How to Extract Files From a tar.bz2 or .tar.gz File on Linux
Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in how to buy magic crypto technology. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Once you’ve done this successfully, you’ll notice that the icon for tar.gz files will change to a 7-Zip icon.
What’s the difference between .tar and .tar.gz files?
Its name implies it’s a zip utility, but it also works with tar archives, and even provides commands for the cmd command-line interface. People new to the tar format usually equate it to a .zip file, but a tar archive is notably not compressed. The tar format only creates a container for files, but the files can be compressed with separate utilities. Common compressions applied to a .tar file are Gzip, bzip2, and xz. That’s why you rarely see just a .tar file and more commonly encounter .tar.gz or .tgz files. You’ll want to replace “tarfile” with the path to the tar.gz file that you’re trying to extract.
Here’s how to extract — or untar — the contents of a tar file, also known as a tarball. A file using .tar.gz format ethereum mining profitability 2020 is a file that has been 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.
How to Extract a tar.gz File to a Different Directory
One file is called ukulele_songs.tar.gz , the other is called guitar_songs.tar.bz2 . After reading this article, you know how to extract or unzip .tar.gz file in Linux using different methods and tools. In this guide, you will learn how to extract or unzip .tar.gz files in Linux. Whether you prefer command-line tools or graphical file archivers, the extraction process is pretty simple.
Alternatively, you can also specify a source and destination file path when using the tar utility. As we see later, different compression utilities may require different methods for extracting and unzipping files. Though we mostly focus on .tar.gz files, check out the end of the article for some quick tips on extracting .tar files in other formats. Where .zip files consist of many individually compressed files, .tar files are compressed as a single package, leaving its files uncompressed. In other words, .zip files are a collection of compressed files, while .tar files are a compressed collection of files.
What command do I need to unzip/extract a .tar.gz file?
Snaps were developed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, to package and distribute software focusing on security, sandboxing, and ease of installation and updates. They were officially introduced in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, released in April 2016. Ubuntu Core is a minimalistic and immutable version explicitly designed for the Internet of Things (IoT) and embedded systems. It is based on Ubuntu and tailored for use in scenarios where reliability, security, and ease of maintenance are critical, relying on the Snap package and atomic transactional updates. Looking in our Documents/Songs directory we’ll see the Guitar Songs directory has been created. You may also be interested in learning about the best WinZip alternatives to compress files.
If you plan to distribute and store .tar.gz files on your website, Kinsta’s managed hosting services can help make the most of your space. 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. To access the Windows command line, search for “command prompt” or “cmd” in the search bar. Right-click the first result and select the “Run as administrator” option. Ubuntu versions are usually named using an alliterative adjective and an animal name, both starting with the same letter.
- 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.
- However, there are also many third-party tools you can install for a more user-friendly experience.
- This format is common in the Unix/Linux world and is widely used to create compressed 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. This error usually occurs when a .tar has been saved as a .gz despite having never been compressed using the gzip utility. 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. 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. 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. The Dolphin file manager offers a feature to autodetect whether the files extracted from an archive are contained in a directory or if a new directory needs to be top 5 white label crypto exchange solutions 2022 created for them. I use this option so that when I extract files from a tarbomb, they remain tidy and contained.
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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. These kinds of archives are sometimes called a tarbomb, although not always with a negative connotation. Tarbombs are useful for patches and software installers; it’s just a matter of knowing when to use them and when to avoid them.
Thankfully, unless you’re somehow missing your tar or gzip utility, most common errors are very easy to fix. It’s often useful to list the contents of a .tar.gz file without having to unzip the entire archive. 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).
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You can create your own compressed .tar files using compression utilities such as gzip. Gzip is one of the most popular and available options, especially since it comes built in to most Linux distributions and macOS. Just like the more familiar .zip files, .tar files compress large files into a single package, making it easier to store and send them through email, servers, and so on. As a result, it has become a common file extension for many open-source software packages and other resources. On Windows, the easiest way to handle .tar files is to install the LGPL open source 7-Zip utility.
Now the file “four” is extracted to a new directory called “bar.” If “bar” already exists, then “four” is placed inside the existing directory. Ubuntu LTS (Long-Term Support) versions, known for their stability and extended support periods, are typically released every two years in April. These are popular for organizations and users who require a reliable and well-supported Ubuntu operating system. The name “Tar” stands for “Tape Archiver” because it was used to place data on storage tapes when tar was invented. The tar program takes one or more files and “wraps” them into a self-contained file.
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. 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. Most Linux and BSD desktops come with a graphical archive utility.
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. To extract a single file, provide the path and the name of the file. The -p (parents) option causes mkdir to create any parent directories that are required, ensuring the target directory is created. As the files are extracted, they are listed in the terminal window. Any remotely modern version of tar should auto-detect that the archive is gzipped, and add “z” for you. It also integrates with the Windows Explorer context menu, which enables users to create and extract archives directly from the right-click menu.
