Extract text from Unix archive files (CPIO)
To convert CPIO archives to another format, you need GNU cpio or other Compressed software.
To convert other file formats to the "Unix Archive File" file type, you need software like GNU cpio or a similar tool.
The .cpio file is a legacy Unix archive format used to bundle multiple files and directories into a single file. Originally designed for sequential tape backups in the late 1970s, it operates using the POSIX standard cpio command-line utility.
Modern users face severe limitations with this format. It is strictly an archiver and offers absolutely no data compression on its own. It is common to see it bundled with GZ (as .cpio.gz) just to save disk space. Furthermore, native GUI tools on Windows and macOS do not recognize .cpio files. Users usually struggle to view the file contents and must resort to terminal commands or install third-party desktop tools like 7-Zip.
To eliminate these workflow catchs, you should convert this format. For universal web and cross-platform sharing, convert to ZIP. For Linux-heavy environments, convert to .TAR.GZ or TAR. Drag and drop your file to analyze and convert it - free, online, and without installing software on convert.guru.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CPIO file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted SAZ, IWA, SGA, TAR, RPM and IMG files.
If you want to convert CPIO file to TAR, RPM, IMG, BASE64, HEX, BIN, ENC, CRYPT, AES, DES, RSA or PGP, you can use GNU cpio or similar software from the "Archive and Backup Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert CER, BIN, PEM, DER, KEY, P7S, PFX, ENC, P12, BASE64, P7B or HEX files to CPIO, try GNU cpio or another comparable tool in the "Archive and Backup Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our CPIO converter.