What is a .tar file?
Tape Archive · Archive · Unix (AT&T) · 1979
TAR bundles many files into one without compressing them, a job that dates back to Unix tape backups. It is almost always paired with a compressor like gzip, producing the .tar.gz files common in the Linux and developer world.
What is a .tar file used for?
A plain TAR just concatenates files and their metadata into a single stream, preserving permissions and structure. It does no compression on its own.
In practice it is combined with gzip or another compressor, giving .tar.gz (or .tgz) and .tar.bz2 files that are the standard for source code and Linux packages.
You unpack these with the tar command or a graphical archive tool on any platform.
How to open a .tar file
The .tar format opens in the following apps, grouped by operating system. If one app does not work, try another from the same list. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see how to open a .tar file.
Windows
- 7-Zip
- WinRAR
- tar (Windows 10+)
macOS
- Archive Utility
- tar
- Keka
Linux
- tar
- Archive Manager
Web
- Not natively; extract locally
How to convert a .tar file
You can convert a .tar file to ZIP, 7Z using a conversion tool or the export menu of an app that opens it.
.tar file signature (magic bytes)
Programs recognise a .tar file by the bytes at the start of the file, not by its name. These are the signatures for TAR. For a full breakdown, see the TAR file signature page.
| Hex signature | Offset | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 75 73 74 61 72 | 257 | 'ustar' at offset 257 |
See the full magic-numbers reference for every format.
Frequently asked questions
What is a .tar file?
TAR bundles many files into one without compressing them, a job that dates back to Unix tape backups. It is almost always paired with a compressor like gzip, producing the .tar.gz files common in the Linux and developer world.
What is a tar.gz file?
It is a TAR archive that has then been compressed with gzip. TAR bundles the files, gzip shrinks the bundle. Extract with tar -xzf or any archive tool.