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CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family file format

.cb7 · .cbr · .cbt · .cbz  ·  archive (comic book)  ·  introduced 2005 by Comic reader community

What is a CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family file?

The Comic Book Archive family wraps a series of page images in whatever container the publisher prefers: CBZ for ZIP, CBR for RAR, CBT for TAR, and CB7 for 7z. Comic reader apps treat them all the same way — sort the contained images and display them in order.

Most readers reach this page after double-clicking a .cb7 file and finding their operating system unsure what to do with it. The good news: CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family is a well-understood format with mature tooling on every major platform. It is supported in one click by mainstream archivers on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

How to extract a CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family file

Opening a .cb7 file is straightforward on every modern operating system. The exact steps depend on which platform you are on:

On Windows

  1. Locate the .cb7 file in File Explorer.
  2. Right-click the file. If you have 7-Zip installed, choose 7-Zip → Extract Here. On Windows 11 the built-in extractor handles ZIP, 7z, RAR and several other formats directly through Extract All…
  3. If prompted, pick a destination folder and click Extract.
  4. The extracted files appear in a folder next to the original archive.

On macOS

  1. Find the .cb7 file in Finder.
  2. Install The Unarchiver from the Mac App Store, or Keka for both creating and extracting.
  3. Right-click the file → Open With → The Unarchiver (or just double-click after Unarchiver is set as the default).
  4. The extracted folder appears next to the archive.

On Linux

  1. Use your file manager: right-click the archive → Extract Here (file-roller on GNOME, Ark on KDE).
  2. On the command line, run one of: 
    7z x archive.cb7    # works for almost any format
  3. The files appear in the current directory.

How to create a CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family file

To pack files into a .cb7 archive, you typically need an archiver that supports writing this format. Not every tool can create every format — for example, only WinRAR can create real RAR files. The sidebar lists the software known to read and write CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family.

On the command line, the canonical create command is:

# Use 7-Zip, PeaZip, or the format's reference tool to create .cb7 files.

If you regularly create archives at scale, a dedicated archive automation suite can wrap this command in scheduled jobs, integrity checks, and offsite replication.

Strengths

  • Standard archive formats under the hood
  • Universal reader support

Weaknesses and limitations

  • DRM-free by design — publishers prefer EPUB or Kindle for paid content

Typical use cases

  • Digital comics
  • Manga reading apps

Technical details

CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family uses the 7z / RAR / TAR / ZIP algorithm and is identified on disk by the magic byte sequence (varies). The standard MIME type is application/vnd.comicbook+zip. The format is an open specification and is free for any use.

Frequently asked questions

Is CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family safe to open?

Archive files are containers — they are only as safe as what they contain. A .cb7 from a trusted source is fine; one received from a stranger can hold malicious executables, scripts, or files engineered to exploit bugs in your archiver. Always keep your archiver updated, and never run unknown executables that come out of an archive. A safe workflow is to extract into a sandbox and scan the contents before opening anything.

What is the maximum file size?

Modern implementations support archives in the multi-terabyte range. The practical limit is your filesystem (FAT32 caps at 4 GB; ext4, NTFS, APFS, and exFAT all comfortably handle multi-TB files).

Can I password-protect a CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family?

Some archivers can wrap CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family files in an encrypted container, but the format itself does not always include built-in encryption. Check your archiver's documentation.

How does CB7 / CBT / CBR / CBZ family compare to other formats?

See our format comparison pages such as ZIP vs 7z, ZIP vs RAR, and tar.gz vs tar.xz for side-by-side feature tables.

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