .zst Files Online
Expand a Zstandard .zst file back to the original without installing zstd. For .tar.zst archives, use the TAR.ZST extractor.
How to decompress a ZST file online
- Drop the
.zstfile onto the box above, or click to choose it. - The original file appears in the list under its name without
.zst. - Preview it if it is text or an image, or download it.
A newer format that many computers cannot open yet
Zstandard is a compression format released in 2016 that decompresses very quickly while compressing about as well as gzip or better. It spread fast on the server side: database backup tools, log shippers, data-science exports and Linux package systems write .zst by default or as an option.
Desktop support lagged behind. If you were sent a .csv.zst or .sql.zst and your file manager does not know the extension, that is the gap this page fills. Drop the file, get the original.
Single file versus tarball
A plain .zst holds one file with no folder structure. A .tar.zst, which is how some Linux distributions ship their packages, is a tar archive compressed with Zstandard and contains many files. The TAR.ZST extractor covers that; if you drop one here it is unwrapped to its file tree all the same.
Limits
This page decompresses only. Creating .zst files is not supported on this site. Output is written to the browser’s temporary storage on disk, so large dumps work as long as there is free space for the expanded file. The data is processed on your device and not uploaded, which is the sensible default for a database export.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a .zst file on Windows or macOS?
Drop it on this page in a current desktop browser and download the decompressed file. You do not need the zstd command-line tool.
What is the difference between .zst and .tar.zst?
A .zst is one compressed file. A .tar.zst is a tar archive of many files compressed with Zstandard. For archives see the TAR.ZST extractor.
Can I compress a file to .zst here?
No. Creating Zstandard files is not supported. The site can create ZIP, 7z and tar-based archives on the Zip page.
Can it handle a large database dump?
Yes. There is no fixed size cap; the decompressed file is written to disk-backed browser storage, so you need free space for the full expanded size.
Is my file uploaded?
No. Decompression runs locally in WebAssembly, and you can go offline after the page has loaded.