This format involves multiple files bundled into a single archive and compressed using gzip compression. 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.
The easiest method on all platforms would be to use an online extraction tool. Such a utility works across platforms anywhere, saving you the hassle of figuring out the right way to extract a tar.gz file. 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.
They are compressed files often used for software distribution and backup. A .tar.gz file is a tar archive compressed using gzip, hence the extension .tar.gz. Typically, these files contain multiple files and directories in one compressed package, which makes them popular for sharing and storing large amounts of data. A tar file, often called a tarball, is a collection of files wrapped up in one single file for easy storage. Rather than keep track of a whole folder of files, you only need to keep track of one. Tar files are often compressed after being created, giving it the .tar.gz file extension.
How to extract .tar.gz files on Windows 10 and 11
- The easiest method on all platforms would be to use an online extraction tool.
- While tarball files are more common in the Linux world, you might encounter them occasionally in the Windows world too.
- Windows 11 includes native support to extract “.tar.gz” files using Command Prompt without needing third-party tools.
- You can also use The Unarchiver, which is a free tool for managing archives, functions just like the Archive Utility, and supports .rar files as well.
Compressing and extracting these files, however, isn’t always intuitive. This article provides detailed guides to bitcoin bloodbath sees cryptocurrency markets tumble unzip .tar.gz files in Linux and Windows, as well as a few helpful tips and tricks. In most platforms, the chances are that you already possess the right application to extract and open TGZ files. Linux, of course, can open these files natively, while most Mac and Windows computers have software like the Unarchiver or 7-Zip installed on them.
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. Before diving into the extraction process, it’s essential to understand what .tar.gz files are.
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. Once you’ve selected the right file, you’ll see “7-Zip File Manager” show up in the select app dialog.
What Is the Best Method to Open TAR.GZ Files?
If you are into coding or just downloading a package from Github, you may come across the TAR.GZ file extension. Popular with Linux users, the TAR.GZ format (TGZ) is often used to package collections of files into a single downloadable. The -C — (hyphen and capital C) option is used to change folders, and you have to specify the destination path, which starts with the /mnt/ annotation followed by the Windows path. Pureinfotech is independent online publication that makes Windows and apps easy to understand with clear, concise guides, advice, and news. Once you complete the steps, you will have all the files and folders extracted to the destination path you specified after a few moments.
Since Windows doesn’t natively support tar.gz files, you need a third-party tool to open them for you. Most file extraction applications like 7-Zip or WinZip will get the job done. It is useful to note that tar doesn’t compress the files in question, only packages them. Indeed, sometimes the resulting tarball can be of greater size due to padding.
If you want a specific file, you can drill down into the folder, or you can simply click the “Extract” button and choose a location to put all the files. 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.
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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. To open such a package, you need to decompress the gzip and extract the resulting tarball. 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.
He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. 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. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. 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.
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. 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. Alternatively, select Extract files to pick where to extract the files. In this example, the user tried to extract the file titled “FILE” from filename.tar.gz. However, tar was unable to find FILE within .tar.gz, meaning that the user either misspelled the name or that the file simply doesn’t exist in filename.tar.gz.
However, newer versions (starting from Windows 10) have it preinstalled. For those that don’t like using a terminal, you’ll be delighted to hear that macOS can open tar and how to set stop limit tar.gz files by default with the Archive Utility. It’s important to note that Microsoft is building native support for TAR, GZ, 7-Zip, RAR, and many other archival formats to File Explorer.
Like the tar utility, gzip also allows you to zip and unzip multiple files or entire directories at a time. TAR was developed for Unix as early as 1979 and GZ later in 1992. Being a native file format, it’s highly compatible and easy to use on those operating systems. The above action how to sell coinbase pro coinbase what is holding vault opens the Command Prompt window with administrator rights.
As a result, one isn’t necessarily better than the other — it’s all a matter of application. Where most operating systems make it easy to extract and create .zip files, the same can’t really be said for .tar files — at least not in ways that are easy to notice. The command bundles multiple files and directories into a single file archive but doesn’t compress data on its own. Therefore, it is often used with compression tools, such as gzip (tar.gz files) or bzip2 (tar.bz2 files), to reduce the overall archive size. This quick and easy guide shows you how to unzip or extract tar files such as.tar.gz, .tgz, .gz, etc., on Windows 11 without using third-party software like 7-zip or WinRAR. Windows 11 includes native support to extract “.tar.gz” files using Command Prompt without needing third-party tools.
You can open most .tar.gz files using the tar command built in to Linux, macOS, and Windows 10. If you’re not comfortable with the terminal or command line, third-party tools such as 7-Zip offer a more user-friendly alternative. It’s easy to get confused when navigating between .tar, .tar.gz, and .gz – not to mention zipping and unzipping them.