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 major cryptocurrency terms almost any file format to compress data and save space. As we see later, different compression utilities may require different methods 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.

1. The -p (parents) option causes mkdir to create any parent directories that are required, ensuring the target directory is created.
2. Though both .zip and .tar.gz archive and compress files, they do so in different ways.
3. We can see that the Ukulele Songs directory contains directories called Random Songs, Ramones and Possibles.
4. If you’re familiar with packages in Linux, you may have come across a TAR or a TAR.GZ file.

This error usually occurs when a .tar has been saved as a .gz despite having never been compressed using the gzip utility. It may sound like a silly mistake, but it’s surprisingly common in situations where users directly rename files and their extensions (such as .tar and .gz) in the process. Unlike Windows’ convenient graphical user interface (GUI) for unzipping .zip files, you need to use the tar utility through the command line.

Locate the compressed archive file and right-click on it to bring up the menu. Most Linux distributions ship with a preinstalled archive manager. Decompressing TAR and TAR.GZ files is only a matter of few clicks using the GUI. Similarly, you can unzip specific directories from the archive as well. Creating archives is an important step when you’re backing up your Linux file system.

View a List of Files within an Archive

Generally speaking, a collection of files archived and compressed as a .tar.gz are more space-efficient (i.e., smaller) than the same collection compressed as a .zip. 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. Alternatively, you can also specify a source and destination file path when using the tar utility.

Using the command line (cmd)

List the files in the directory with ls and you’ll see that a directory has been created called how to buy hoge Ukulele Songs. It was contained in the tar file, and was extracted along with the 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.

Is .tar.gz same as .zip?

While slightly different, they are quite lightweight and offer a much simpler alternative to using the command line. 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 use –wildcards to extract all files with a certain extension or name. Otherwise, keep reading to learn how to unzip .tar.gz files in Linux, macOS, and Windows. These files can be used in incremental backup strategies – where only new or modified files are added to the archive.

Is .tar.gz more efficient than .zip?

From videos to entire software packages, many files are compressed and stored using the .tar.gz format. While extracting a .tar.gz file isn’t quite as easy as unzipping a .zip, it’s still how to buy metis pretty straightforward. You can create your own compressed .tar files using compression utilities such as gzip.

Many of the downloadable Linux/Unix files found on the internet are compressed using a tar.gz format. Therefore, knowing how to open or untar tar.gz files is very useful. Whether you prefer command-line tools or graphical file archivers, the extraction process is pretty simple. It also integrates with the Windows Explorer context menu, which enables users to create and extract archives directly from the right-click menu.

Though gzip is the most common compression utility, it’s not the only one. As you might imagine, using a different compression utility on a .tar file will result in a different double extension. Some common examples include .tar.bz2 (bzip2), .tar.br (Brotli), and .tar.zst (zstd), among many others. Technical details aside, all you need to remember is that .zip files are more accessible but less space-efficient, while .tar files are less accessible but more space-efficient. As a result, one isn’t necessarily better than the other — it’s all a matter of application. The most often used algorithm for compressing tar files is Gzip.

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. However, while tools like 7-Zip are free, many more “robust” solutions are only available for a price after a trial period. As a result, we recommend sticking to free (but trustworthy) tools or simply using the command line. While there are many tools to choose from, the most popular include 7-Zip and WinZip.