The most often used algorithm for compressing tar files is Gzip. By convention, the name of a tar archive compressed with gzip becomes .tar.gz or .tgz. This command will extract (-x) the file (-f) specified (in this case, filename.tar.gz) to the current directory.

Some third-party tools also offer extended flexibility for converting between file types‌, saving more time if you want to change between compression formats. Like the tar utility, gzip also allows you to zip and unzip multiple files or entire directories at a time. But with .zip being the easier of the two to use, why use .tar in the first place? As we’ll see in the next section, .tar comes with a few extra features that make it the better compression format for certain files and applications. Thankfully, you don’t need to be a 1960s computer technician to use and extract .tar files – nor do modern .tar files even have anything to do with old computers. This compression is lossless – that means no data is lost during the compression process, and the original files can be fully restored upon extraction.

You can easily extract .tar.gz files using third-party tools like 7 zip and Winrar on the Windows system. You can notice in the above image that the archive files are extracted in the same working directory. Then we’ll jump into the step-by-step process how to stake nft on opensea of unzipping on both Linux and Windows platforms. The name “Tar” stands for “Tape Archiver” because it was used to place data on storage tapes when tar was invented. The tar program takes one or more files and “wraps” them into a self-contained file.

Perhaps you might also be interested in learning how to unzip files in Linux. Sometimes you need to view the content of a tar file as it collects many files and ensures if a specific file is present. The files in the archive will be extracted to the current directory. Note the two other compression formats available – .bzip2 and ex – these are less frequently used, but you still may occasionally run into them.

DEB is the native and most common package format Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions use. It contains compiled binaries, libraries, configuration files, and metadata required to install and manage software on a Ubuntu system. The .tar.gz archive looks a bit different from other files – it appears to have two file extensions. This is because it’s the combination of two processes. You can open most .tar.gz files using the tar command built in to Linux, macOS, and Windows 10.

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. Where .zip files consist of many individually compressed files, .tar files are compressed as a single package, leaving its files uncompressed. In other words, .zip files are a collection of compressed files, while .tar files are a compressed collection of files. WinRAR is a popular file compression & archive utility software.

If you want to keep the original file after compression, there are two options. The first is the -k option, and the other uses the -c option to output the compressed file to a different file, preserving the original. In this guide, you will learn how to extract or unzip .tar.gz files full time job during coding boot camp in Linux. This is because most versions of tar allow both gnu and bsd style options (simplistically, gnu requires a hyphen, bsd doesn’t). It also integrates with the Windows Explorer context menu, which enables users to create and extract archives directly from the right-click menu.

Again, the above commands will extract 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). Most Linux distributions and macOS include built-in tools for zipping and unzipping .tar and .tar.gz files.

1. However, while tools like 7-Zip are free, many more “robust” solutions are only available for a price after a trial period.
2. You can notice in the above image that the archive files are extracted in the same working directory.
3. In other words, .zip files are a collection of compressed files, while .tar files are a compressed collection of files.
4. While the tar utility is enough for most purposes, you’ll need the gzip utility to create .tar.gz files.
5. This error occurs when trying to extract specific files or directories from a .tar.gz file using tar.

Snaps were developed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, to package and distribute software focusing on security, sandboxing, and ease of installation and updates. They were officially introduced in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, released in April 2016. The -C option is used to specify a different directory other than the current working directory. Similar to the previous error, this error occurs when an archive was saved as a .tar despite not being a .tar archive.

Note that this command also works with other common compression formats such as .tar.bz2. 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. 7-Zip is a free and open-source tool with high compression ratios & supports a wide range of archive formats.

How to Extract or Unzip .tar.gz Files in Linux

As we’ll see later, different compression utilities may require different methods for extracting and unzipping files. Though we’ll mostly focus on .tar.gz files, check out the end of the article for some quick tips on extracting .tar files in other formats. 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.

Is .tar.gz The Same As .zip?

Where commands have little (if any) room for typos or omissions, many common errors are the result of small mistakes, misspellings, or incorrect formats. Thankfully, unless you’re somehow missing your tar or gzip utility, most common errors are very easy to fix. The tar command also provides support for extracting only specific files or directories from a .tar.gz file.

How to Extract .tar.gz Files Using the tar Command in Linux

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. Since .tar.gz compresses multiple files all at once, it can take advantage of similarities how to create a btc wallet and way to make profit from it 2021 between individual files to save on space. Generally speaking, a collection of files archived and compressed as a .tar.gz will be more space-efficient (i.e., smaller) than the same collection compressed as a .zip.

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You may also be interested in learning about the best WinZip alternatives to compress files. 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.

How to Extract a tar.gz File

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. 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’ll need to use the tar utility through the command line. However, there are also many third-party tools you can install for a more user-friendly experience.

Simply add a space-separated list of the files you want to extract. As a result, one isn’t necessarily better than the other — it’s all a matter of application. In Linux, users have multiple ways to extract .tar.gz files – through the terminal and graphical file archivers. 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.