Make 7-Zip extract an archive directly to a directory

7-zipspeed

Whenever I extract an archive using 7-Zip, it performs a two step operation. First it extracts the contents of the archives to a temporary folder, then Windows copies the files from the temporary folder to the target directory.

The second part of this operation can take some time, especially if there were a large number of small files in the archive. It seems like the operation could be sped up if 7-Zip just extracted the files directly to the target directory to start with. Is there a way to make it do this?

Best Answer

Doh! I really should have looked harder for an answer.

From the 7-Zip FAQ:

Why does drag-and-drop archive extraction from 7-Zip to Explorer use temp files?

7-Zip doesn't know folder path of drop target. Only Windows Explorer knows exact drop target. And Windows Explorer needs files (drag source) as decompressed files on disk. So 7-Zip extracts files from archive to temp folder and then 7-Zip notifies Windows Explorer about paths of these temp files. Then Windows Explorer copies these files to drop target folder.

To avoid temp file usage, you can use Extract command of 7-Zip or drag-and-drop from 7-Zip to 7-Zip.

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