DOCX · Office Open XML
See what is inside a .docx file
Every Word document since 2007 is a ZIP archive of XML files and images. Open one here to read its markup, pull out embedded pictures at full resolution, and see the metadata it quietly carries.
Select any .docx, .xlsx or .pptx. They share the same packaging, so all three open as browsable trees.
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Select a file to preview it. Images, text, code, PDFs, audio and video open here — and a ZIP inside this ZIP can be opened in place.
What Word puts inside a document
Unlike an APK, most of a .docx is plain XML you can read directly. The parts worth knowing about:
| Path | What it holds | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
[Content_Types].xml | Declares the content type of every part in the package. Word refuses to open a document whose types do not match. | readable |
word/document.xml | The document body — your actual text, wrapped in WordprocessingML markup. | readable |
word/styles.xml | Every style definition in the file, including ones no paragraph currently uses. | readable |
word/media/ | Every embedded image, at the resolution it was inserted — frequently much larger than the size displayed on the page. | previews |
word/_rels/document.xml.rels | The relationship map tying the body to its images, hyperlinks and embedded objects. | readable |
docProps/core.xml | Author, last-modified-by, creation date and revision number. | readable |
docProps/app.xml | Word count, page count, the template it was built from, and total editing time in minutes. | readable |
Spreadsheets and presentations follow the same scheme with different folder names — xl/ for .xlsx, ppt/ for .pptx — so everything on this page applies to them as well.
Why a Word file is really a ZIP
When Microsoft replaced the old binary .doc format in Office 2007, it moved to Office Open XML: a set of XML parts, packaged together in an ordinary ZIP container. The x on the end of .docx, .xlsx and .pptx is that change.
The practical consequence is that any ZIP reader can open a Word document. You do not need Word, an Office licence, or a converter to see what a file contains — and if a document is corrupted in a way that stops Word opening it, the parts inside are often still perfectly readable.
Pulling images out at original resolution
This is the reason most people end up here. Copying a picture out of Word gives you whatever Word decides to hand over, often downscaled to the size it was displayed at. The original file is still sitting in word/media/, untouched, at whatever resolution it was inserted.
Open the document, expand word/media/, and every image previews in place. Download the ones you want individually, or select several and take them as a new archive. Nothing is re-encoded on the way out — you get the exact bytes Word stored.
The metadata a document carries with it
A .docx records more about its own history than most people expect. docProps/core.xml holds the author name and whoever last saved the file. docProps/app.xml holds total editing time, the template the document was built from, and the company name configured in the Office installation that produced it.
That matters when a document leaves your organisation. Before sending a file to a client, a court, or a job application, it is worth reading those two parts and seeing exactly what travels with it. Opening the file here is a way to check that without the document passing through anyone else's server on the way.
Questions about .docx files
How do I see what is inside a DOCX file?
Select the document above. Because a .docx is a ZIP archive, it opens as a browsable tree of XML parts and media files. You can read word/document.xml directly, preview every embedded image, and download any single part without Word installed.
Why is a Word document a ZIP file?
Office 2007 replaced the old binary .doc format with Office Open XML, which stores a document as a set of XML parts packaged in a standard ZIP container. Renaming a .docx to .zip has worked ever since — though here it is unnecessary, since the file is identified by its contents.
How do I extract images from a Word document?
Open the .docx and look in word/media/. Every picture the document contains is stored there at its inserted resolution, which is usually larger than the version displayed on the page. Download them individually or select several and export them together.
What personal information does a .docx contain?
Typically the author's name, whoever last saved it, creation and revision dates, total editing time, and the template and company name from the Office installation that produced it. All of it lives in docProps/core.xml and docProps/app.xml, both readable here.
Can I open a document Word says is corrupted?
Often, yes. Damage to one part of the package does not necessarily affect the others, so word/document.xml and the contents of word/media/ are frequently intact and extractable even when Word refuses to open the file as a whole.