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

However, there are also many third-party tools you can install for a more user-friendly experience. As we see later, different compression utilities may require different methods what is positive and negative variance for extracting and unzipping files. Though we mostly focus on .tar.gz files, check out the end of the article for some quick tips on extracting .tar files in other formats. On Windows, the easiest way to handle .tar files is to install the LGPL open source 7-Zip utility.

1. The next section shows how .tar comes with a few extra features that make it the better compression format for certain files and applications.
2. You also learned how to list the contents of a tar.gz file and how to create your own tar.gz archives.
3. Here are a few frequently asked questions we commonly hear from users working with .tar.gz files.
4. Note that if you are working with TAR files, you can remove the -z flag from the commands.
5. You’ll want to replace “tarfile” with the path to the tar.gz file that you’re trying to extract.

Whether you prefer command-line tools or graphical file archivers, the extraction process is pretty simple. This format is common in the Unix/Linux world and is widely used to create compressed archives. After reading this article, you know how to extract or unzip .tar.gz file in Linux using different methods and tools. A user-friendly way to extract files from a .tar.gz archive is via a Graphical User Interface (GUI). In this guide, you will learn how to extract or unzip .tar.gz files in Linux.

Extract a tarball to another directory

That means users can download and use it for free during a trial period. Also, its trial version does not have time limitations, and users can still use it even after the trial period has expired, with occasional reminders to purchase the license. These files can be used in incremental backup strategies – where only new or modified files are added to the archive.

How to Unzip or Extract tar.gz Files on Windows

That’s why you rarely see just a .tar file and more commonly encounter .tar.gz or .tgz files. Before extracting a tar.gz file, you may want to see what files and directories it contains. To do that, you can use the tar command with the -t option, which lists the contents of an archive without extracting it. You also need to use the -z option to tell tar that the archive is compressed with gzip, and the -f option to specify the file name. While every tar.gz file is a .tar archive, not every .gz is a .tar file. The .gz extension represents the gzip compression format, which can be applied to almost any file format to compress data and save space.

If you want to extract the files to a different directory, you can use the -C option, which tells tar to change the directory before extracting the files. You need to specify the path to the directory where you want to extract the files after the -C option. Learn how to extract or unzip tar.gz files in Linux using the tar command and other tools. You can create your own compressed .tar files using compression utilities such as gzip. Gzip is one of the most popular and available options, especially since it comes built in to most Linux distributions and macOS. Just like the more familiar .zip files, .tar files compress large files into a single package, making it easier to store and send them through email, servers, and so on.

Online Tools

Again, the above command extracts to the current working directory by default. You can use the -C option to extract to a different directory (in this case, /home/user/files). Of course, that’s not to say .tar files are some kind of “lesser” format than .zip. Rather, they both accomplish the same task (file compression) in the same way.

Gzip compression reduces the overall file size, which makes it more efficient for distribution, backup, and storage purposes. It just bundles files & directories together while preserving their file structure and metadata. This means it takes all the specified files and puts them together into one container. Tar.gz has become the standard format used for distributing Linux and open source software since it’s easy to extract on basically any platform that isn’t Windows. If you plan to distribute and store .tar.gz files on your website, Kinsta’s managed hosting services can help make the most of your space.

What’s the difference between .tar and .tar.gz files?

If you’re using a graphical Linux desktop, you could also use the file-compression utility or file manager included with your desktop to create or extract .tar files. On Windows, you can extract and create .tar archives with the free 7-Zip utility. In this article, you learned how to extract or unzip tar.gz files in Linux using the tar command and other tools. You also learned how to list the contents of a tar.gz file and how to create your own tar.gz archives. In this article, you will learn how to extract or unzip tar.gz files in Linux using the tar command and other tools. You will also learn how to list the contents of a tar.gz file and how to create your own tar.gz archives.

As a result, it has become a common file extension for many open-source software packages and other resources. While gzip compression is most frequently used to create .tar.gz or .tgz files, tar also supports bzip2 compression. This allows you to create bzip2-compressed files, often named .tar.bz2, .tar.bz, or .tbz files. To do so, just replace the -z for gzip in the commands here with a -j for bzip2. To extract a tar.gz file using the tar command, you need to use the -x option, which tells tar to extract the files from the archive. You also need to use the -z option to indicate that the archive is compressed with gzip, and the -f option to specify the file name.

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, it’s useful to explore other features. This simplifies file management and reduces the risk of data loss during transfers. Once you choose the directory, click the Select button in the top right corner.

We’ve been recommending this app for years, and it’s one of the first things that we install whenever reinstalling Windows. The command extracts files to a new directory called example1, which is located in the current directory. You can open most .tar.gz files using the tar command built in to Linux, macOS, and Windows 10.

It allows users to create, view, and extract files in various archive formats, including its native .RAR format as well as other common formats like .ZIP, .7z, ISO, .TAR, and more. Though both .zip and .tar.gz archive and compress files, they do so in different ways. In other words, .zip is a collection of compressed files, while .tar.gz is a compressed collection of files.