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. 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. Unlike Windows’ convenient graphical user interface (GUI) for unzipping .zip files, you 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.
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. On the other hand, Windows users can rely on third-party file archiver tools like 7-zip or WinRAR to effortlessly extract files. To extract all the files from a directory within a tar file use the following command.
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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. You may also be interested in learning about the best WinZip alternatives to compress files.
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Then we’ll jump into the step-by-step process of unzipping on both Linux and Windows platforms. Once you’ve done this successfully, you’ll notice that the icon for tar.gz files will change to a 7-Zip icon. If the directory does not exist, tar will create it automatically. We can see that the Ukulele Songs directory contains directories called Random Songs, Ramones and Possibles.
How to Extract or Unzip a tar.gz File in Linux using GUI Tools
- There are several ways to extract or unzip a tar.gz file in Linux, depending on the tool you have available or prefer to use.
- You also need to use the -z option to tell tar that the archive is compressed with gzip, and the -f option to specify the file name.
- 7-Zip is a free and open-source tool with high compression ratios & supports a wide range of archive formats.
- On the other hand, Windows users can rely on third-party file archiver tools like 7-zip or WinRAR to effortlessly extract files.
- This error occurs if you try to decompress a file without specifying a decompression utility, specifically -z for gzip.
You may want to extract the contents of the archive to a specific directory. You can do so by appending the -C switch to the end of the command. For example, the following command will extract the contents of the archive.tar.gz file to the /tmp directory.
It’s often useful to list the contents of a .tar.gz file without having to unzip the entire archive. 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. While TAR files themselves are not compressed, users often compress them using tar or other compression utilities.
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. Again, the above command extracts 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).
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. 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.
From videos to entire software packages, many files are compressed and stored using the .tar.gz format. While extracting a .tar.gz file isn’t quite as easy as unzipping a .zip, it’s still pretty straightforward. When you extract files from a .tar.gz archive, the checksum is automatically verified to detect & handle any potential data corruption. You will learn how to list the contents of a tar archive without unpacking it and how to extract only a single file or a single directory. The .gz or .bz2 extension suffix indicates that the archive has been compressed, using either the gzip or bzip2 compression algorithm.
You’ll encounter them frequently while using a Linux distribution like Ubuntu or even while using the terminal on macOS. Here’s how to extract — or untar — the contents of a tar file, also known as a tarball. The GNU tar command included with Linux distributions has integrated compression. It can create a .tar archive and then compress it with gzip or bzip2 compression in a single command.
tar: Archive is compressed. Use -z option
Once you’ve selected the right file, you’ll see “7-Zip File Manager” show up in the select app dialog. If you want 7-Zip to always handle tar.gz files in the future, you’re going to want to select the “Always” button at the bottom of the dialog. Tar.gz has become the standard format used for distributing Linux and open source software since it’s easy to extract on basically any platform that isn’t Windows. Looking in our Documents/Songs directory we’ll see the Guitar Songs directory has been created.
These days, Linux and other Unix-like users are the primary source of TAR files. For example, Linux users often distribute software packages as TAR files, to make those programs easier to download and install. Many of these users refer to TAR files as tarballs, a nickname that references real-life tar balls’ sticky, object-gathering nature. If you want to create your own tar.gz file, you can use the tar command with the -c option, which tells tar to create a new archive. You also need to use the -z option to compress the archive with gzip, and the -f option to specify the file name.
You can also how to calculate gross margin select the files and directories you want to extract and the destination directory where you want to extract them. If you want to see the progress of the extraction, you can use the -v option, which makes the tar command more verbose and prints the names of the files being extracted. If you don’t want the directory structure in the tar file to be recreated on your hard drive, use the –strip-components option. Files from the ignored directories are still extracted, but the directory structure is not replicated on your hard drive. So far we’ve just taken a leap of faith and extracted the files sight unseen.
