Extract text from Game archives (ZFS)
To convert ZFS Archives to another format, you need Zork Nemesis or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Game Asset Archive" file type, you need software like Zork Nemesis or a similar tool.
The .zfs extension is shared by two distinct formats that cause frequent confusion. The most common occurrence (statistically ~66% of these files) is a Game Resource Archive used by Zombie Studios titles, most notably the cult classic adventure game Zork Nemesis. These archives (e.g., cursor.zfs) function like a proprietary ZIP file, locking away game assets like audio, textures, and scripts to prevent tampering. Users typically seek to convert these files to extract the game's soundtrack or art, but because the format is obsolete and proprietary, standard tools like 7-Zip cannot open them. You often need specific extraction utilities or modding tools compatible with the Zork engine.
The second, more technically prominent meaning is a ZFS Send Stream generated by the Zettabyte File System (OpenZFS). These are typically large backup snapshots created using the zfs send command on Unix-like systems (FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris). They are not "files" meant to be opened in an editor; they are bit-perfect streams designed to be piped into a zfs recv command to restore a dataset. Users often find these files when recovering server backups or moving data between storage pools. Converting this stream to a standard format like ISO or IMG is technically impossible because it contains filesystem instructions rather than a raw disk image.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ZFS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted NTFS and LVM files.
If you want to convert ZFS file to NTFS, LVM, SYS, DLL, EXE, DRV, VXD, 386, COM, BAT, CMD or SCR, you can use Zork Nemesis or similar software from the "Game Resource Archive" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MSI, EXE, REG, MST, LNK, CAB, CAT, DRV, INF, SYS, MSU or DLL files to ZFS, try Zork Nemesis or another comparable tool in the "Game Resource Archive" 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 ZFS converter.