What does 'extract exception, please check files' mean?

I've been trying to open a .zip file on my Android device, and whenever I try it tells me the same thing over and over again: > Extract exception, please check files What does this mean? I went through all my files, and then when I try to extract the .zip file again, it gives me an empty folder and says that same message. Can someone please help? What am I doing wrong?