diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/76971-unarchive-remove-unnecessary-zipinfo-dependency.yml b/changelogs/fragments/76971-unarchive-remove-unnecessary-zipinfo-dependency.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..601580e509a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/76971-unarchive-remove-unnecessary-zipinfo-dependency.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - unarchive - if unzip is available but zipinfo is not, use unzip -Z instead of zipinfo (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/76959).
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/unarchive.py b/lib/ansible/modules/unarchive.py
index e9062a7c79a..d375fbcc4ac 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/unarchive.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/unarchive.py
@@ -312,6 +312,11 @@ class ZipArchive(object):
         self.zipinfo_cmd_path = None
         self._files_in_archive = []
         self._infodict = dict()
+        self.zipinfoflag = ''
+        self.binaries = (
+            ('unzip', 'cmd_path'),
+            ('zipinfo', 'zipinfo_cmd_path'),
+        )
 
     def _permstr_to_octal(self, modestr, umask):
         ''' Convert a Unix permission string (rw-r--r--) into a mode (0644) '''
@@ -399,7 +404,10 @@ class ZipArchive(object):
 
     def is_unarchived(self):
         # BSD unzip doesn't support zipinfo listings with timestamp.
-        cmd = [self.zipinfo_cmd_path, '-T', '-s', self.src]
+        if self.zipinfoflag:
+            cmd = [self.zipinfo_cmd_path, self.zipinfoflag, '-T', '-s', self.src]
+        else:
+            cmd = [self.zipinfo_cmd_path, '-T', '-s', self.src]
 
         if self.excludes:
             cmd.extend(['-x', ] + self.excludes)
@@ -720,12 +728,8 @@ class ZipArchive(object):
         return dict(cmd=cmd, rc=rc, out=out, err=err)
 
     def can_handle_archive(self):
-        binaries = (
-            ('unzip', 'cmd_path'),
-            ('zipinfo', 'zipinfo_cmd_path'),
-        )
         missing = []
-        for b in binaries:
+        for b in self.binaries:
             try:
                 setattr(self, b[1], get_bin_path(b[0]))
             except ValueError:
@@ -948,9 +952,32 @@ class TarZstdArchive(TgzArchive):
         self.zipflag = '--use-compress-program=zstd'
 
 
+class ZipZArchive(ZipArchive):
+    def __init__(self, src, b_dest, file_args, module):
+        super(ZipZArchive, self).__init__(src, b_dest, file_args, module)
+        self.zipinfoflag = '-Z'
+        self.binaries = (
+            ('unzip', 'cmd_path'),
+            ('unzip', 'zipinfo_cmd_path'),
+        )
+
+    def can_handle_archive(self):
+        unzip_available, error_msg = super(ZipZArchive, self).can_handle_archive()
+
+        if not unzip_available:
+            return unzip_available, error_msg
+
+        # Ensure unzip -Z is available before we use it in is_unarchive
+        cmd = [self.zipinfo_cmd_path, self.zipinfoflag]
+        rc, out, err = self.module.run_command(cmd)
+        if 'zipinfo' in out.lower():
+            return True, None
+        return False, 'Command "unzip -Z" could not handle archive: %s' % err
+
+
 # try handlers in order and return the one that works or bail if none work
 def pick_handler(src, dest, file_args, module):
-    handlers = [ZipArchive, TgzArchive, TarArchive, TarBzipArchive, TarXzArchive, TarZstdArchive]
+    handlers = [ZipArchive, ZipZArchive, TgzArchive, TarArchive, TarBzipArchive, TarXzArchive, TarZstdArchive]
     reasons = set()
     for handler in handlers:
         obj = handler(src, dest, file_args, module)
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/unarchive/tasks/test_missing_binaries.yml b/test/integration/targets/unarchive/tasks/test_missing_binaries.yml
index f8e4536701b..58d38f4f91e 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/unarchive/tasks/test_missing_binaries.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/unarchive/tasks/test_missing_binaries.yml
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@
         remote_src: yes
       register: zip_fail
       ignore_errors: yes
+      # FreeBSD does not have zipinfo, but does have a bootstrapped unzip in /usr/bin
+      # which alone is sufficient to run unarchive.
+      # Exclude /usr/bin from the PATH to test having no binary available.
+      environment:
+        PATH: "{{ ENV_PATH }}"
+      vars:
+        ENV_PATH: "{{ lookup('env', 'PATH') | regex_replace(re, '') }}"
+        re: "[^A-Za-z](\/usr\/bin:?)"
 
     - name: Ensure tasks worked as expected
       assert:
@@ -41,6 +49,29 @@
           - zip_fail is failed
           - zip_fail.msg is search('Unable to find required')
 
+    - name: unarchive a zip file using unzip without zipinfo
+      unarchive:
+        src: '{{remote_tmp_dir}}/test-unarchive.zip'
+        dest: '{{remote_tmp_dir}}/test-unarchive-zip'
+        list_files: True
+        remote_src: yes
+      register: zip_success
+      # FreeBSD does not have zipinfo, but does have a bootstrapped unzip in /usr/bin
+      # which alone is sufficient to run unarchive.
+      when: ansible_pkg_mgr == 'pkgng'
+
+    - assert:
+        that:
+          - zip_success is success
+          - zip_success.changed
+          # Verify that file list is generated
+          - "'files' in zip_success"
+          - "{{zip_success['files']| length}} == 3"
+          - "'foo-unarchive.txt' in zip_success['files']"
+          - "'foo-unarchive-777.txt' in zip_success['files']"
+          - "'FOO-UNAR.TXT' in zip_success['files']"
+      when: ansible_pkg_mgr == 'pkgng'
+
     - name: Remove unarchive destinations
       file:
         path: '{{ remote_tmp_dir }}/test-unarchive-{{ item }}'