Extract TAR.GZ

How to Extract TAR.GZ Files Online

1. Upload Your TAR.GZ Archive: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select.tar.gz,.tgz, or gzipped tarballs from your computer. Both layers (gzip + tar) are unpacked in a single pass — no need to gunzip first. Batch upload is supported.
2. Choose Output Format: TAR.GZ stays as TAR.GZ in the option panel — the tool reads the archive and unpacks the contents. The original directory structure (folders, subfolders, symlinks where supported) is preserved exactly as it was archived on the source Linux/Unix system.
3. Browse the Extracted Tree (Optional): After processing, drill into folders to find the file you actually need — handy when a source release ships hundreds of files but you only want the README, a config sample, or a single binary. No need to download the whole archive.
4. Extract and Download: Click "Extract." Pull individual files, whole subfolders, or the full unpacked archive. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.

Why Extract TAR.GZ Online?

TAR.GZ (also written .tar.gz or .tgz) is a two-layer Unix archive: tar bundles a directory tree into one file, then gzip compresses the bundle with DEFLATE. It's been the default packaging format for Linux source releases, server backups, and Docker image exports since the 1990s — but neither Windows Explorer nor macOS Finder unpacks .tar.gz cleanly out of the box. Extracting one online sidesteps that gap without installing 7-Zip, WinRAR, or the WSL toolchain.

• Opening source code releases — GitHub and GitLab attach a .tar.gz to every tagged release. If you're on a Chromebook or locked-down work laptop, you can't shell out to tar -xzf — extract online instead.
• Receiving a Linux server backup — Sysadmins routinely email or upload .tar.gz snapshots of /etc, MySQL dumps, or web roots. Open them on any device without spinning up a VM.
• Inspecting Node.js / Python / Ruby packages — npm pack, python -m build, and gem build all emit gzipped tarballs. Peek inside before publishing or installing.
• Extracting kernel and toolchain sources — Linux kernel tarballs from kernel.org, GNU toolchains, and BSD ports trees all ship as .tar.gz. View the changelog without downloading 1+ GB locally.
• iPad / iPhone / mobile workflows — iOS Files app handles .zip but not .tar.gz. Online extraction is the simplest path on tablets and phones.
• Pulling a single config file — Hosting providers often hand off a tar.gz of your account contents on offboarding. Grab one .htaccess or wp-config.php instead of unpacking 5 GB.

TAR.GZ vs ZIP vs 7Z vs RAR

TAR.GZ vs TAR.BZ2 vs TAR.XZ

Need a different format? Try extract-zip, extract-7z, extract-rar, extract-tar.bz2, or extract-tar.xz.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between.tar.gz and.tgz?

They are the same format with two different file extensions. .tgz is just the 8.3-filename-friendly shorthand for .tar.gz that became common during the FAT16/DOS era. Both contain a tar archive compressed with gzip — this tool handles both extensions interchangeably.

Why can't Windows or macOS open.tar.gz natively?

Windows added native .tar.gz support to Explorer in Windows 11 (build 23H2, late 2023), but it's slow on large archives and missing on Windows 10 and earlier. macOS Archive Utility handles .tar and .gz separately but often stops at the first layer, leaving you with an inner .tar file that needs a second double-click. Online extraction does both layers in one step.

Are.tar.gz files password-protected?

The .tar.gz format itself has no password or encryption support — gzip and tar were designed before encryption was a common archive feature. If you received an encrypted archive, it's likely file.tar.gz.gpg (GPG-encrypted) or wrapped in an encrypted ZIP/7Z. For password-protected archives, see our extract-7z tool which supports AES-256.

What's the maximum tar.gz file size?

The extractor handles archives up to roughly 2 GB comfortably; beyond that, upload size and connection speed become the limiting factor. For multi-gigabyte server backups (database dumps, full disk snapshots), a desktop tool like 7-Zip or tar -xzf from a Linux shell will be faster and more reliable.

Can I extract just one file without downloading the whole archive?

Yes. After the archive is processed, the file tree is rendered in the browser and you can pick individual files or subfolders to download. This is the main reason people use online extraction for source releases — you don't have to pull all 4,000 files in a kernel tarball just to read MAINTAINERS.

Will Unix file permissions and symlinks survive extraction?

Permissions and symlinks are preserved inside the archive metadata, but browsers cannot apply chmod bits or create symlinks on the user's filesystem (the Web download API doesn't expose that). If you need exact 0755 permissions or working symlinks (for example, restoring a node_modules tree), extract on a Linux/macOS shell with tar -xzf instead.

Why is my.tar.gz larger than the equivalent.zip?

It usually shouldn't be — gzip and ZIP both use DEFLATE, so a .tar.gz of the same files is normally within a few percent of a .zip. If your .tar.gz is dramatically larger, it was probably created with gzip -1 (fastest, weakest compression) or contains many already-compressed files (JPEGs, MP4s) where neither format saves much.

Is the tool safe? Are my files uploaded?

files are processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours. We do not retain or share archive contents. For especially sensitive backups (production databases, customer PII), the safest path is still local extraction with tar -xzf — no archive ever leaves your machine.

Can I create a.tar.gz here too?

This page only extracts. To bundle files into a new tar.gz, use a desktop tool — tar -czf archive.tar.gz folder/ on Linux/macOS, or 7-Zip on Windows. We may add a tar.gz creator in a future release.