libarchive.net

.NET wrapper for the excellent libarchive project, providing read and write access to a wide variety of archive and compression formats.

Features

• Read archives: ZIP, RAR, 7-Zip, TAR, gzip, bzip2, xz, lzma, lzo, and more
• Write archives: ZIP, 7-Zip, TAR, Ustar, PAX, CPIO, ISO 9660, XAR
• Compression: Gzip, Bzip2, XZ, LZMA, LZ4, Zstd, Compress, LZIP
• Encryption: ZIP (AES-128/192/256, Traditional PKWARE), 7-Zip (AES-256)
• Platform support: Windows, Linux, macOS (x64, ARM64, ARM, x86)
• Native AOT and trimming compatible (.NET 7+)
• .NET Standard 2.0 support for .NET Framework 4.6.1+

Quick Start

Reading Archives

using LibArchive.Net;

// Extract single-file archive (zip, gz, 7z, tar) to memory - one liner!
byte[] data = new LibArchiveReader("file.gz").FirstEntry()!.ReadAllBytes();

// Or as text
string text = new LibArchiveReader("file.tar.gz").FirstEntry()!.ReadAllText();

// Enumerate all entries
using var reader = new LibArchiveReader("archive.zip");
foreach (var entry in reader.Entries())
{
    Console.WriteLine($"{entry.Name} ({entry.Size} bytes)");

    // Read content
    byte[] content = entry.ReadAllBytes();
    // Or stream it
    using var stream = entry.Stream;
}

// Re-enumerate entries without reopening
reader.Reset();
foreach (var entry in reader.Entries()) { ... }

// Password-protected ZIP archives
using var encryptedReader = new LibArchiveReader("encrypted.zip", password: "secret");

// Read from streams (e.g., HTTP response, memory)
using var streamReader = new LibArchiveReader(httpResponseStream);

Writing Archives

using LibArchive.Net;

// Create a gzip-compressed TAR archive
using var tarWriter = new LibArchiveWriter("archive.tar.gz",
    ArchiveFormat.Tar,
    CompressionType.Gzip);
tarWriter.AddFile("document.txt");
tarWriter.AddDirectory("folder/", recursive: true);

// Create encrypted ZIP
using var zipWriter = new LibArchiveWriter("secure.zip",
    ArchiveFormat.Zip,
    password: "secret",
    encryption: EncryptionType.AES256);
zipWriter.AddEntry("secret.txt", Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("confidential"));

// Write to memory
using var memWriter = LibArchiveWriter.CreateMemoryWriter(ArchiveFormat.Zip);
memWriter.AddEntry("data.json", jsonBytes);
memWriter.Dispose();
byte[] archiveBytes = memWriter.ToArray();

// Write to stream with batch operations and progress
using var streamWriter = new LibArchiveWriter(outputStream, ArchiveFormat.SevenZip);
var files = new DirectoryInfo("source").GetFiles();
var progress = new Progress<FileProgress>(p =>
    Console.WriteLine($"{p.CurrentFile}: {p.BytesWritten}/{p.TotalBytes}"));
streamWriter.AddFiles(files, progress);

Installation

dotnet add package LibArchive.Net

Native libraries for all supported platforms are included in the NuGet package.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Architectures
Windows	x86, x64, ARM64
Linux (glibc)	x64, ARM64, ARM
Linux (musl/Alpine)	x64, ARM64, ARM
macOS	x64, ARM64 (Apple Silicon)

API Reference

LibArchiveReader

Method	Description
Entries()	Enumerate all entries in the archive
FirstEntry()	Get the first entry (ideal for single-file archives)
Reset()	Reset to beginning for re-enumeration
HasEncryptedEntries()	Check if archive contains encrypted entries

Entry

Property/Method	Description
Name	Entry filename/path
Size	Uncompressed size in bytes
Type	Entry type (File, Directory, Symlink, etc.)
Stream	Stream for reading entry content
ReadAllBytes()	Read entire content as byte array
ReadAllText()	Read entire content as string

LibArchiveWriter

Method	Description
AddFile()	Add a file from disk
AddEntry()	Add content from byte array or stream
AddDirectory()	Add directory (optionally recursive)
AddFiles()	Batch add files with progress reporting
CreateMemoryWriter()	Create writer that outputs to memory
ToArray()	Get archive bytes (memory writer only)

Requirements

• .NET 6.0+ (recommended)
• .NET Standard 2.0 / .NET Framework 4.6.1+ (supported)
• Native AOT compatible on .NET 7+

License

BSD-2-Clause. See LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open issues or submit PRs on GitHub.