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Tool

PyInstaller Extractor (pyinstxtractor)

Single-file Python script that extracts the contents of executables built with PyInstaller, including Linux ELF builds without other tools. It locates the PyInstaller archive in the executable, reports the PyInstaller and Python versions and likely entry-point scripts, and writes out the bundled CArchive files and the modules in the PYZ archive. It fixes the headers of the extracted .pyc files so that Python bytecode decompilers such as uncompyle6 and Decompyle++ (pycdc) recognize them.

Requirements and limitations

  • Runs under Python 2.x or 3.x and needs no PyInstaller installation. Latest release at review: 2026.07, published 2026-07-22 without attached files; it tags the reviewed master commit, whose script header still calls itself version 2.0. The README lists PyInstaller 2.0 through 6.19.0 as tested against a separate test-binary repository and supported.
  • Modules in the PYZ archive are extracted only when the script runs under the same Python major and minor version that built the executable; otherwise it warns and skips them, and an archive whose table of contents fails to unmarshal is skipped too. Entries that cannot be decompressed, such as those of encrypted PYZ archives, are saved unchanged with an .encrypted suffix rather than decoded.
  • The PyInstaller executable comes from the user, and turning the recovered bytecode into source needs a separate decompiler. Recovered code remains subject to the rights of the original program’s owner.
  • GPL-3.0. Nothing was run.

About this entry

Type
Tool
Category
Native analysis tools
Relationship
Foundation tool
Targets
App · Binary

Sources reviewed

The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.

Primary sources

  1. README.md GitHub · extremecoders-re/pyinstxtractor · Revision 815d31c
  2. pyinstxtractor.py GitHub · extremecoders-re/pyinstxtractor · Revision 815d31c
  3. pyinstxtractor.py#L405-L419 GitHub · extremecoders-re/pyinstxtractor · Revision 815d31c
  4. LICENSE GitHub · extremecoders-re/pyinstxtractor · Revision 815d31c
  5. https://github.com/extremecoders-re/pyinstxtractor/releases/tag/2026.07