.cbz

What is a .cbz file?

CBZ is a ZIP archive containing sequential images — the standard digital format for comics and manga.

Safe format
Type Document
By Open standard (community convention)
MIME application/vnd.comicbook+zip

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What is it

A CBZ file is literally a ZIP file renamed. Inside: a sequence of images (JPG or PNG), numbered or named in reading order, that a comic reader displays one page at a time. No metadata format, no markup language, no rendering engine — just images in a ZIP. The simplicity is the point.

The format became the standard for digital comics because it's dead simple to create (zip your images, rename to .cbz) and dead simple to read (unzip and look at the images, or use a comic reader for a better experience). Comic readers add page-turn animations, dual-page spreads, zoom, bookmarks, and library management on top of the basic format.

Calibre, YACReader, CDisplayEx (Windows), and Panels (iOS) are the popular comic readers. On any platform, you can also just rename .cbz to .zip and extract the images. For archiving large comic collections, CBZ is preferred over CBR because ZIP compression is faster and the archives are easier to work with.

Technical details
Full Name
Comic Book Archive (ZIP)
MIME Type
application/vnd.comicbook+zip
Developer
Open standard (community convention)
Magic Bytes
50 4B 03 04
Safety
.cbz is a known, safe format. Archive containing images. No executable content.
What opens it
CDisplayEx
FREE Windows
YACReader
FREE Windows / Mac / Linux
Panels
FREE iOS / Mac
FAQ
How do I open a CBZ file?
Use a comic reader like CDisplayEx (Windows), YACReader (all platforms), or Panels (iOS/Mac). You can also rename .cbz to .zip and extract the images with any ZIP tool.
What's the difference between CBZ and CBR?
CBZ uses ZIP compression; CBR uses RAR compression. The contents are the same — sequential images. CBZ is preferred because ZIP is faster, free, and natively supported on all platforms.
Related formats