Extract text from compressed QGIS projects (QGZ)
To convert QGZ projects to another format, you need QGIS or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "QGIS Project Archive" file type, you need software like QGIS or a similar tool.
A .QGZ file is a compressed geographic project file created by QGIS, a popular open-source Geographic Information System (GIS). It is used by cartographers and spatial analysts to save map layouts, layer styling, projection settings, and symbology into a single package. Internally, a .QGZ file is a standard ZIP archive that bundles an uncompressed QGS (XML) project file alongside a .QGD (SQLite) auxiliary database used to store custom properties and symbol configurations.
To open, edit, or render this file correctly, you need QGIS installed on your machine. Wikipedia provides comprehensive information on both QGIS and broader GIS workflows.
The main disadvantage of the .QGZ format is that it acts as a blueprint, not a standalone data container. It does not embed large spatial datasets like satellite imagery or vector shapefiles; it simply points to their local file paths. Because of this, sharing a .QGZ file often results in a broken map if the recipient does not also have the original source data. Furthermore, you cannot natively view this proprietary project format in standard web browsers or image viewers.
Users typically want to convert a .QGZ project into visual formats like PDF or PNG to share completed maps, or they want to extract specific spatial layers to standard formats like GeoJSON, SHP (Shapefile), or GPKG (GeoPackage).
This file format is exceptionally difficult to open or convert online because standard converters do not have access to your local hard drive's spatial data layers. Often, only the original QGIS software can properly read the local paths and export the rendered data. We can inspect the file, extract the inner ZIP architecture, and show the internal QGS XML text content. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion of internal elements may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your QGZ file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted QGS, QPT, GPKG, QLR, ZIP, QGV, SHP, GIS, PDF, GPZ, JPG, QML and KML files.
If you want to convert QGZ file to SHP, PDF, KML, KMZ, GPX, GEOJSON, TOPOJSON, TIF, TIFF, ECW, SID or IMG, you can use QGIS or similar software from the "Compressed GIS Project Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert LAZ, KMZ, DTM, CSV, DEM, PRJ, LAS, GPX, DSM, SHP, DBF or KML files to QGZ, try QGIS or another comparable tool in the "Compressed GIS Project 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 QGZ converter.