Open/Extract tgz/tar.gz/tpz File with Freeware on Windows/Mac/Linux

tgz is short for tar.gz . tpz is one more variant of tgz. They are same file format, sometimes also called a tarball. tar.gz is a gzip compressed tar Archive file. The file uses a tar archive to bundle the files together and gzip compression to reduce the file size; commonly used on Unix and Linux systems. TGZ files are used as install packages for some Linux distributions. Therefore, the «.tar.gz» extension is sometimes used for archives while the «.tgz» extension is used for installers.

MIME: application/x-compressed, application/x-tar, application/gnutar

gzip (GNU zip) is a compression utility designed to be a replacement for compress. Its main advantages over compress are much better compression and freedom from patented algorithms. It has been adopted by the GNU project and is now relatively popular on the Internet. gzip was written by Jean-loup Gailly (jloup@gzip.org), and Mark Adler for the decompression code.

gzip is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of LZ77 and Huffman coding. DEFLATE was intended as a replacement for LZW and other patent-encumbered data compression algorithms which, at the time, limited the usability of compress and other popular archivers.

A tar file is an archive file that contains one or more files inside. This is often done to ease distribution of a large set of files over the Internet. A tar file is not a compressed file, it is simply a format used for archiving files (merging several files into one). On Unix and Linux archiving and compression are normally done by two separate utilities. A tar file is simply an archive, no compression techniques are used to reduce the size of the file. If the archive needs to be compressed then additional tools must be used. On Unix and Linux, other tools such as GZIP or BZIP2 can be used to compress the archive. This will create a file such as sample.tar.gz, sample.tgz or sample.tbz.

Open/Extract tgz/tar.gz/tpz File on Windows

Easy 7-Zip opens/extracts tgz/tar.gz/tpz file easily on Windows. The Easy 7-Zip was developed based on 7-Zip. 7-Zip is a famous open source file archiver. The Easy 7-Zip is an easy-to-use version of 7-Zip. The open source freeware keeps all features of 7-Zip and adds a few useful features that makes the software more user-friendly.

Easy 7-Zip works on Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/2008/2003/XP/2000 (both 32-bit and 64-bit compatible).

1. Free Download Easy 7-Zip
2. Install Easy 7-Zip by step-by-step instructions
3. The installation will associate tgz/tar.gz/tpz with Easy 7-Zip automatically
4. Double-click on tgz/tar.gz/tpz file to open tgz/tar.gz/tpz file with Easy 7-Zip
   
   You will see files or folders within the tgz/tar.gz/tpz file then, click button Extract to extract the tgz/tar.gz/tpz file.

Alternatively, Right-click on tgz/tar.gz/tpz file on Windows Explorer

And then, choose Extract files. , Extract Here, or Extract to «folder\» to extract the tgz/tar.gz/tpz file.

Easy 7-Zip Download Links:

You can try other alternative freeware that opens/extracts tgz/tar.gz/tpz file on Windows. For example:

Open/Extract tgz/tar.gz/tpz File on Mac

B1 Free Archiver opens/extracts tgz/tar.gz/tpz file on Mac. B1 Free Archiver is a free software for creating archive folder and extracting archive file. B1 Archiver works on all platforms — Windows, Linux, Mac and Android. The freeware supports most popular formats including tgz/tar.gz/tpz.

B1 Free Archiver is compatible with:

• Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
• Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
• Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Alternative freeware that opens/extracts tgz/tar.gz/tpz file on Mac.

• Apple Archive Utility
• Keka
• GUI Tar
• The Unarchiver

Open/Extract tgz/tar.gz/tpz File on Linux

You need to use command tar. Tar is a program for packaging a set of files as a single archive in tar format. The function it performs is conceptually similar to cpio, and to things like PKZIP in the DOS world. It is heavily used by the Debian package management system, and is useful for performing system backups and exchanging sets of files with others.

To extract/unpack a tgz/tar.gz/tpz file, type:

$ tar -xzvf sample.tgz $ tar -xzvf sample.tar.gz $ tar -xzvf sample.tpz

tar command options:

• -x: extract files from an archive
• -z: uncompress the archive with gzip command
• -v: verbosely list files processed
• -f: use archive file

How to quickly extract .tar.gz files on Windows 10

If you come across a .tar.gz, .tgz, or .gz file, you can use these steps to use the tar command-line tool to extract its content on Windows 10.

A file using .tar.gz format is a file created using the Unix-based archival application tar and then compressed using the gzip compression. These files are often referred to as “tarballs.” While you can find them with a double extension (.tar.gz), the extension can also be shortened to .tgz or .gz.

Typically, tar files are commonly used by Ubuntu (other Linux distros) and macOS users for data archival and backups. However, Windows 10 users may also come across these files, which is a reason to have a way to extract its contents.

While you can use third-party apps (such as 7-Zip and PeaZip), these apps do not always work as expected with tarballs created on another platform, and they are slow to uncompress a large number of files. However, Windows 10 now 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.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to use native tar commands on Windows 10 using Command Prompt and Ubuntu to extract the content of a .tar.gz file.

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

To extract .tar.gz, .tgz, .gz as well as .zip files using tar on Windows 10, use these steps:

Open Start on Windows 10.

Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

Type the following command to use tar to extract the files and press Enter:

Native tar support on Windows 10

Once you complete the steps, you will have all the files and folders extracted to the destination path you specified after a few moments.

It is assumed that you are extracting a tarball created on another system. We are skipping some arguments usually necessary to preserve permissions, which on Windows 10 are not necessary to access the files.

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

On Windows 10, to use tar on Linux, you need to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and a distro like Ubuntu from the Microsoft Store.

To extract a .tar.gz file using Linux on Windows 10, use these steps:

Open Start.

Search for Ubuntu and click the top result to open the app.

Type the following command to extract the content of the .tar.gz file and press Enter:

Tar command on Windows 10

In the above command, we type sudo to run the application as an administrator, tar to call the application, and then we fed it some arguments, including:

• x — instructs tar that you want to extract content.
• v — verbose. This is an optional argument to display the extraction process. Otherwise, you will only see a blinking cursor until the process is complete.
• z — tells tar to uncompressed the content of a .tar.gz file with gzip.
• f — instructs tar the name of the file you’re about to extract.

Then you need to specify the path of the tarball file you want to extract. You’ll notice that the path starts with /mnt/c/ , instead of c:\ And this is because we’re actually working in the Linux world.

-C — (hyphen and capital C) is used to tell tar to change folders. When you’re executing a command, you start in the source folder, and then you need to specify the destination folder, which is the path we specified to complete the command. You can extract the files to any folder you want, but remember to start the path with /mnt/ followed by the Windows path.

You must pay attention to uppercase and lowercase while typing a Linux command as Desktop is not the same as desktop.

In this guide, we are looking at the basic steps to perform a specific task. If you are not a Linux user, there is a lot more to learn about tar. You can learn more about this tool in the Ubuntu console by typing tar —help .

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How to open or extract .TAR.GZ, .TGZ or .GZ. Files in Windows 10

A file with the TGZ or GZ file extension is created using the Unix-based archival application tar and further compressed using GZIP Compression. These files are made up of a collection of files that have been placed in a TAR archive mainly for making storage and tracking easy. TAR files are often compressed once created; the compressed TAR files are called tarballs and sometimes use a “double” extension like “.TAR.GZ” but are usually shortened to “.TGZ” or “.GZ”.

How to extract .TAR.GZ, .TGZ or .GZ. file

.TAR.GZ, .TGZ or .GZ. files are typically seen with software installers on Unix-based operating systems like Ubuntu and macOS for data archival and backups. But they are sometimes used for regular data archiving purposes, hence, Windows 10 users may also come across such types of files and may need to extract its content.

Extracting a .TAR.GZ, .TGZ or .GZ. file is easy. They can be extracted using third-party applications like 7-Zip and PeaZip which are free and open-sourced. In addition to external apps, Windows 10 includes native support for TAR which can help you extract TAR files using simple Command Prompts. Today we discuss a few of these methods:

1. Using third-party software
2. Using the native tar commands

Let’s look at these two methods in detail.

1] Using third-party software

a] Open TGZ files with 7-Zip

7-Zip is a free, open-source file archiver with a high compression ratio. This software can be used on any computer, including the ones in a commercial organization. This utility program can help you extract compressed files and create your own compressed files in several different formats. To extract TAR files using 7-Zip, follow the below steps:

1] Open 7-Zip webpage and download either 32 or 64-bit 7-Zip version based on your System Type.

Note: To check your system type, open ‘Settings’ then go to ‘System’ and click on ‘About’.

2] Once downloaded, open the 7-Zip installer to install the software to your Windows system.

3] Next, open the 7-Zip app from the Search Menu.

4] Now, within the 7-Zip’s file browser go to the folder that includes your TGZ file.

5] Now select and right-click the TGZ file, hit, 7-zip, and press the Extract files to open the Extract window as shown below.

6] You will see a new folder path is already included in the ‘Extract to’ text box. But if you want you can modify this path as required.

7] Press ‘OK’ to extract the TGZ file.

8] Now, double-click the extracted TAR folder in the same 7-Zip window to open it.

Once you open the initial archive, double-click on the sub TAR folders/files to open and view the contents.

Read: How to zip and unzip files in Windows 10 using the built-in feature.

b] Convert TGZ Files to the ZIP Format using online TGZ converter

Windows 10’s File Explorer allows the users to extract ZIP Files. Intrinsically, you can open the contents of a TGZ file by converting it to the ZIP format first. Once the files are converted, users can utilize the ‘Extract All’ option to decompress the ZIP. You can convert TGZ files to ZIP format using online converters, here is how:

1] Open the Convertio web tool in your web browser. This is an Online TGZ (TAR.GZ) Converter that can convert files to and from tgz on the web.

2] Now select ‘Choose Files’ to select a TGZ archive to convert to ZIP.

3] Select the file from the folder and click ‘Open’ to add the file to the online converter.

4] Select the conversion type to ‘Zip’

5] Now hit the ‘Convert’ button to convert the archive.

5] Click ‘Download’ and save the new ZIP archive.

6] Go to the downloaded files folder and double click the downloaded ZIP file to open its Extract tab. Now, hit the ‘Extract all’ button to open the window directly below.

7] Select the Destination and hit Extract.

Now double click the ZIP’s extracted folder and open its content.

2] Open TAR files in Windows 10 using native tar commands

Windows 10 consists of native support for tar that you can use with Command Prompt to extract these files. In addition to this, users can use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that brings native support for Ubuntu, Fedora, and SUSE, and therefore you can also access many Linux tools, including tar to instantly extract content from tarballs. Here we discuss the steps to use native tar commands on Windows 10 using Command Prompt and Ubuntu to extract contents of a .tar.gz file.

a] Extract .tar.gz, .tgz, or .gz tarballs using tar on Windows 10

For extracting .tar.gz, .tgz, or .gz files using tar on Windows 10, use these steps:

1] Open the ‘Start’ menu.

2] Search for ‘Command Prompt’

3] Right-click the first result and hit ‘Run as administrator’

4] Now type the below command to use tar to extract the files and hit ‘Enter’:

Make sure to update the syntax to include the source and destination paths.

Once the above steps are completed, you will have all the files and folder extracted to the specified destination.

b] Extract .tar.gz, .tgz, or .gz tarballs using tar on Linux on Windows 10

Another way of using tar on Windows 10 is by installing Ubuntu on your system. Once installed on your Windows 10 system follow the steps given below:

1] Launch ‘Ubuntu’ from the ‘Start’ menu

2] Now, type the below-given command to extract the content of .tar.gz file:

Make sure to update the syntax to include the source and destination paths.

3] Now hit the ‘Enter’ key.

Now, you will have all the files and folder extracted to the specified destination.