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Is there an easy way (like unzip) to convert a KMZ-file to KML?

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7 Answers 7

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64

Yes.

Inside the .kmz is a file called doc.kml, see wikipedia | Keyhole Markup Language | Structure

You can use 7-zip to open the KMZ archive.

References:

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34

or change the file extension to .zip under windows to open with winzip.

In unix/linux/osx:

cp myfile.kmz myfile.zip
unzip myfile.zip
cp doc.xml myfile.kml
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  • 3
    You can just unzip the kmz file directly, Unix doesn't care about file extensions.
    – HeyOverThere
    Commented Nov 12, 2012 at 23:26
  • @HeyOverThere most Unix utilities don't care, but some, such as gunzip are picky about extensions.
    – scw
    Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 2:55
  • The rename file extension technique works like a charm in Windows 7.
    – JohnnyO
    Commented Nov 28, 2013 at 16:53
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No need for a third party tool. Change the extension to .zip, open and extract the file you want.

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  • 5
    +1 If you are using 7zip, you do not even need to add a ".zip" extension.
    – Aaron ♦
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 17:09
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This is most likely no practical solution, but you can import your kmz-file in google earth (open) and export it (rightlick -> save) it as kml. Somehere out there is certainly a easy tool for conversion/extraction.

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  • good idea Google Earth choked on a 57MB file. I guess that is a different problem.
    – Abe
    Commented Nov 12, 2012 at 22:19
  • 2
    hui, then maybe you should first extract the doc.kml file as mentioned by HeyOverThere. On this link you will find further informations about the kmz file format: developers.google.com/kml/documentation/kmzarchives
    – Curlew
    Commented Nov 12, 2012 at 22:26
  • @Abe solid state memory is the way to go. I have 16GB of RAM too, thats definitely helpful too.
    – boulder_ruby
    Commented Jun 4, 2014 at 22:25
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I had the same issue and changed the extension from KMZ to ZIP. Clicking the ZIP file lead me to the KML file, then made the import from both QGIS and ArcGIS Desktop work.

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2

I was able to convert KMZ to KML within few seconds using this online KMZ to KML Converter...

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0

You can use Python software for it. It's a 2-step task, where the first one shows unzipping the .kmz file, the second one replicating the name of the .kml file

https://www.mkrgeo-blog.com/kmz-to-kml-quick-conversion-with-python/

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