About

A Zip Bomb or Decompression Bomb is a malicious .zip file designed to crash a program or system when opened due to its deceptively massive file size. Upon opening the file, the system struggles to open such a massive file all at once, causing it to overload. Zip bombs are typically used to disable antivirus software. Zip bombs have been the subject of memes and discussion online throughout the 2010s.

Origin

The earliest known use of a zip bomb dates back to 1996 according to a 2015 USENIX Security Symposium presentation discussing the subject.^[1] The file was made maliciously and shared on Fidonet, intended for an administrator to open.

On October 16th, 2015, YouTuber 0612 TV w/ NERDfirst posted a video describing zip bombs (shown below) garnering over 30,000 views in six years.

Spread

42.zip

The most well-known example of a zip bomb is 42.zip, a zip bomb that appears to be 42 kilobytes in size, but is actually 4.5 petabytes when decompressed, an unmanageable file size for any typical computer. The file remains available for download across the web, although it is not advisable to download or open.

42.zip is one of the most discussed examples of a zip bomb online. On October 4th, 2012, Redditor u/Crtl-Alt-Delete posted to /r/todayilearned^[3] sharing the Wikipedia page for zip bombs, specifically mentioning 42.zip, garnering over 3,300 upvotes in nine years. In August 2013, FunnyJunk^[4] user iwantawesomestuff posted an image from WTFacts.org about 42.zip, garnering over 740 points in eight years (shown below). The post is titled, "It's time to mail this to my boss."

In October 2019, Vice^[2] published an article about 42.zip and zip bombs in general.

Watching As I Unload A Zip Bomb Onto The School's Network

On January 30th, 2020, iFunny^[5] user Thio posted an image macro featuring a GIF of Kanye West under the text, "My school's IT guy watching as I unload a 4000 terabyte zip bomb onto the school's network," garnering over 1,100 smiles in a year (shown below). The meme was posted to /r/teenagers^[9] in February, garnering over 14,000 upvotes in a year.

On October 14th, the meme was reshared by Instagram^[6] page @the_maymays_reloaded, garnering over 44,000 likes in eight months. On December 29th, Instagram^[7] user @iq_r6s posted a new version of the meme using different footage and altered phrasing (shown below). The video was reposted to Instagram^[8] page @pcgaming in February 2021, garnering over 29,000 likes in four months.

Continued Spread

On June 21st, Instagram^[10][11] users @that.2_mexican and @new.incognito.tab posted a Haha Jonathan meme referencing the making of a zip bomb, garnering over 3,400 and 45,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References