How To Extract and Unzip tar.gz Files for Linux & Windows

While tarball files are more common in the Linux world, you might encounter them occasionally in the Windows world too. For instance, many open-source project use .tar.gz, .tgz, or .gz file compression formats. The good thing is, Windows 11 natively supports unzipping and extracting tar.gz files. 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. 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.

Is .tar.gz more efficient than .zip?

Some of the most popular archive managers for Linux are File Roller, Ark, Xarchiver, and PeaZip. They offer more features and options than the file managers, such as creating, modifying, encrypting, and splitting archives. You can install them from your distribution’s package manager or software center. Whether you prefer command-line tools or graphical file archivers, the extraction process is pretty simple. But it does not compress the data, which results in a larger file size compared to compressed formats. The above action 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.
You will also learn how to list the contents of a tar.gz file and how to create your own tar.gz archives.
Understanding common errors that may occur when extracting or unzipping tar.gz files from Linux command line is important as they can cause frustration and lead to data loss.
The extraction method is precisely the same for tar files that have compression, such as.tar.gz,.tar.bz2, and others.
The .gz (Gzip) is a compression method in which the logical size of the files is reduced to save disk space.
In this example, the user tried to extract the file titled “FILE” from filename.tar.gz.

Then we’ll jump into the step-by-step process of unzipping on both Linux and Windows platforms. First, press the Start key on your keyboard or the Start icon on the taskbar. Once you see the Command Prompt result, right-click on it and choose the “Run as Administrator” option. For example, it goes without saying, that it is inadvisable to untar the whole large archive if you need for example to extract only a dingle file or a directory from it.

The extraction method is precisely the same for tar files that have compression, such as.tar.gz,.tar.bz2, and others. 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. 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. Like the tar utility, gzip also allows you to zip and unzip multiple files or entire directories at a time.

How do I open a .tar.gz file?

These methods are widely used for packaging software and other downloadable content. A few simple commands are all it takes to create, untar, unzip or extract tar gz files from within running Linux or Unix operating environments. Hopefully this has helped you decompress, unpack and extract those compressed tar and tar gz files you downloaded from the internet. If you are looking for additional helpful solutions, you might want to check out this right mouse click open files as root article. In the world of data compression, .tar.gz files are widely used file formats that combine the advantages of both the TAR and Gzip compression mechanisms.

The Linux command line interface (CLI) is a powerful tool for interacting with your computer.
Another tip is to use auto-completion with the “Tab” key to avoid making typos when entering a file path.
In this guide, you will learn how to extract or unzip .tar.gz files in Linux.
If you experience this error, make sure the file path is correct.
Thankfully, unless you’re somehow missing your tar or gzip utility, most common errors are very easy to fix.
You may also be interested in learning about the best WinZip alternatives to compress files.

.tar vs .tar.gz Files

Simply add a space-separated list of the files you want to extract. This command extracts (-x) the file (-f) specified (in this case, filename.tar.gz) to the current directory. Note that this command also works with other common compression formats such as .tar.bz2.

Another common cause of errors is case sensitivity, where Linux treats “FILE” and “file” as two separate entities. You can also use –wildcards to extract all files with a certain extension or name. how to buy verasity coin Otherwise, keep reading to learn how to unzip .tar.gz files in Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Extracting TAR files on Windows is simple with the right tools. Whether you’re using a third-party utility or command-line options, knowing how to extract .tgz files can help you manage compressed files efficiently. By following these steps, you’ll be able to unzip TAR files on Windows with ease and have access to the data you need without any hassle.

Open TAR Files (.tar.gz) on Windows 10 using 7-Zip

Follow these instructions how to buy stratis if you just want to extract specific files or folders. Extracting .tar.gz files is possible with many different operating systems, including macOS and Windows. Enter or browse to the extraction destination path (the location where you want to extract the files to), then click OK to begin the extraction. Once installed, right-click on the .gz or .tar file you want to open and extract. 7-Zip is one of the most popular file compression software widely used by majority of users around the globe due to its simplicity and user-friendly GUI.

Once you’ve done this successfully, you’ll notice that the icon for tar.gz files will change to a 7-Zip icon. 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.

When extracting files from a tar.gz archive, it’s a good idea to create a new directory where all of the extracted files will be stored. This will help keep your file system organized and prevent the extracted files from cluttering up your home directory. The former encodes your file in a sequential archive format suitable for magnetic tapes, while the latter compresses it to a smaller size. For sending and storing, both .zip and .tar.gz files allows you to send relatively large packages as a single file. However, there are some pretty major differences when it comes to accessing data within the files and the compression efficiency.

You can use “ls” to list files in the directory and verify the filename. Another tip is to use auto-completion with the “Tab” key to avoid making typos when entering a file path. This method is especially vidtbtc charts and quotes useful if you regularly work with archives or need to automate the backup extraction process. If you have advanced knowledge of the command-line interface, you can automate the extraction process using a simple Bash script.

Unzipping tar.gz files using GUI and online alternatives

This command extracts only FileA.txt from inside the subdir directory, leaving the rest of the archive untouched. You have to download & install the third-party apps on the device. Later, select any one TAR file & it will be directly converted to the simple folder structure. Learn how to output the size of directories and subdirectories in a human-readable format in Linux and macOS using the du command.

A tarball is essentially a compressed archive that contains one or more files or directories. These files are typically compressed using the gzip compression algorithm, resulting in a smaller file size than their uncompressed counterparts. To clear things up, the .tar extension is a file format that archive multiple files into a single file without compression. The .gz (Gzip) is a compression method in which the logical size of the files is reduced to save disk space.

7-Zip can work with most compression methods and extensions including .gz, tar.gz and .tar. You can use it to archive and compress files using any supported methods you prefer, or to open and extract any compressed file. Most file managers, such as Nautilus, Dolphin, or Thunar, support extracting tar.gz files by right-clicking on the file and choosing the Extract option from the context menu. You can also choose the destination directory where you want to extract the files. You can also extract only specific files or directories from a tar.gz archive, by providing their names after the archive name. You need to use the exact names and paths as listed by the tar -t command.