Simple HTTP File Browser

English | 한국어 | Español | 日本語

Drag file or folder rows onto a folder in the list or sidebar to move them when writes are enabled. Name clicks keep their existing behavior. Archive contents cannot be moved, and existing items are never overwritten.

A dependency-free, single-file web file browser built entirely with the Python standard library. It provides a responsive, Synology File Station-inspired SPA for browsing and managing files.

Features

• Browse folders with browser Back navigation; search or sort by name, size, and modification date
• Expand, collapse, and navigate folders using the sidebar tree
• Browse ZIP and TAR archives as read-only folders without extracting them to disk
• Download folders as streamed ZIP files with no compression (ZIP_STORED), including subfolders and empty folders
• Preview browser-supported images, audio, video, plain text, and Markdown with links and tables; download any file
• Seek through audio and video with HTTP byte-range support; see a clear message when playback fails
• Upload multiple files using the file picker or drag and drop
• Track each file with its own progress bar, transferred size, and completion status
• Stream upload data to disk without buffering entire files in memory
• Create folders, rename items, and recursively delete files and folders
• Read-only mode by default
• CLI options and JSON configuration
• Protection against path traversal and symbolic-link escapes outside the configured root
• Responsive interface for desktop and mobile browsers
• Automatic UI language selection based on browser preferences:
  • English: en-US and en-*
  • Spanish: es-ES and es-*
  • Japanese: ja-JP and ja-*
  • Korean: ko-KR and ko-*
  • Unsupported languages fall back to English

Archive browsing

Click an archive name to browse its folders, or use its Download button to download the original archive. Supported formats are .zip, .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.bz2, .tbz, .tbz2, .tar.xz, and .txz.

Archive contents support downloads, existing previews, the sidebar tree, and browser history. They are always read-only, including when uploads are enabled. Files inside an archive cannot be uploaded, renamed, deleted, or edited.

Folder Download buttons bundle the selected folder into an uncompressed ZIP, including folders inside an archive. ZIP data streams directly to the browser without creating a temporary ZIP file. Hidden entries follow show_hidden, and filesystem symbolic links are skipped.

Encrypted ZIP members cannot be opened. Unsafe member paths and archive links are excluded. Archives inside another archive are downloadable files, not additional virtual folders. Large compressed archives may take longer to browse or seek through; compression support depends on the Python runtime. RAR and 7z are not supported.

Requirements

• Python 3.9 or later
• No third-party Python packages

Quick start

Run the following command from the project directory:

python3 simple_http_file_browser.py --root /path/to/files

Open this address in your browser:

http://localhost:8000

By default, the server listens on all network interfaces (0.0.0.0) and runs in read-only mode.

Enable write operations

Use --upload to allow uploads, folder creation, renaming, and deletion:

python3 simple_http_file_browser.py \
  --root /path/to/files \
  --port 8080 \
  --upload

Access from another device

The default bind address already allows connections from other devices on your LAN:

python3 simple_http_file_browser.py \
  --port 8080 \
  --root /path/to/files

Then open the server computer's IP address from the other device:

http://SERVER_IP:8080

CLI options

--config PATH  JSON configuration file (default: config.json)
--host HOST    Bind address (default: 0.0.0.0)
--port PORT    Server port (default: 8000)
--root PATH    Top-level accessible folder (default: current directory)
--upload       Enable uploads and file-management operations
--read-only    Disable write operations
--version      Print the version

Display the complete help output with:

python3 simple_http_file_browser.py --help

Configuration precedence is:

1. CLI options
2. JSON configuration file
3. Program defaults

JSON configuration

Copy the supplied example configuration:

cp config.example.json config.json
python3 simple_http_file_browser.py

Example:

{
  "host": "0.0.0.0",
  "port": 8000,
  "root": ".",
  "upload": false,
  "title": "My File Station",
  "show_hidden": false,
  "max_upload_mb": 512,
  "overwrite": false
}

Option	Description
host	Address on which the server listens
port	Server port
root	Top-level folder accessible through the browser
upload	Whether write operations are enabled
title	Title displayed in the web interface
show_hidden	Whether names beginning with . are shown
max_upload_mb	Maximum upload size per HTTP request, in MB
overwrite	Whether uploads replace an existing file with the same name

Specify a different configuration file with:

python3 simple_http_file_browser.py --config /path/to/my-config.json

Deletion behavior

• Files are deleted immediately.
• Deleting a folder recursively deletes all files and subfolders inside it.
• Symbolic links inside a deleted folder are removed without following their targets.
• There is no trash or recovery feature.

Security

This server does not include user authentication or HTTPS.

• The default 0.0.0.0 address exposes the server on every available network interface. Use it only on a trusted network.
• To restrict access to the same computer, start the server with --host 127.0.0.1.
• Enable upload: true or --upload only when write access is required.
• If internet exposure is required, place the server behind a reverse proxy configured with authentication and TLS.
• Do not select a broader root folder than necessary.

Stopping the server

Press Ctrl+C in the terminal running the server.