TAR/GZ Extractor

What is TAR/GZ Extractor?

TAR/GZ Extractor lets you open and extract .tar, .gz, and .tar.gz archive files right here. No installs needed — upload your archive, browse the file listing, and download individual files or everything at once.

The extractor reads the gzip header, decompresses in place, and walks the TAR record stream to rebuild the directory tree with file names, sizes, and modification dates intact. Everything runs locally on your device — files never leave your machine, which matters when the archive contains server logs, database dumps, or anything else you'd rather not paste into an online service.

How to use

1. Upload a .tar, .gz, or .tar.gz archive file by dragging it onto the drop zone or clicking to browse.
2. Browse the extracted file tree showing file names, sizes, and modification dates.
3. Download individual files by clicking them, or download all extracted files at once as a zip archive.

When to use

• Pulling one file out of a multi-gigabyte server backup without unpacking the whole archive to disk.
• Inspecting the contents of a third-party tar.gz before running its install script.
• Repackaging selected files from a Linux archive into a ZIP for someone on Windows.

Result

You receive a Linux backup archive server-logs.tar.gz (15 MB). Upload it to the tool, browse the directory structure, find the specific log file you need from /var/log/app.log, and download just that file without extracting everything locally.

FAQ

What archive formats does the extractor handle?

Plain .tar, gzip-compressed .tar.gz / .tgz, and lone .gz files containing a single payload. Bzip2 (.tar.bz2), xz (.tar.xz), and zstd (.tar.zst) aren't supported here — convert those formats first with a desktop tool.

Is there a size limit on the archive I can upload?

There's no hard cap, but extraction happens in memory on your device, so practical limits depend on your RAM and tab budget. Multi-hundred-megabyte archives work; multi-gigabyte ones may stall or crash the tab.

Does the tool preserve Unix permissions and symlinks?

File names, paths, sizes, and modification times are read from the TAR header. Permission bits and symlink targets exist in the headers but aren't applied to the downloads — your operating system assigns default permissions when you save the file.

Are uploaded archives sent anywhere?

No. Reading, decompressing, and tree-building all happen on your own device. Nothing is uploaded to a server, so private data, secrets, or proprietary code in the archive stays with you.

Why does 'Download All as ZIP' produce a slightly larger file than the original tar.gz?

ZIP compresses each file individually, while gzip+tar compresses one continuous stream containing all files. The continuous stream finds more repetition across files and ends up smaller. The ZIP, however, opens natively on every operating system.

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