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Magika is an open-source AI file-type classifier Google released on GitHub that…

2026-08-02 · 10:59 UTC ·@alex_verem ·1 min read

Brief

Magika is Google's open-source file-type classifier trained on 100 million files across 200+ types and reportedly achieving ~99% accuracy at ~5 ms per file. The same AI that scans Gmail attachments and Drive uploads (hundreds of billions of files weekly) is on GitHub, used by VirusTotal and abuse.ch, and runs locally for free with 17,800 stars.

Why it matters

Magika is an open-source AI file-type classifier Google released on GitHub that ignores filename extensions and reads file content to determine type.

Key details

  • The model was trained on 100 million files across 200+ types, claims ~99% accuracy at ~5 milliseconds per file, and is the same system Google uses for Gmail attachments and Google Drive uploads (hundreds of billions of files per week).
  • Magika is free to run locally (no account or cloud required), has ~17,800 stars on GitHub, and is already used by VirusTotal and abuse.ch; Google’s security research team published the code.
Source evidence

Most of the time, your computer decides what a file is by its name. Gmail reads the file itself. Google gave away the AI that does it.

It's called Magika.

Your computer looks at the extension. The .pdf at the end, the .jpg, the .docx. But extensions are just labels. Anyone can change them. Rename a virus to quarterly-report.pdf, and your file browser shows a PDF icon like nothing is wrong.

Magika ignores the extension entirely. It reads the actual content and runs it through an AI trained on 100 million files across 200+ types.

~99% accuracy at 5 milliseconds per file.

This is the same system Google runs on Gmail attachments and Google Drive uploads. Hundreds of billions of files per week.

Now you can install it on your own computer.

17,800 stars and Free forever.

No account or using the cloud because everything runs on your machine.

VirusTotal uses and abuse.ch uses it. Google's security research team built it, then put the code on GitHub.

The AI scanning your Gmail attachments right now is sitting on GitHub. Free.