You exported your WhatsApp chat as a .zip. Now what? | ThreadRecap
You tapped "Export chat," waited for WhatsApp to bundle everything, and now you have a .zip file sitting in your Downloads folder or Files app. The hard part is already done. What follows is a file-by-file breakdown of what is inside, what each piece means, and what you can actually do with it.
What is inside the .zip
When WhatsApp packages a chat export it creates a compressed archive. Extract it and you will find, at minimum, one text file. If you chose "Include media" during export, you will also find a collection of audio, image, video, and document files alongside it. Nothing is encrypted inside the archive itself; the .zip is a straightforward container you can open with any standard file manager.
A typical extracted folder looks like this:
```
_chat.txt
PTT-20240315-WA0012.opus
PTT-20240318-WA0003.opus
IMG-20240316-WA0001.jpg
IMG-20240317-WA0005.jpg
VID-20240314-WA0002.mp4
document-20240320-WA0001.pdf
```
Each file has a purpose, and understanding them helps you decide what to do next.
_chat.txt: the backbone of your export
Format and encoding
`_chat.txt` is a plain UTF-8 text file. Every message occupies one line (or continues on the next line if it contains a line break). The format is consistent:
```
[DD/MM/YYYY, HH:MM:SS] Sender Name: Message body here
```
The exact date format varies slightly by device locale, but the bracketed timestamp is always present. Because it is UTF-8, emoji, Arabic script, Hebrew, Chinese characters, and other non-Latin text are preserved without corruption, provided the app you use to open it respects that encoding. If you see garbled characters, switch your text editor to UTF-8 mode explicitly.
What the attachment markers mean
When a media file is attached to a message, WhatsApp inserts a placeholder line like this:
The actual image is not embedded in the text. It is the separate `.jpg` file in the same folder. One important limitation: captions typed directly beneath a photo or video are sometimes omitted from `_chat.txt` entirely, depending on the WhatsApp version and platform. If a message looks truncated, check whether a media file with the corresponding timestamp exists alongside it.
System messages
Lines without a sender name are system events: group membership changes, security code notifications, missed call logs, and similar metadata. These lines are useful for reconstructing a timeline but are not conversational messages.
For a deeper look at how WhatsApp structures its exports across different platforms and formats, see the guide on WhatsApp export formats explained.
.opus and .m4a: the voice notes
Voice notes are the files that most people overlook, yet they often contain the most substantive content in a chat.
File naming
Voice notes follow the same date-stamped convention as other media:
```
PTT-YYYYMMDD-WAXXXX.opus (Android)
PTT-YYYYMMDD-WAXXXX.m4a (iOS)
```
"PTT" stands for Push-To-Talk, WhatsApp's internal label for recorded voice messages. The date segment tells you when the note was sent or received. The `WAXXXX` suffix is a sequential identifier that prevents filename collisions when multiple voice notes arrive on the same day.
Playback and transcription
Both `.opus` and `.m4a` are compressed audio formats. Most modern media players handle them natively, but if yours does not, VLC plays both without any additional codecs.
Listening to dozens of voice notes manually is time-consuming. ThreadRecap transcribes every voice note in your export using OpenAI Whisper, achieving high accuracy on clear audio. The transcriptions are timestamped and attributed to the original sender, so they slot directly into the message timeline rather than appearing as a separate document.
.jpg, .mp4, .pdf: media and documents
Images and videos
Image filenames follow the pattern `IMG-YYYYMMDD-WAXXXX.jpg` and video filenames follow `VID-YYYYMMDD-WAXXXX.mp4`. The date in the filename reflects when the file was shared in the chat, not necessarily when it was created on the sender's device. This distinction matters if you are using the export for dispute or compliance purposes: the filename date is the transmission date.
Screenshots, photos taken in-app, and images forwarded from other chats all land in the same folder with the same naming convention, so you cannot tell from the filename alone whether an image was original or forwarded.
Documents and PDFs
Exported documents appear with a prefix like `document-YYYYMMDD-WAXXXX` followed by their original extension (.pdf, .docx, .xlsx, and so on). The original filename is not always preserved; WhatsApp sometimes replaces it with the generic prefix. If the document's actual name matters for your records, cross-reference it with the corresponding `(file attached)` line in `_chat.txt`, where the original name may still appear.
What stays in the .zip and what does not
Stickers, GIFs sent from WhatsApp's built-in library, and some link previews are not included in the export. Deleted messages leave no trace in `_chat.txt`. If a message was deleted before you exported, it is gone from the file.
Where to upload to get an analysis
Once you understand the structure, the natural next step is to turn raw files into something readable and actionable.
You export the chat from WhatsApp on your own device.
You upload the .zip directly from your device to your ThreadRecap account.
ThreadRecap parses `_chat.txt`, transcribes every voice note, and generates structured output: a Meeting Recap, Action Items, Decisions log, Conflict Resolution summary, and Relationship Insights.
For exports containing 60,000 or more messages, the full analysis still runs in a single upload. ZIP files up to 2 GB are supported.
What stays on your device
Photos, videos, and documents are never uploaded. ThreadRecap reads only the chat text and the voice note audio files. If your .zip contains sensitive images or confidential PDFs, they do not leave your device at any point during the process.
Chat text and voice note audio are stored encrypted in your ThreadRecap account after processing. You can delete them at any time from your dashboard. You remain in control of the data from the moment you create the export to the moment you choose to remove it.
Before you do anything else with your export, make one copy and store it somewhere you will not accidentally modify.
Why the original matters
`_chat.txt` is a plain text file. Any text editor can overwrite it silently. If you are keeping the export for legal, dispute, or compliance reasons, an unmodified original with a verifiable creation date is far more useful than a file that has been opened and re-saved. Operating systems update file metadata on open, so even reading the file can change its "last modified" timestamp on some platforms.
Practical steps:
Copy the entire extracted folder to a separate location before opening any file.
If the export is for legal purposes, consider creating a hash of the .zip before extraction. A SHA-256 hash gives you a fingerprint you can use later to demonstrate the file has not changed.
Store the original .zip in a location with access logging if possible, such as a cloud drive with version history enabled.
Passwords and sharing
The .zip itself is not password-protected by default. Anyone who receives the file can extract and read it. If you need to share the export with a lawyer, HR team, or compliance officer, use an encrypted transfer method rather than email. Treat the file with the same caution you would apply to any document containing private conversation data.
Making sense of it all
A WhatsApp export is more structured than it looks. The `_chat.txt` file is a complete, timestamped log. The voice notes are attributable audio records. The media files carry transmission dates in their names. Together, they form a coherent dataset that can be analysed, summarised, and, where necessary, presented as evidence.
The gap between "I have a .zip file" and "I have a clear record of what was decided, promised, and communicated" is exactly what ThreadRecap is built to close. If you want to see the analysis workflow in more detail before uploading, the guide on exporting a WhatsApp chat for analysis walks through the full process from the WhatsApp settings screen to structured output.
