What Is Inside a WhatsApp Chat Export Zip

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 9, 2026

A WhatsApp chat export contains one text file with the conversation and, if you chose to include media, the photos, videos, voice notes and documents as separate files. On iPhone it is a .zip with the text in _chat.txt. On Android the text file is usually called something like WhatsApp Chat with Ana.txt, and depending on the version and the app you share to, it comes as a .zip or as separate files.

The files at a glance

WhatsApp's help center confirms that iPhone exports are ZIP files. The file naming is not documented by WhatsApp; the patterns above come from open source tools that read these exports and may vary by version and language.

The chat text file

Each message starts on a new line with the date and time, then the sender's name, then the text. A message with several lines continues on the following lines until the next date appears. Typical lines look like this:

• iPhone: [15/01/2024, 21:41:45] Ana: See you tomorrow
• Android: 15/01/2024, 21:41 - Ana: See you tomorrow

The date order (day first or month first) and the 12 or 24 hour clock follow your phone's region settings, which is why exports from different phones look different. iPhone exports often include invisible direction marks before some lines, which is harmless but can confuse simple text tools.

System messages, such as someone joining a group or changing its name, appear as lines without a sender.

The encryption notice

Most exports begin with a system line saying that messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted, and that no one outside the chat can read them. The exact wording varies by version and language. It is a notice WhatsApp shows inside the chat, not a property of the exported file: once exported, the .txt and the media are ordinary unencrypted files, so store them as carefully as you would the phone itself.

Media files

• iPhone names media with a sequence number, a type and the date and time, for example 00000042-PHOTO-2020-06-07-15-13-20.jpg. Other media types follow a similar pattern with a different type word.
• Android uses a prefix, the date and a counter: IMG- for photos, VID- for videos, PTT- for voice notes (usually .opus) and other prefixes for other kinds of file.
• Documents may keep their original name.

Because the text refers to media by file name, renaming or removing files from the zip breaks the link between a message and its photo. Keep the export as it came.

What an export does not contain

• View-once messages, which WhatsApp says are not exported, and disappearing messages on desktop exports.
• Media that was not downloaded to the phone, or older media beyond what WhatsApp attaches (see export limits).
• Anything WhatsApp can import again: the export is a text file, not a backup.

Open it without unpacking anything

You do not need to unzip the export to read it. Choose the .zip in PrintChats and it finds the chat text, matches every attached line to its photo and shows the conversation as bubbles, with search and a date filter. It works the same with an Android .txt, minus the photos. More in how to open and read an exported WhatsApp chat.