VGSources / Best Game Asset Extractors / VPKEdit
What it is
VPKEdit is a free, MIT-licensed tool for creating, extracting, previewing, editing, and repacking game archive formats. It offers a graphical application and the separate vpkeditcli command-line tool, which has no external dependencies. Supported formats include VPK, PAK, ZIP, WAD, BSP, GMA, PCK, PK3, and PK4, with create, read, and write operations varying by format. Users can preview audio, text, KeyValues, images, Source 1 textures, models, and DMX files without extracting them. Writable packs allow files or folders to be added or removed, and text files edited; readable packs can be extracted, including through batch workflows. Existing VPK versions can be switched. Builds cover Windows 7 and later, macOS arm64, and native Linux x8664, with Linux packages for Arch, Debian, Fedora, and NixOS. Windows 10 and later support WinGet, while older GUI versions use Compatibility builds. macOS builds require allowing the unsigned app in Privacy & Security settings.
Good, and not so good
- Previews assets without extracting
- Includes command-line application
- Supports batch extraction and repacking
- Native Linux packages are available
- Offers translations in multiple languages
- Does not parse Source 2 file types
- Create, read, and write support varies by format
- macOS builds are not Apple-signed
Who it suits
VPKEdit suits modders handling GoldSrc and Source 1 pack files on Windows, macOS arm64, or Linux. Its GUI and CLI support both inspection and scripted archive work.
VPKEdit covers archive inspection and editing across many game formats, with both GUI and CLI workflows. It is focused on GoldSrc and Source 1 rather than Source 2.