What Is a CBZ File?

What is inside a CBZ

Open a CBZ and you find ordinary image files — usually JPG, PNG or WebP — named in reading order: 001.jpg, 002.jpg, 003.jpg. Some archives include a ComicInfo.xml file with the series name, issue number or reading direction. There is no special compression and no DRM; if you can unzip it, you can read it.

Because the pages stay as separate images, a CBZ is easy to edit. You can replace one page, re-sort files, or drop the pages into a translation tool and rebuild the archive afterwards.

How to open a CBZ file

Dedicated comic readers are the smoothest option: YACReader, CDisplayEx, Panels, Mihon and most e-readers open CBZ natively and remember your page. On a phone, the Files app can preview a renamed ZIP but will not respect comic reading order. If you only need the images, rename the file to .zip and unpack it.

CBZ vs ZIP: the only difference is the extension

The bytes are the same ZIP format. The .cbz extension tells readers and tools that the archive holds comic pages rather than documents or source code. Some readers will not open a plain .zip in comic mode, so renaming matters more than the compression itself.

How to make a CBZ file

1. Put the pages in orderOne folder, filenames that sort correctly (001, 002, …), no extra folders inside.
2. Zip the images, not the folderSelect the images themselves. A parent folder creates a nested archive some readers cannot open.
3. Rename .zip to .cbzThat is the whole conversion. Remove .DS_Store or __MACOSX entries first.

Using a CBZ for manga translation

A CBZ is a good upload format because page order is already explicit and every page is a normal image. LingoManga reads the archive, sorts pages naturally, translates the lettering, and returns a ZIP in your chosen language in the same order. The whole chapter is free to preview at low resolution; the paid download is full resolution and watermark-free.

If your file is a CBR instead, read CBZ vs CBR first — CBR is a RAR archive and needs converting before most web tools can read it. Ready to try it? Translate a CBZ chapter or upload one now.