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Compressing a file is great, but what happens when you lose its password? Don’t worry, as ZIP password recovery tools are here for the rescue.

Zipping files is the most convenient way to save on disk space and transfer files using less bandwidth. You can even ZIP a file and password protect it for better protection, but what happens when you forget a ZIP password? Unzipping a password-protected ZIP file without its password is a challenging job without specialized tools.

Some common scenarios when a password-protected ZIP can become a menace:

  • Sabotage by a team member– A password-protected ZIP becomes a massive problem if a team member leaves without telling others the password.
  • Reminder note of the password gets lost– Many people follow the conventional way of writing down the password on reminder notes. Reminder notes are incredibly convenient, but their major caveat includes keeping them safe. You are in trouble once you lose reminder notes, and the problem grows further if someone with malicious intent finds your secret reminder note.
  • The password slips your mind– Sometimes, you just forget passwords, and there seems no way of remembering them.

You can manually try different passwords as ZIP files come with unlimited attempts, but this process is extremely tedious. Also, you may never remember a forgotten password even after hundreds of shots. Using a ZIP password recovery tool is the easiest way of decompressing ZIP files after losing their passwords.

How do ZIP Password Recovery Tools work?

ZIP password recovery tools exponentially speed up the process of testing several different passwords and checking for their validity. Advanced recovery tools come with a wide variety of recovery methods like Dictionary attacks, Combination attacks, Mask attacks, Brute-Force attacks, and more. These methods try different password combinations, but they differ in their choice of password characters while cracking the ZIP file.

Dictionary Attack

The ZIP Password recovery tool uses passwords from its own database containing millions of common passwords. These attacks are swift but ineffective in several cases.

Combination Attack

These attacks combine random letters, numbers, and characters to crack your ZIP password. These methods take more time than Dictionary attacks, but they give you a better success rate.

Mask Attack

There are times when you can remember snippets of your password, but none of your possible combinations seem to work. Mask attacks are perfect for such situations as the ZIP password recovery tool tries different combinations based on the information you feed.

Brute-Force Attack

The ZIP password recovery tool tries all the possible combinations of words, numbers, and special characters to crack the password. Brute-Force attacks take considerably more time than all the other password attacks due to the large number of combinations involved.

How to choose a ZIP Password Recovery Tool?

While choosing the perfect ZIP password recovery tool, make sure to select a feature-packed tool with numerous recovery methods. Many a time, the software gets stuck because of the large number of password combinations. Having a pause option becomes a lifesaver, especially while attempting time taking methods like the Brute-Force and Combination attacks. Also, make sure to choose a ZIP password recovery tool with an updated dictionary and powerful combination attacks.

Not sure what’s the best ZIP password recovery tool? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered! Here is the list of the best password recovery software for ZIP files.

Stella Data Recovery’s ZPR

Stella Data Recovery’s password recovery tool gives you a simple, compact, yet powerful tool with a great success rate. You can choose between Dictionary attack, Mask attack, and Brute-Force attack immediately after opening the software. The ZIP password recovery tool comes with a simple UI perfect for both technical and non-technical people.

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

Moreover, you get the Stop attack feature that helps you pause a recovery and resume it later. The software easily handles large passwords with a significant number of characters due to the extensive password dictionary at its backend.

Stella Data Recovery’s ZPR (ZIP Password Recovery) is currently a Windows-exclusive software that supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions.

Top Password’s ZPR

Top Password’s ZIP recovery tool offers its functionality for a wide range of compressed file formats. The software packs an intuitive yet straightforward graphic interface supporting files with .zip and .zipx (PBKDF2 and AES-based) encryptions. You can feed files created using all popular encryption software like WinZip, WinRAR, 7-Zip, and more. Moreover, Top Password’s recovery tool becomes exponentially faster if you have an NVIDIA or AMD GPU installed on your device. The software uses hardware acceleration for a speedier procession of passwords.

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

You can choose between Brute force, Mask, or Dictionary attack with the ZIP password recovery tool. You also get free technical support and free updates after buying a license for the software.

Soft Tools’ ZPR

Soft Tool’s ZIP password recovery tool makes sure to crack open your ZIP files within a few minutes. It comes with an enormous and effective password dictionary that helps you efficiently recover your ZIP files. You can also use their Mask attack feature, which smartly narrows down possible passwords to shorten the recovery process exponentially. Moreover, the software comes with pre-defined methods to remove the ZIP file password if you aren’t sure of the best choice.

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

You also get to try the tool using their free demo to feel the software experience. The brute-force attack feature is perfect for cracking complex passwords that include special characters or when other methods fail. Also, you get a 30 days money-back guarantee if the ZIP password recovery tool fails at providing desired results.

Krylack Software

Krylack Software’s ZIP password recovery tool brings in the most amount of customization options to narrow down your password recovery to its finest. The program has a convenient user interface while supporting a broad spectrum of encryptions, including the AES encrypted WinZip archives. Krylack also supports self-extracting archives and archives created using popular software packages.

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

While setting up password recovery, you can customize the password length, character type, and several other options. Moreover, you can autosave password search and resume it from the same stage another time. Also, the software doesn’t limit you to a maximum password length and gives you tons of customizable options. The tool also provides free and automatic updates after you purchase the license to their software.

ZIP Password Cracker

ZIP Password Cracker is an easy and effective solution designed to recover lost or forgotten passwords for ZIP files. The recovery tool supports many file types like the ones created using WinZip, PKZip, WinRAR, 7-Zip, and more. You can also feed in SFX (Self-extracting ZIP archives) for password recovery in the ZIP Password Tool. While the software supports a broad spectrum of file types, it offers only two methods of password recovery; Brute-Force attack, Dictionary-based attack.

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

You can customize your password recovery process and choose the maximum and minimum lengths of perspective passwords. There is a handy custom charset support for Brute-force attacks which means you can add special characters and national symbols to narrow your search. You also get a progress bar that shows the current status of the password recovery process. Moreover, you can test the ZIP Password Tool using their free trial to understand the software better.

Passper for ZIP

Passper for ZIP is one of the most advanced password recovery tools that offers a variety of features. You get Dictionary, Combination, Mask, and Brute-Force attacks packed under one utility. Passper offers up to a 95% recovery rate based on user feedback and app data. Moreover, the application offers 100% data security and ensures your data remains secure forever.

The feature to pause your password recovery in an intermediate state is an excellent addition to the already fantastic feature set. Passper uses hardware acceleration to improve password recovery and make the process smoother. Also, the small and lightweight utility works on a wide variety of Windows machines, including older PCs with low specs.

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

Atomic ZIP Password Recovery

Atomic ZIP Password Recovery is an immediate solution if you lose your ZIP password. The utility attempts passwords from a pre-set range of values and keeps tweaking the input unless it finds the correct password. The recovery utility comes with a hybrid Brute-Force attack with two variants; automatic and manual. The automated Brute-Force attack generates passwords using the most effective settings (i.e., lowercase and uppercase letters, digits, and password length maxed to 5 characters).

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

The Manual Brute Force attack, on the other hand, lets you customize your password search by fixing the password length and reducing the character length to the desired value. Moreover, you get a Dictionary attack that attempts to unlock your ZIP file with the most common passwords. You can access the features of Atomic ZPR using their demo version, but the maximum recoverable length gets fixed to 5 characters.

ZIP Password Genius

ZIP Password Genius comes in two variants; the Standard version and the Professional version. The Standard version offers all the consumer-grade features like Dictionary, Brute-Force, Mask, and Smart attack, while the Professional version only comes with Brute-force attack. The significant advantage of using the professional version is running the ZPR on all accessible computers in a Local Area Network using the client program “iSunshare ZIP Peer.”

8 Best ZIP Password Recovery Tools Smart Things

Moreover, the application comes with a friendly user interface and operation wizard, making using the utility more straightforward. The software comes with an auto-save feature that automatically resumes your password recovery from the same stage in case of a system failure.

Final Note 👨‍🏫

Password protecting ZIP files is a fantastic way of simultaneously compressing and securing your files, but they become a menace once you lose your password. ZIP password recovery tools make the process of recovering your ZIP files simpler and less tedious. The above list features numerous feature-packed ZPR tools with unique feature sets. Make sure to try them and share your feedback in the comments.

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