diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/scripts/source-map.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/scripts/source-map.ts
index 56e95b32f..b96c7c9ae 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/scripts/source-map.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/scripts/source-map.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import { spawnSync } from "child_process";
 import { basename, resolve } from "path";
 import { pathExists, readJSON } from "fs-extra";
 import { RawSourceMap, SourceMapConsumer } from "source-map";
-import { unzipToDirectory } from "../src/common/unzip";
+import { unzipToDirectorySequentially } from "../src/common/unzip";
 
 if (process.argv.length !== 4) {
   console.error(
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ async function extractSourceMap() {
         releaseAssetsDirectory,
       ]);
 
-      await unzipToDirectory(
+      await unzipToDirectorySequentially(
         resolve(releaseAssetsDirectory, sourcemapAsset.name),
         sourceMapsDirectory,
       );
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/codeql-cli/distribution.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/codeql-cli/distribution.ts
index da1d61b54..d827997f5 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/codeql-cli/distribution.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/codeql-cli/distribution.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import {
   showAndLogErrorMessage,
   showAndLogWarningMessage,
 } from "../common/logging";
-import { unzipToDirectory } from "../common/unzip";
+import { unzipToDirectoryConcurrently } from "../common/unzip-concurrently";
 
 /**
  * distribution.ts
@@ -420,7 +420,10 @@ class ExtensionSpecificDistributionManager {
       void extLogger.log(
         `Extracting CodeQL CLI to ${this.getDistributionStoragePath()}`,
       );
-      await unzipToDirectory(archivePath, this.getDistributionStoragePath());
+      await unzipToDirectoryConcurrently(
+        archivePath,
+        this.getDistributionStoragePath(),
+      );
     } finally {
       await remove(tmpDirectory);
     }
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/common/unzip-concurrently.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/common/unzip-concurrently.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..be1f03223
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/common/unzip-concurrently.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import { availableParallelism } from "os";
+import { unzipToDirectory } from "./unzip";
+import PQueue from "p-queue";
+
+export async function unzipToDirectoryConcurrently(
+  archivePath: string,
+  destinationPath: string,
+): Promise<void> {
+  const queue = new PQueue({
+    concurrency: availableParallelism(),
+  });
+
+  return unzipToDirectory(archivePath, destinationPath, async (tasks) => {
+    await queue.addAll(tasks);
+  });
+}
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/common/unzip.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/common/unzip.ts
index 4de886ddb..1012472f5 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/common/unzip.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/common/unzip.ts
@@ -97,9 +97,57 @@ async function copyStream(
   });
 }
 
+/**
+ * Unzips a single file from a zip archive.
+ *
+ * @param zipFile
+ * @param entry
+ * @param rootDestinationPath
+ */
+async function unzipFile(
+  zipFile: ZipFile,
+  entry: ZipEntry,
+  rootDestinationPath: string,
+): Promise<void> {
+  const path = join(rootDestinationPath, entry.fileName);
+
+  if (/\/$/.test(entry.fileName)) {
+    // Directory file names end with '/'
+
+    await ensureDir(path);
+  } else {
+    // Ensure the directory exists
+    await ensureDir(dirname(path));
+
+    const readable = await openZipReadStream(zipFile, entry);
+
+    let mode: number | undefined = entry.externalFileAttributes >>> 16;
+    if (mode <= 0) {
+      mode = undefined;
+    }
+
+    const writeStream = createWriteStream(path, {
+      autoClose: true,
+      mode,
+    });
+
+    await copyStream(readable, writeStream);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Unzips all files from a zip archive. Please use
+ * `unzipToDirectoryConcurrently` or `unzipToDirectorySequentially` instead
+ * of this function.
+ *
+ * @param archivePath
+ * @param destinationPath
+ * @param taskRunner A function that runs the tasks (either sequentially or concurrently).
+ */
 export async function unzipToDirectory(
   archivePath: string,
   destinationPath: string,
+  taskRunner: (tasks: Array<() => Promise<void>>) => Promise<void>,
 ): Promise<void> {
   const zipFile = await openZip(archivePath, {
     autoClose: false,
@@ -110,33 +158,29 @@ export async function unzipToDirectory(
   try {
     const entries = await readZipEntries(zipFile);
 
-    for (const entry of entries) {
-      const path = join(destinationPath, entry.fileName);
-
-      if (/\/$/.test(entry.fileName)) {
-        // Directory file names end with '/'
-
-        await ensureDir(path);
-      } else {
-        // Ensure the directory exists
-        await ensureDir(dirname(path));
-
-        const readable = await openZipReadStream(zipFile, entry);
-
-        let mode: number | undefined = entry.externalFileAttributes >>> 16;
-        if (mode <= 0) {
-          mode = undefined;
-        }
-
-        const writeStream = createWriteStream(path, {
-          autoClose: true,
-          mode,
-        });
-
-        await copyStream(readable, writeStream);
-      }
-    }
+    await taskRunner(
+      entries.map((entry) => () => unzipFile(zipFile, entry, destinationPath)),
+    );
   } finally {
     zipFile.close();
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * Sequentially unzips all files from a zip archive. Please use
+ * `unzipToDirectoryConcurrently` if you can. This function is only
+ * provided because Jest cannot import `p-queue`.
+ *
+ * @param archivePath
+ * @param destinationPath
+ */
+export async function unzipToDirectorySequentially(
+  archivePath: string,
+  destinationPath: string,
+): Promise<void> {
+  return unzipToDirectory(archivePath, destinationPath, async (tasks) => {
+    for (const task of tasks) {
+      await task();
+    }
+  });
+}
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/variant-analysis/variant-analysis-results-manager.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/variant-analysis/variant-analysis-results-manager.ts
index 4d6f69a71..f604f9f09 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/variant-analysis/variant-analysis-results-manager.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/variant-analysis/variant-analysis-results-manager.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import {
 } from "./shared/variant-analysis";
 import { DisposableObject, DisposeHandler } from "../common/disposable-object";
 import { EventEmitter } from "vscode";
-import { unzipToDirectory } from "../common/unzip";
+import { unzipToDirectoryConcurrently } from "../common/unzip-concurrently";
 import { readRepoTask, writeRepoTask } from "./repo-tasks-store";
 
 type CacheKey = `${number}/${string}`;
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ export class VariantAnalysisResultsManager extends DisposableObject {
       VariantAnalysisResultsManager.RESULTS_DIRECTORY,
     );
 
-    await unzipToDirectory(zipFilePath, unzippedFilesDirectory);
+    await unzipToDirectoryConcurrently(zipFilePath, unzippedFilesDirectory);
 
     this._onResultDownloaded.fire({
       variantAnalysisId,
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/test/unit-tests/common/unzip.test.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/test/unit-tests/common/unzip.test.ts
index 1c8feab1a..1e593f579 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/test/unit-tests/common/unzip.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/test/unit-tests/common/unzip.test.ts
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ import {
   openZip,
   openZipBuffer,
   readZipEntries,
-  unzipToDirectory,
+  unzipToDirectorySequentially,
 } from "../../../src/common/unzip";
 import { walkDirectory } from "../../../src/common/files";
+import { unzipToDirectoryConcurrently } from "../../../src/common/unzip-concurrently";
 
 const zipPath = resolve(__dirname, "../data/unzip/test-zip.zip");
 
@@ -88,7 +89,16 @@ describe("openZipBuffer", () => {
   });
 });
 
-describe("unzipToDirectory", () => {
+describe.each([
+  {
+    name: "unzipToDirectorySequentially",
+    unzipToDirectory: unzipToDirectorySequentially,
+  },
+  {
+    name: "unzipToDirectoryConcurrently",
+    unzipToDirectory: unzipToDirectoryConcurrently,
+  },
+])("$name", ({ unzipToDirectory }) => {
   let tmpDir: DirectoryResult;
 
   beforeEach(async () => {
@@ -186,6 +196,8 @@ async function expectFile(
   if (expectedContents) {
     expect(contents.toString("utf-8")).toEqual(expectedContents);
   }
+
+  await file.close();
 }
 
 async function computeHash(contents: Buffer) {
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/test/vscode-tests/ensureCli.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/test/vscode-tests/ensureCli.ts
index 46c8ebada..e234e190d 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/test/vscode-tests/ensureCli.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/test/vscode-tests/ensureCli.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import {
   getRequiredAssetName,
   codeQlLauncherName,
 } from "../../src/common/distribution";
-import { unzipToDirectory } from "../../src/common/unzip";
+import { unzipToDirectorySequentially } from "../../src/common/unzip";
 import fetch from "node-fetch";
 import supportedCliVersions from "../../supported_cli_versions.json";
 
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ export async function ensureCli(useCli: boolean) {
 
     console.log(`Unzipping into '${unzipDir}'`);
     mkdirpSync(unzipDir);
-    await unzipToDirectory(downloadedFilePath, unzipDir);
+    await unzipToDirectorySequentially(downloadedFilePath, unzipDir);
     console.log("Done.");
   } catch (e) {
     console.error("Failed to download CLI.");