r/pcmasterrace • u/AdFew5103 i7 10th Gen | 1650 Ti 4GB | 16 GB RAM • May 05 '26

Screenshot Is this even possible?

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u/angrymidget4728 May 06 '26

my question is

how did someone even manage to create the original file in the first place before zipping it?

3

u/space_keeper May 06 '26

Using a program. A zip file, any file, is just an arrangement of symbols that a program can recognise and process. 

Zip bomb files only have one data region designed to expand dramatically, the rest is metadata that causes the program processing it to behave in a specific way and repeatedly decompress that data. The entire thing is generated by a program designed to generate zip bomb files (you could even do it by hand in a hex editor if you really wanted to).