Open/Extract RPM File with Freeware on Windows/Mac/Linux

RPM originally stands for Red Hat Package Manager. Nnow, RPM is a package management system. The name RPM variously refers to the .rpm file format, files in this format, software packaged in such files, and the package manager itself. RPM was intended primarily for Linux distributions; the file format is the baseline package format of the Linux Standard Base. RPM is distributed under the terms of the GPL.

Even though it was created for use in Red Hat Linux, RPM is now used in many GNU/Linux distributions. It has also been ported to some other operating systems, such as Novell NetWare (as of version 6.5 SP3) and IBM's AIX (as of version 4).

An RPM package can contain an arbitrary set of files. The larger part of RPM files encountered are "binary RPMs" (or BRPMs) containing the compiled version of some software. RPM files however may also contain the source code, then called "source RPMs" (or SRPMs) used to produce a package. SRPMs have an appropriate tag in the file header that distinguishes them from normal (B)RPMs, causing them to be extracted to /usr/src on installation. SRPMs also customarily carry the file extension ".src.rpm" (.spm on file systems limited to 3 extension characters, i.e. old DOS FAT).

The format is binary and consists of four sections:

• The lead, which identifies the file as an RPM file and contains some obsolete headers.
• The signature, which can be used to ensure integrity and/or authenticity.
• The header, which contains metadata including package name, version, architecture, file list, etc.
• A file archive (the payload), which usually is in cpio format, compressed with gzip. The rpm2cpio tool enables retrieval of the cpio file without needing to install the RPM package.
  • More recent versions of RPM can also use bzip2, lzip, lzma, or xz compression.
  • RPM 5.0 format supports using xar for archiving.

Open/Extract RPM File on Windows

Easy 7-Zip opens/extracts RPM file easily on Windows. The Easy 7-Zip was developed based on 7-Zip. 7-Zip is a famous open source file archiver. The Easy 7-Zip is an easy-to-use version of 7-Zip. The open source freeware keeps all features of 7-Zip and adds a few useful features that makes the software more user-friendly.

Easy 7-Zip works on Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/2008/2003/XP/2000 (both 32-bit and 64-bit compatible).

1. Free Download Easy 7-Zip
2. Install Easy 7-Zip by step-by-step instructions
3. The installation will associate RPM with Easy 7-Zip automatically
4. Double-click on RPM file to open RPM file with Easy 7-Zip


You will see files or folders within the RPM file then, click button Extract to extract the RPM file.


5. Alternatively, Right-click on RPM file on Windows Explorer


And then, choose Extract files..., Extract Here, or Extract to "folder\" to extract the RPM file.


6. Done

Easy 7-Zip Download Links:

• Free Download Easy 7-Zip (x86 and x64 editions in one package)
• Free Download Easy 7-Zip (x86 edition only)
• Free Download Easy 7-Zip (x64 edition only)

You can try other alternative freeware that opens/extracts RPM file on Windows. For example:

• PeaZip
• TUGZip
• B1 Free Archiver
• IZArc
• Zipeg
• Universal Extractor
• FreeArc
• Bitser

Open/Extract RPM File on Mac

B1 Free Archiver opens/extracts RPM file on Mac. B1 Free Archiver is a free software for creating archive folder and extracting archive file. B1 Archiver works on all platforms - Windows, Linux, Mac and Android. The freeware supports most popular formats including RPM.

B1 Free Archiver is compatible with:

• Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
• Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
• Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

• Free Download B1 Free Archiver for Mac

Alternative freeware that opens/extracts RPM file on Mac.

• The Unarchiver
• Zipeg for Mac
• EZ 7z
• 7zX

Open/Extract RPM File on Linux

RPM (RPM Package Manager) is a popular utility for installing software on Unix-like systems, particularly Red Hat Linux.

Install RPM package on Linux, type:

Upgrade RPM File, type:

Remove (Erase) RPM package, type:

List all installed packages, type:

To extract a RPM package files without installing it, you need to install rpm2cpio. rpm2cpio extracts cpio archive from RPM Package Manager (RPM) package.

Install rpm2cpio on CentOS and Fedora

Install rpm2cpio on Debian and Ubuntu

Extract RPM file on Linux

cpio arguments:

• -i: extract
• -d: make directories
• -m: preserve modification time
• -v: verbose

List files in RPM package:

Tips: on Debian or Ubuntu, you can convert RPM to DEB package with alien, and process DEB package with dpkg; or process RPM file directly using smart.