How to Extract or Unzip tar.gz Files in Linux

how to decompress tar.gz

Once you’ve downloaded and installed 7-Zip, double-click on the tar.gz file that you’re trying to open, and then select „Choose an app on your PC“ from the popup dialog that shows up. This example uses example1.tar.gz 10 most popular web development frameworks mpc in the Home directory. 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.

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People new to the tar format usually equate it to a .zip file, but a tar archive is notably not compressed. The tar format only creates a container for files, but how to buy neo crypto the files can be compressed with separate utilities. Common compressions applied to a .tar file are Gzip, bzip2, and xz.

Short for “Tape ARchive,” the name “TAR” is a throwback to when files were stored on magnetic tape drives. This is because most versions of tar allow both gnu and bsd style options (simplistically, gnu requires a hyphen, bsd doesn’t). You’ll probably have to install the „other“ tar (whatever that may be on your system) manually. Sometimes you need to view the content of a tar file as it collects many files and ensures if a specific file is present.

  1. The tar format is just a format, and it’s an open format, so it can be created by more than just one tool.
  2. This article provides detailed guides to unzip .tar.gz files in Linux and Windows, as well as a few helpful tips and tricks.
  3. The easiest way to open a tar.gz file on Windows is to install an excellent free utility called 7-Zip, which can handle tar.gz and just about any other file format.

A GUI is more suitable for beginners than a command-line tool. Knowing how to unzip a .tar.gz file allows users to extract and access the archives‘ contents efficiently. Since .tar.gz compresses multiple files all at once, it can take advantage of similarities between individual files to save on space. 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.

What are .tar and .tar.gz files?

Canonical released its first official version of the OS, Ubuntu 4.10, codenamed ‚Warty Warthog‘ in October 2004. Canonical released its first official version of the OS, Ubuntu 4.10, codenamed ‚Warty Warthog‘ in October 2004. Once you’ve done this successfully, you’ll notice that the icon for tar.gz files will change to a 7-Zip icon. While there are many tools to choose from, the most popular include 7-Zip and WinZip. While slightly different, they are quite lightweight and offer a much simpler alternative to using the command line. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

View a List of Files within an Archive

This error message can occur if you only partially downloaded a file or if it has major issues. Put your bitcoin price crashed! here is what comes next knowledge to the test in our lightning-fast Ubuntu quiz! Ten questions to challenge yourself to see if you’re a Linux legend or just a penguin in the making. Bobby, an editor-in-chief at Linuxiac, is a Linux professional with over 20 years of experience. With a strong focus on Linux and open-source software, he has worked as a Senior Linux System Administrator, Software Developer, and DevOps Engineer for small and large multinational companies. Once you choose the directory, click the Select button in the top right corner.

Creating a tarball

It’s often useful to list the contents of a .tar.gz file without having to unzip the entire archive. The -list (-t) option outputs a list of filenames. Note that this command will throw an error unless you specify the exact filename listed in the .tar file. As we cover more in the next section, you can verify file names by listing contents with the tar -tf filename.tar.gz command. Compressing and extracting these files, however, isn’t always intuitive. This article provides detailed guides to unzip .tar.gz files in Linux and Windows, as well as a few helpful tips and tricks.

how to decompress tar.gz

And now you can use the 7-Zip File Manager to open, view, or extract files from tar.gz and other archives. 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. 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.

That’s why you rarely see just a .tar file and more commonly encounter .tar.gz or .tgz files. You’ll want to replace „tarfile“ with the path to the tar.gz file that you’re trying to extract. For a more detailed explanation on how the tar command works, be sure to read our guide to compressing and extracting files in the Linux Terminal. The tar command is extremely powerful, and you can do things like list or search for files in a tar archive, or extract a single file. 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.

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