---
title: "Extract Archives – Archive Extractor"
slug: "extract-archives-archives-extractor"
updated: 2026-02-10T20:53:59Z
published: 2026-02-10T20:53:59Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.revealdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Extract Archives – Archive Extractor

## Install Archive Extractor

| ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/3e21d801-ca9f-4c51-93db-9cbd32741f3d/Images/Documentation/Screenshot 2025-05-15 at 3.52.07 PM.png) |
| --- |
| **Reveal - Archive Extractor** |

Extracting archives requires Reveal’s **Archive Extractor**, which can be downloaded using the link in the upper-right corner of the Archives tab (see below). Archive Extractor is available for MacOS, Windows, Windows (Command Line), and Linux.

![Options for managing archives, including downloading and extracting files.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/3e21d801-ca9f-4c51-93db-9cbd32741f3d/Images/Documentation/Screenshot 2025-10-20 at 1.33.19 PM.png)

## Run a Test Extraction

The Archive Extractor lets you run a **Text Extraction** to see whether or not the extraction process would encounter any errors, and provide you the total file count and file size. In addition, the -inventory.json file you select for the extraction contains the expected file sizes of all your .tgz files, and will present an error message if file sizes don’t match during the test extraction.

Test mode performs a full extraction pass by reading every file exactly as it would during normal extraction, but discards the data by writing it to a NULL destination. This allows the tool to validate file integrity, expected file counts, and final extracted size without writing files to disk. Because no files are written to disk, Test mode often avoids antivirus interference and helps identify the source of extraction failures.

To run a test extraction:

1. Follow the same steps used in the [Extract your Archive](/reveal/docs/extract-archives-archives-extractor#extract-your-archives) section, but **do not select an output folder**.
2. Click the **Test** button.
  - If you selected an output folder, the “Test” button will change to “Extract”. Close the application and re-open to start the process over.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/3e21d801-ca9f-4c51-93db-9cbd32741f3d/Images/Documentation/Screenshot%202026-02-10%20212457.png)

1. **Interpret your results** to see:
  1. Whether there were any **errors** with the extraction process (*TGZ Files* column)
  2. How many **total** files would extract from the archives (*Extracted* column)
  3. The total **size** of all of your extracted files (*Extracted* column)

If you want, you can perform a quality control check on your test extraction by following the steps in our [Archives Quality Control Checks](/reveal/docs/archives-quality-control-checks#test-extraction-qc) article.

### Extract your Archives

Extraction allows you to easily open up the zipped archive files downloaded from Reveal.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/3e21d801-ca9f-4c51-93db-9cbd32741f3d/Images/Documentation/Screenshot%202026-02-09%20125442.png)

1. Open **Archive Extractor**.
2. Click the first **ellipses [ … ]** in the upper right corner to choose the -inventory.json file among your downloaded files.
  - This is the only .json file Archive Extractor accepts. If you select a different .json file, the **status log** will prompt you with “ERROR: Please choose an inventory file, with the name ending in -inventory.json."

![File directory showing Project_2 Zipped with various files and folders listed.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/3e21d801-ca9f-4c51-93db-9cbd32741f3d/Images/Documentation/ArchivesInventoryJsonFile_2025.9(2).png)

1. Click the second **ellipses [ … ]** in the upper right corner to choose an output folder for your extracted files.
  - We recommend using an empty folder to extract your archived project.
2. Use the slider to choose the number of **Concurrent Extractions** you want during the download.
  - The maximum number of concurrent extractions for the extractor is equal to the number of core CPUs in your computer.

> [!WARNING]
> **Important**
> 
> A greater number of threads leads to faster downloads. However, be mindful that using a high number of threads could cause network connection or router issues depending on your bandwidth.
3. Click **Extract**.
4. The **status log** will let you know when the job starts and completes.

If extraction of even a single file fails, or a size mismatch occurs—often caused by interruptions such as antivirus software—the entire archive is considered failed and will automatically retry up to three times, with file counters adjusted so that only successfully extracted files are counted.

If you want, you can perform a quality control check on your extracted archive by following the steps in our [Archives Quality Control Checks](/reveal/docs/archives-quality-control-checks#extraction-qc) article.

### Expected Files after Extraction

Once the extraction process completes, your folder will contain the following files:

| File (ends with) | File Contents |
| --- | --- |
| -reveal-archiver-bucket | SQL database backup files (Review, Processing, and AI). |
| File (starts with) | File Contents |
| revealdata-s3store- | The files from your Reveal project. |

Depending on the condition of your project, you may also encounter the below file:

| File (ends with) | File Contents | Condition |
| --- | --- | --- |
| -reveal-ai | RAI-related files used to help restore your project. | Present if RAI was enabled for your project. |