CriticalZIP · .zip
Truncated ZIP — Missing Central Directory
A ZIP archive that was cut short during download, missing its central directory record which is stored at the end of the file.
Why It Fails
ZIP files store their file index (central directory) at the end of the archive. A truncated file loses this index entirely, making it impossible for standard tools to list or extract contents.
Hex Signature
50 4B 03 04 ... (missing EOCD: 50 4B 05 06)Expected Error Behavior
unzip reports 'End-of-central-directory signature not found'. 7-Zip shows 'Unexpected end of archive'. Python zipfile raises BadZipFile.
Affected Software
unzip7-ZipWinRARPython zipfileJava ZipInputStream
How to Fix
Re-download the file. Use zip -FF to attempt repair. 7-Zip can sometimes recover partial archives.