Input file
CAB
- Full Name: Windows Cabinet Compressed Archive
- Developer: Microsoft
Output file
ZIP
- Full Name: WinZIP Compressed ZIP Archive Format
- Developer: N/A
What is CAB file?
CAB (CAB) is a file extension used in Windows operating systems, originally for storing installation and other executable files. It was introduced with Microsoft Windows 95 and is still used in all generations of Windows. A CAB file consists of several files compressed into a single archive, usually internally structured in folders numbered from 0 to 15. These numbers generally stand for various flags and options used by Microsoft Installer. [ ⏩ ] CAB file extension
What is ZIP file?
A ZIP (Zipped File) file is a type of compressed file format originating from the PKWARE Inc. proprietary software. This type of file integrates data compression, email sharing, and archiving into one convenient format. It utilizes lossless data compression technology, meaning the contents of these files are reduced in size with no loss in quality. This makes the process of sharing large volumes of information much easier. ZIP archives are identified with the .zip file extension. [ ⏩ ] ZIP file extension
Software, that you can use to convert
How to convert the file from CAB to ZIP?
To successfully convert the CAB file to ZIP, you should install one of the applications from the list. After installing the software, open the program and select the file you want to convert (file-name.CAB). The next step is to select the target format from the list, in this case ZIP (usually converters allow you to convert to several different formats, so check out their features - maybe one of the available formats will suit you more than ZIP).
What is a file conversion?
A data conversion is normally an automated process to some extent. The effect of the operation of one program is automatically the input product of another application. If that does not happen we need to help the process a little bit and convert the file on our own, e.g. CAB to ZIP. To obtain a matched structure of the data, it is necessary to use an appropriate converter.
Program for converting CAB files to ZIP files is a kind of a "binary code translator" compensating for the differences in the code or translating it in such a way so that another application could use it. For us, as users, the visible change will be only another file extension. (After converting the file, it will be the extension ZIP, while before this step we had the CAB file). For the programs, the difference is on a much higher level – either the application will be able to open a new ZIP file, or not.