As a great comic book enthusiast you are, you are always looking for new titles to read and collect on the shelves of your library. Recently, however, you have discovered that digital comics are available on the web and have tried to download some of them to your computer. Too bad that the files you obtained are in CBZ format and you have no idea how to open them. Is that so? Then let me tell you that you have come to the right place at the right time!
With today’s guide, in fact, I will tell you how to open CBZ using programs to install on your computer, tablet or smartphone or to browse online. Before proceeding, however, you must know that CBZ files are nothing more than ZIP archives of a series of images (usually in PNG or JPG format ), mainly used in digital comics. These archives can be opened both with programs dedicated to reading comics and using programs for extracting files.
After this necessary premise, let’s not waste any more time chatting and let’s get to the heart of the matter. Come on, take five minutes of free time and dedicate yourself to reading the next paragraphs. Choose the solution that best suits your needs, try to put into practice the instructions I am about to give you and I assure you that opening a CBZ file will really be a breeze. Let it bet?
Index
- Programs to open CBZ files on PC
- YACReader (Windows/macOS/Linux)
- Simple Comic (macOS)
- Calibre (Windows/macOS/Linux)
- Online services to open CBZ
- App to open CBZ
- Other solutions to open CBZ
Programs to open CBZ files on PC
The best solution to open CBZ is to rely on the programs to install on your computer. These software are real comic readers that allow you to browse your books in CBZ format. Here are some that might be right for you.
YACReader (Windows/macOS/Linux)
YACReader is among the best programs to open files in CBZ format. It is available for free for Windows PCs, macOS and Linux and supports all major digital comic formats, as well as offering many cool features, such as the ability to organize your library by tags and start reading in full screen.
To download YACReader, connected to the software website , click on the Downloads item in the top menu and press the down arrow icon to start downloading YACReader.
Now, if you have a Windows PC , double-click the .exe file , press the Yes button and click the Next button , then place the check mark next to the item I accept the agreement , click the Next button four consecutive times and presses the Install button to install the program. Then conclude the procedure by pressing the Finish button .
If you use a Mac , on the other hand, open the dmg package you just downloaded and drag the YACReader icon into the MacOS Applications folder , then right-click on the program icon and select the Open item from the menu that appears (operation required only for the first startup, to bypass macOS restrictions for programs that come from non-certified developers).
After starting the program, click on the letter O on your keyboard and select the CBZ file to import to YACReader. Alternatively, you can also open a digital comic by clicking on the speech bubble icon at the top left and selecting the file to open.
Simple Comic (macOS)
If you have a Mac , you can rely on the Simple Comic app to read files in CBZ format. It is a free application, easily downloadable from the Mac App Store . After starting it, from the menu bar at the top, select the File> Open items and import the CBZ file you want to open on your Mac.
If you have followed these simple instructions to the letter, in the blink of an eye you will be shown your comic, ready to be read and browsed, using the commands (the arrow icons ) at the top or using the directional arrows on the keyboard.
Calibre (Windows/macOS/Linux)
Another famous software that you can use to open CBZ files is Caliber . It is a program for managing digital libraries which, in addition to this function, also allows you to read books (in this case comics) of the most common formats. You can download Caliber by reading my tutorial dedicated to the subject.
After starting the software in question, press the Add books button , locate the CBR file and import it into the Caliber library. On the main screen, right-click on the name of the comic you just imported and select Read> Read with Caliber’s eBook reader .
At the end of the loading of the screen, using the directional arrows of the keyboard or those placed at the side margins, you can browse your comic.
Online services to open CBZ
If you don’t want to install any software on your PC, then you can use one of the many online services for reading CBZ files. An example? Comic CBR online tool , CBZ Viewer allows you to import CBR and CBZ extension files of your comics, so you can browse them online simply using your web browser.
All you have to do is go to the official website of this service, press the Choose file button and select the CBZ file from your computer. Alternatively, you can always drag the file from the PC folder to the browser screen, exactly inside the Drop a file here box .
Once this is done, wait a few moments and the contents of the CBZ file will be shown on the screen, being able to browse the pages using the side controls. Simple, am I right?
App to open CBZ
Have you downloaded a comic in CBZ format and would like to read it on your tablet or smartphone? No problem, there are apps to open CBZ files that allow you to read your comics from your mobile device, wherever you are: here are some of the ones you can consider.
- ComicScreen( Android ): is one of the best free applications for reading comics from smartphones and tablets. It supports ZIP, RAR, CBZ, CBR files and major image formats, such as JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP. It allows you to create folders for file storage and allows you to edit images. It is free with non-invasive removable advertising banners with the purchase of a license at 3.39 euros / year.
- Perfect Viewer( Android ): the ideal application for those who want to open files in ePub, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, CBZ, CBR, ZIP, RAR, 7Z and many more from their smartphone or tablet. It allows you to connect your accounts of the main cloud storage services . It can be downloaded for free.
- Comic Storm( iOS / iPadOS ): another free application to read comics on your iPhone / iPad. It allows you to download and import comics from the Web, via FTP, iTunes, Web Server and by connecting Comic Storm to the most popular cloud storage services. To eliminate the banner ads, you need to purchase the Pro version at a cost of 4.99 euros.
- Manga Storm CBR( iOS / iPadOS ): is an application that, despite its name, allows you to open not only CBR files, but also CBZ, PDF, RAR and ZIP. It allows you to import comics and files in supported formats via iTunes or FTP and allows connection with cloud storage services (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive). It is free and has advertising banners that can be removed with the in-app purchase of the Manga Storm CBR Pro version at a cost of 2.99 euros.
- LightComics( iOS / iPadOS ): This is a digital comic reading app with a simple interface. It supports files in CBZ, ZIP, RAR, PDF and EPUB format and allows library synchronization with iCloud and major cloud storage services. Non-invasive advertising banners can be removed with a one-time payment of 0.99 euros.
- YACReader( iOS / iPadOS ): like ComicRack, YACReader is also available as an application for iPhone and iPad, at a cost of 4.99 euros. In addition to supporting files in CBZ, CBR, ZIP, RAR and PDF format, it allows you to import comics from your computer via both iTunes and the desktop version of YACReader. It also allows you to synchronize your library with online storage services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and OneDrive.
Other solutions to open CBZ
In addition to the programs I suggested in the previous paragraphs, there are alternative solutions to open CBZ files . As mentioned above, in fact, CBZ files are not only files in ZIP format which, in turn, are image archives that can be extracted using programs for managing compressed archives.
Among the best solutions to open compressed archives on Windows is 7-Zip , a free software that, unlike the name, allows you to open not only files in ZIP format, but also CBZ, 7z, DMG, RAR and many others. I told you in detail about how to download 7-Zip in this tutorial of mine dedicated to the subject.
After installing the software on your PC, you can extract the content of the CBZ file of your interest. Right -click on the file in question, select the 7-Zip item from the menu that appears and click on the Extract files option . In the new open window, indicate the folder in which to extract them in the Extract to field , press the OK button and that’s it. Then open the folder containing the extracted files to view the images that made up the CBZ file.
Keka is instead the ideal solution to extract the images contained in a CBZ file – and any other compressed archive – on macOS . You can download the application for free from the official website (a paid version is available on the Mac App Store to support its development).
To extract the contents of your CBZ file, right- click on it and select the Open with and Keka items from the menu that appears and, once the extraction is complete, the extracted files will be available in a subfolder with the same name as the CBZ file.
If you want to know other solutions of this kind, you can read my dedicated to programs to open ZIP files .