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. A user-friendly way to extract files from a .tar.gz archive is via a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

1. Some third-party tools also offer extended flexibility for converting between file types‌, saving more time if you want to change between compression formats.
2. Note that this command will throw an error unless you specify the exact filename listed in the .tar file.
3. A user-friendly way to extract files from a .tar.gz archive is via a Graphical User Interface (GUI).
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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. Thankfully, you don’t need to be a 1960s the new fatf rules for crypto exchanges and custodians computer technician to use and extract .tar files – nor do modern .tar files even have anything to do with old computers. This is because most versions of tar allow both gnu and bsd style options (simplistically, gnu requires a hyphen, bsd doesn’t).

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 bitcoin scalability problem blockchain guides 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. So, a tar.gz file is a tarball compressed using gzip.

Extract .tar.gz, .tgz, .gz tarballs using tar on Windows 10

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. 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. If the command line isn’t your thing, there are plenty of user-friendly tools available to unzip tar.gz files.

Most Linux distributions come with the tar command pre-installed by default. 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.

Extract Files from a .tar.gz via GUI

You can also add the verbose output option (-v) to provide detailed listings, including dates, securities/permissions, and more. The -C option is used to specify a different directory other than the current working directory. 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. Then we’ll jump into the step-by-step process of unzipping on both Linux and Windows platforms. Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication.

Here you should replace the filename with the actual name of the file in question. You also need to be in the directory containing the tar.gz file, like with most terminal commands in Linux. Ubuntu LTS (Long-Term Support) versions, known for their stability and extended support periods, are typically released every two years in April. These are popular for organizations and users who require a reliable and well-supported Ubuntu operating system. Now you know how to untar a tar.gz file in Linux.

After reading this article, you know how to extract or unzip .tar.gz file in Linux using different methods and tools. In this guide, you will learn how to extract or unzip .tar.gz files in Linux. 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, argo blockchain plc sees mining revenue rise in may despite bitcoin halving meaning that the user either misspelled the name or that the file simply doesn’t exist in filename.tar.gz. Another common cause of errors is case sensitivity, where Linux treats “FILE” and “file” as two separate entities. This error occurs when trying to extract specific files or directories from a .tar.gz file using tar.

Gzip compression uses a checksum to make sure data integrity. When you extract files from a .tar.gz archive, the checksum is automatically verified to detect & handle any potential data corruption. 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.

Extract Files to the Specific Directory

Like the tar utility, gzip also allows you to zip and unzip multiple files or entire directories at a time. 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.

A GUI is more suitable for beginners than a command-line tool. 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.

The .gz extension represents the gzip compression format, which can be applied to almost any file format to compress data and save space. 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. As we’ll see later, different compression utilities may require different methods for extracting and unzipping 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. 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. A file using .tar.gz format is a file that has been created using the Unix-based archival application tar and then compressed using the gzip compression.

To open such a package, you need to decompress the gzip and extract the resulting tarball. Some utilities can open TGZ files in one step, others in two. The extraction method is precisely the same for tar files that have compression, such as.tar.gz,.tar.bz2, and others. To unzip the .tar.gz files, you’ll need to use specific commands and tools depending on your operating system. Let’s explore the extraction process for both Linux & Windows platforms.

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. Simply add a space-separated list of the files you want to extract. 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.

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. To access the Windows command line, search for “command prompt” or “cmd” in the search bar.