rustyfiles

rustyfiles is a free, open-source file manager for Windows, written from scratch in Rust. It's built to replace File Explorer for everyday work, with one rule: the window never waits on the disk. Listing, icons, thumbnails, previews and every file operation run off the UI thread, so a slow network share or a folder with 100,000 files can't freeze it.

Speed and footprint

• Opens a 100,000-file folder in about 0.17 s (File Explorer: 1.2 s on the same machine)
• Around 40 MB of RAM with a 10,000-file folder open
• Stays responsive while files change in the background

Browsing

• Tabs, dual pane, details / grid / column views, grouping and filters
• Preview pane, colour tags, Git status column and Git basics (commit, push, pull, connect a remote)
• Fast file name search, plus Windows Search for file contents
• Native Windows 11 look: Mica, dark mode, your accent colour
• Can open Explorer's folders, Win+E and apps' Open/Save dialogs

DirectLook (Quick Look-style preview) Select a file and press Space: images, video and audio, PDF, code with syntax highlighting, Markdown, CSV tables, fonts, archives and more, in a separate lightweight window.

Archives ZIP, 7z, RAR, tar and ISO open like folders, password-protected ones included. Our own pure-Rust engine, rarchive, reads them; create ZIP, 7z and tar.zst on every core.

Copying you can trust Our own parallel copy engine: conflicts handled in one clear dialog (replace, skip, keep both), pause and resume, optional byte-for-byte verification, a speed limit, and a crash-safe journal so a copy cut off by a crash or shutdown can be resumed.

46 languages. MIT licensed. No account, no ads, no telemetry.