Extract text from ZTMP files
To convert your ZTMP file to another format, you need Valve Source Engine or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Compressed Resource File" file type, you need software like Valve Source Engine or a similar tool.
A .ZTMP file is a temporary, compressed game asset used primarily by titles running on the Valve Source Engine, such as Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, and Garry's Mod. When you connect to a multiplayer server with custom maps, sounds, or textures, the server transmits these files in a compressed format (typically BZIP2) to reduce download times. The game client is designed to receive the .ZTMP, decompress it automatically, and delete the temporary container.
However, users frequently face difficulties when this automatic process fails, leaving unreadable .ZTMP files cluttering the download or cache directories. Because the file is proprietary to the engine's download mechanism and effectively "locked" inside a compression container, you cannot open it directly in map editors like Valve Hammer Editor or view textures in standard image viewers. A .ZTMP file creates a dependency bottleneck: you have the data, but the game cannot read it until it is processed.
To make these files usable, you must convert (decompress) them back to their original state. The target format depends on the file's original identity - often denoted by a double extension like .bsp.ztmp. For maps, you need to recover the BSP file; for models, the MDL; and for textures, the VTF. Once decompressed, these files can be manually placed in your game folders or edited. For archiving purposes, standardizing on ZIP or 7Z is preferable to keeping the engine-specific .ZTMP format.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ZTMP file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted AIN, BSP, WAV, ANIMATION, SBA and MRS files.
If you want to convert ZTMP file to EXE, ISO, BIN, CUE, PAK, WAD, PK3, PK4, BSP, MAP, SAV or DAT, you can use Valve Source Engine or similar software from the "Compressed Game Asset" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MOD, BIN, CFG, SCX, DAT, MPQ, LOG, CUE, INI, EXE, SCM or ISO files to ZTMP, try Valve Source Engine or another comparable tool in the "Compressed Game Asset" 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 ZTMP converter.