Create TB2 Archive

How to Create a TB2 Archive Online

1. Upload Your Files: Drag and drop files onto the page or click "+ Add Files" to pick them from your device. Multiple files and entire folders are supported in a single batch — they will all be bundled into one TB2 archive.
2. Confirm the Output Extension: The output is set to TB2 (a tar archive compressed with bzip2). TB2 is identical in content to .tar.bz2 and .tbz2 — only the file-name suffix differs, so any extractor that handles one handles all three.
3. Review the File List (Optional): Re-order, rename, or remove entries before archiving. The order you upload becomes the order tar walks the file list, which only matters if you plan to stream-extract on the other end.
4. Archive and Download: Click "Archive". Your files are bundled with tar, the bundle is compressed with bzip2, and the resulting .tb2 file downloads directly. Files process in your browser session — no sign-up, no watermark, no email required.

Why Create a TB2 Archive?

TB2 is shorthand for a TAR archive compressed with bzip2, the block-sorting compressor Julian Seward released in 1996. The tar layer bundles many files (and directories, permissions, symlinks, timestamps) into a single stream, and the bzip2 layer squeezes that stream using a Burrows–Wheeler transform, move-to-front coding, and Huffman coding on blocks of 100–900 kB. Compared to gzip (.tar.gz), bzip2 typically produces files roughly 10–15% smaller on text-heavy data, at the cost of significantly slower compression and a heavier decompressor.

• Linux and BSD source distribution — Kernel tarballs, GNU project releases, and many BSD ports were historically published as .tar.bz2; the .tb2 suffix is the same archive packaged for filesystems that prefer a single short extension.
• Backups where storage costs matter more than CPU time — Cold backups to S3 Glacier, Backblaze B2, or external drives benefit from bzip2's tighter ratio because the file is written once and read rarely.
• Cross-platform delivery to Unix-savvy users — A .tb2 is opened by tar -xjf on every major Linux distro and macOS out of the box, with no extra package install.
• Long-form text, logs, and code — Bzip2's BWT excels on repetitive textual data; multi-GB log dumps and source trees often shrink noticeably more than gzip can manage.
• Smaller downloads on metered connections — If users on slow or capped links will pull the archive, the smaller payload pays back the slower compression you did once.
• Bundling with Unix metadata intact — Unlike ZIP, tar preserves POSIX file modes, owner/group, and symlinks, which matters when an archive will be expanded on a server.

TB2 vs Other Archive Formats

Related conversions: TB2 → TAR.GZ when you need faster decompression, TB2 → TAR.XZ for even tighter ratios on the same Unix bundle, or Archive → ZIP when you need a Windows-friendly format.

TB2 Extension Aliases at a Glance

All four extract with the same command. Pick the shortest suffix the target system tolerates; the bytes inside are byte-for-byte identical for a given input.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is TB2 the same file as TAR.BZ2 and TBZ2?

Yes. .tb2, .tar.bz2, and .tbz2 are three suffixes for the same container: a tar archive whose bytes have been passed through bzip2. You can rename a .tar.bz2 to .tb2 (or back) without re-archiving — every standards-conformant extractor inspects the file header (the bzip2 magic bytes BZh) rather than the suffix.

How do I extract a TB2 file?

On Linux and macOS the built-in tar handles it: tar -xjf archive.tb2 (the -j flag tells tar to pipe through bzip2). If your tar version is recent it will auto-detect compression with tar -xf archive.tb2. On Windows, use 7-Zip, PeaZip, or WinRAR — each recognises the bzip2 magic bytes regardless of the .tb2 extension. Windows 10 build 1803 and later also ship a tar.exe that accepts tar -xf archive.tb2 from PowerShell.

Should I use TB2 or TAR.GZ?

Pick TB2 when the smaller file size matters more than CPU time — long-term backups, large source distributions, or downloads over slow/metered links. Pick TAR.GZ when you want faster compression and decompression, or when you are streaming through tools that pipeline gzip natively (most CI/CD systems still default to gzip). On typical text and source trees the bzip2 file ends up roughly 10–15% smaller than the gzip version.

Is TB2 better than TAR.XZ?

.tar.xz (LZMA2) usually compresses more tightly than bzip2 by another 15–25% on the same data and decompresses faster, but it needs more memory and a newer extractor. TB2 wins on broad compatibility with older Unix systems that pre-date xz support (xz was first released in 2009). For modern Linux and macOS, TAR.XZ is usually the better trade-off; TB2 remains the safe default when you do not know the recipient's toolchain.

Can I password-protect a TB2 file?

No. Neither tar nor bzip2 has a built-in password or encryption layer — the bzip2 stream is pure compression. If you need encryption, either pipe the TB2 through GPG (gpg -c archive.tb2) or use a container that has encryption built in, such as 7Z (AES-256) or an encrypted ZIP. The xconvert TB2 endpoint produces a standard, unencrypted bzip2 stream.

Why is bzip2 compression so slow compared to gzip?

Bzip2 reorders data with the Burrows–Wheeler transform before encoding it, and the BWT requires sorting all rotations of a block (up to 900 kB by default). That sort dominates the runtime and is single-threaded in the reference implementation. The trade-off is that the reordered data compresses substantially better with the downstream move-to-front and Huffman stages. The parallel variant pbzip2, released in 2003, splits the file into independent blocks and compresses them on multiple cores, but the on-disk format is still standard bzip2 so any extractor reads it.

Does the TB2 file preserve folder structure and permissions?

Yes, because the inner layer is tar. The archive records the relative path, mode bits, ownership (UID/GID), modification time, and symbolic links for every entry. When you extract on a Unix host the permissions and structure come back exactly as you uploaded them. Note that ownership only restores if you extract as root or with --same-owner; otherwise tar maps files to the extracting user, which is usually what you want.

Can I open a TB2 file on Windows without installing anything?

If you are on Windows 10 build 1803 (April 2018) or later, the built-in tar.exe will extract tar -xf archive.tb2 from PowerShell or Command Prompt. Otherwise install a free tool — 7-Zip and PeaZip both handle TB2 natively and integrate into Explorer's right-click menu.

Is there a file size limit for creating a TB2 archive on xconvert?

The archive is built in your browser session, so the practical ceiling is your device's memory and disk, not a server-imposed quota. For very large bundles (multi-GB) consider building the TB2 locally with tar --bzip2 -cf out.tb2 dir/ — local tar streams the data and is not constrained by browser memory. For everyday backups, source dumps, and project archives the in-browser path is the simpler option.