diff --git a/src/bin/parse_head.rs b/src/bin/parse_head.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..30e27182
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bin/parse_head.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+extern crate zip;
+
+fn main()
+{
+    let mut stdin = std::io::stdin();
+    let header = zip::spec::LocalFileHeader::parse(&mut stdin).unwrap();
+    println!("{}", header);
+    println!("{}", String::from_utf8(header.file_name));
+}
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index d0c119b7..b22a1949 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+#![feature(phase)]
+
+#[phase(plugin, link)] extern crate log;
+extern crate time;
 extern crate flatestream;
 
+mod util;
+pub mod spec;
 pub mod crc32;
diff --git a/src/spec.rs b/src/spec.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a0b72c77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/spec.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+use std::io;
+use std::io::{IoResult, IoError};
+use time::Tm;
+use util;
+
+/*
+   4.3.7  Local file header:
+
+      local file header signature     4 bytes  (0x04034b50)
+      version needed to extract       2 bytes
+      general purpose bit flag        2 bytes
+      compression method              2 bytes
+      last mod file time              2 bytes
+      last mod file date              2 bytes
+      crc-32                          4 bytes
+      compressed size                 4 bytes
+      uncompressed size               4 bytes
+      file name length                2 bytes
+      extra field length              2 bytes
+
+      file name (variable size)
+      extra field (variable size)
+*/
+
+#[deriving(FromPrimitive, Show)]
+pub enum CompressionMethod
+{
+    Stored = 0,
+    Shrunk = 1,
+    Reduced1 = 2,
+    Reduced2 = 3,
+    Reduced3 = 4,
+    Reduced4 = 5,
+    Imploded = 6,
+    Deflated = 8,
+    Deflate64 = 9,
+    PkwareImploding = 10,
+    Bzip2 = 12,
+    LZMA = 14,
+    IBMTerse = 18,
+    LZ77 = 19,
+    WavPack = 97,
+    PPMdI1 = 98,
+    Unknown = 100000,
+}
+
+#[deriving(Show)]
+pub struct LocalFileHeader
+{
+    extract_version: u16,
+
+    // general purpose flags
+    encrypted: bool, // bit 0
+    // bit 1 & 2 unused
+    has_descriptor: bool, // bit 3
+    // bit 4 unused
+    is_compressed_patch: bool, // bit 5
+    strong_encryption: bool, // bit 6
+    // bit 7 - 10 unused
+    is_utf8: bool, // bit 11
+    // bit 12 unused
+    is_masked: bool, // bit 13
+    // bit 14 & 15 unused
+    
+    compression_method: CompressionMethod,
+    last_modified: Tm,
+    crc32: u32,
+    compressed_size: u32,
+    uncompressed_size: u32,
+    pub file_name: Vec<u8>,
+    extra_field: Vec<u8>,
+}
+
+
+impl LocalFileHeader
+{
+    pub fn parse<T: Reader>(reader: &mut T) -> IoResult<LocalFileHeader>
+    {
+        let magic = try!(reader.read_le_u32());
+        if magic != 0x04034b50 { return Err(IoError { kind: io::MismatchedFileTypeForOperation, desc: "Invalid local file header", detail: None }) }
+        let version = try!(reader.read_le_u16());
+        let flags = try!(reader.read_le_u16());
+        let compression_method = try!(reader.read_le_u16());
+        let last_mod_time = try!(reader.read_le_u16());
+        let last_mod_date = try!(reader.read_le_u16());
+        let crc = try!(reader.read_le_u32());
+        let compressed_size = try!(reader.read_le_u32());
+        let uncompressed_size = try!(reader.read_le_u32());
+        let file_name_length = try!(reader.read_le_u16());
+        let extra_field_length = try!(reader.read_le_u16());
+        let file_name = try!(reader.read_exact(file_name_length as uint));
+        let extra_field = try!(reader.read_exact(extra_field_length as uint));
+
+        Ok(LocalFileHeader
+           {
+               extract_version: version,
+               encrypted: (flags & (1 << 0)) != 0,
+               has_descriptor: (flags & (1 << 3)) != 0,
+               is_compressed_patch: (flags & (1 << 5)) != 0,
+               strong_encryption: (flags & (1 << 6)) != 0,
+               is_utf8: (flags & (1 << 11)) != 0,
+               is_masked: (flags & (1 << 13)) != 0,
+               compression_method: FromPrimitive::from_u16(compression_method).unwrap_or(Unknown),
+               last_modified: util::msdos_datetime_to_tm(last_mod_time, last_mod_date),
+               crc32: crc,
+               compressed_size: compressed_size,
+               uncompressed_size: uncompressed_size,
+               file_name: file_name,
+               extra_field: extra_field,
+           })
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/util.rs b/src/util.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d89e43d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+use time;
+use time::Tm;
+
+pub fn msdos_datetime_to_tm(time: u16, date: u16) -> Tm
+{
+    let seconds = (time & 0b0000000000011111) << 1;
+    let minutes = (time & 0b0000011111100000) >> 5;
+    let hours =   (time & 0b1111100000000000) >> 11;
+    let days =    (date & 0b0000000000011111) >> 0;
+    let months =  (date & 0b0000000111100000) >> 5;
+    let years =   (date & 0b1111111000000000) >> 9;
+
+    let datetime = format!("{:04u}-{:02u}-{:02u} {:02u}:{:02u}:{:02u}", 
+                           years as uint + 1980,
+                           months,
+                           days,
+                           hours,
+                           minutes,
+                           seconds);
+    let format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S";
+
+    debug!("Parsing MsDos date: {}", datetime);
+    match time::strptime(datetime.as_slice(), format)
+    {
+        Ok(tm) => tm,
+        Err(m) => { debug!("Failed parsing date: {}", m); time::empty_tm() },
+    }
+}