You cannot simply feed a .zip file to Hashcat. If you try hashcat -a 0 -m 1000 hash.txt mylist.zip , Hashcat will try to parse the raw binary zip header as a password—and fail instantly.
However, once the cracking began, the performance was nearly identical to using a plaintext file. The Pro Tip: Piping hashcat compressed wordlist
When using Hashcat’s rule-based or mask-attack modes, the base wordlist is read once and expanded algorithmically. Feeding a compressed base wordlist reduces the memory pressure on the system’s page cache, leaving more room for rule engines or hybrid attack structures. You cannot simply feed a
: For .zip and .gz (gzip) files, Alex could simply point Hashcat to the compressed file directly. The Command: hashcat -a 0 hashes.txt wordlist.gz once the cracking began