How to Extract Unzip tar.gz Files: Step-by-Step Windows and Linux Guide

WinZip allows you to convert any TAR GZ file into a ZIP file. Giving you all the benefits of the GZ file format with added accessibility and ease of use. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Open TGZ Files Using an Online Tool

This format can be sent by email or social media platforms that support the Tar GZ file format. In short, a TAR file creates one archive file out of multiple files without compressing them, while the GZ file format compresses a file without creating an archive. Combined into the tar GZ file extension, you can archive and compress multiple files into one. You can open most .tar.gz files using the tar command built in to Linux, macOS, and Windows 10.

However, there are some pretty major differences when it comes to accessing data within the files and the compression efficiency. But with .zip being the easier of the two to use, why use .tar in the first place? The next section shows how .tar comes with a few extra features that make it the better compression format for certain files and applications. A “.tar” file is a collection of files compressed into a single file or archive. Short for “Tape ARchive,” the name “TAR” is a throwback to when files were stored on magnetic tape drives.

How Do I Open a Tar File?

You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. This guide will teach you the steps to use native tar commands on Windows 10 from Command Prompt and Ubuntu to extract the content of a .tar.gz file. The easiest way to open a tar.gz file on Windows is to install an excellent free utility called 7-Zip, which can handle tar.gz and just about any other file format. We’ve been recommending this app for years, and it’s one of the first things that we install whenever reinstalling Windows.

1. A Tar file is an archive that consists of multiple files put into one, while GZ is a compressed file format.
2. On Windows 10, to use tar on Linux, you need to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and a distro like Ubuntu from the Microsoft Store.
3. With the command prompt open, use the appropriate commands to change the current working directory (cd) to the location of the .tar.gz file you want to unzip.
4. Like the tar utility, gzip also allows you to zip and unzip multiple files or entire directories at a time.

Not the answer you’re looking for? Browse other questions tagged windowswindows-7targz.

Yes, Tar.GZ files are archive files that are considered very safe. However, if the contents inside the archive don’t come from a trusted source, it’s a good idea to extract and scan with an antivirus before executing. The problem is that when 7-zip uncompresses the tar file into a subdirectory, you have to go into the subdirectory in order to uncompress the tar file. The command extracts files to a new directory called example1, which is located in the current directory. In this guide, you will learn how to extract or unzip .tar.gz files in Linux. This error occurs when trying to extract specific files or directories from a .tar.gz file using tar.

Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. how to withdraw from binance exchange In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology.

Unzip .tar.gz from stdin in Linux

However, Windows 10 includes native support for tar files, and you can use Command Prompt to extract these files. Or you can even use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that includes native support for Ubuntu, Fedora, SUSE, and many other distros. Therefore, you can also access many Linux tools, including tar, to quickly extract content from tarballs. Mac’s native archive utility supports the file format as well, which means you can just double-click on the tar.gz file in question to extract it. Of course, is avax erc20 if that doesn’t work (or you just prefer a GUI tool), you can always download Unarchiver and use it to extract any type of archive files, including gzipped tarballs.

It’s generally a good idea to convert your TAR GZ file since it might not be compatible with the software you intend to use. ZIP is a more accessible compression format, and you can easily convert your TAR GZ file to ZIP using WinZip. While Tar GZ can be opened and used on Windows and macOS with WinZip, you’re much more likely to spot the Tar GZ file format on Linux operating systems. To access the Windows command line, search for “command prompt” or “cmd” in the search bar. Right-click the first result and select the “Run as administrator” option.

You can also add the verbose output option (-v) to provide detailed listings, including dates, securities/permissions, and more. You can also use –wildcards to extract all files with a certain extension or name. You’ll need an external program to open tar.gz files on Windows. 7-Zip is lightweight and does the job well, though it takes two steps to open tar.gz files. WinRar opens them in one step but is slightly clunkier to use. Then we’ll jump into the step-by-step process of unzipping on both Linux and Windows platforms.

The 7-zip package comes with a command-line tool called 7z.exe that can pipe to and from stdin (-si) & stdout (-so). So the following line will do the extractraction in one step with no intermediary file (-ttar tells 7-zip that we’re piping in a tar stream). This error occurs if you try to decompress a file without specifying a decompression utility, specifically -z for gzip. If the command line isn’t your thing, there are plenty of user-friendly tools available to unzip tar.gz files. Note that this command will throw an error unless you specify the exact filename listed in the .tar file. As we cover more in the next section, you can verify file names by listing contents with the tar -tf filename.tar.gz command.

Mac users can also use this command to extract their tar.gz files, though they also have access to a GUI-based method we will discuss in the next section. TAR was developed for Unix as early as 1979 and how to buy fiat currency GZ later in 1992. Being a native file format, it’s highly compatible and easy to use on those operating systems. After reading this article, you know how to extract or unzip .tar.gz file in Linux using different methods and tools. In this example, the user tried to extract the file titled “FILE” from filename.tar.gz.

On the other hand, Windows users can rely on third-party file archiver tools like 7-zip or WinRAR to effortlessly extract files. A Tar file is an archive that consists of multiple files put into one, while GZ is a compressed file format. Thus, combining TAR and GZ into a TAR.GZ provides you with a compressed archive. If you have a file on your PC or Mac that ends with .TAR, it’s an archive file that typically contains one or more files or folders that need to be unpacked.

Pureinfotech is independent online publication that makes Windows and apps easy to understand with clear, concise guides, advice, and news. Once you’ve selected the right file, you’ll see “7-Zip File Manager” show up in the select app dialog. If you want 7-Zip to always handle tar.gz files in the future, you’re going to want to select the “Always” button at the bottom of the dialog. Once you’ve downloaded and installed 7-Zip, double-click on the tar.gz file that you’re trying to open, and then select “Choose an app on your PC” from the popup dialog that shows up. The terminal command used in Linux works here just fine if you are comfortable with terminal commands.