Sample Files
Details
TAR
Tar Ball
About
What is .TAR?
.tar is an archive format that bundles multiple files and folders into a single file without applying compression. It preserves directory structure and metadata, making it ideal for backups, packaging, and software distribution on Unix-based systems.
History
Origin of TAR
The format (short for Tape Archive) was introduced in early versions of Unix as a way to collect multiple files into a single archive for backup and distribution. TAR became a foundational archive format due to its simplicity and its ability to preserve file system metadata, including permissions, ownership, symbolic links, and timestamps. It is standardized under the POSIX.1 tar specification, ensuring widespread interoperability. TAR remains essential in Linux, macOS, BSD systems, and open-source development workflows, often paired with compression utilities like Gzip or Bzip2 to create or archives.
Learn more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_(computing)
Benefits
Preserves file permissions, ownership, timestamps, and symbolic links
Ideal for packaging and distributing source code or directories
Simple, widely supported format across Unix-like systems
Efficient for streaming and incremental backups
Often compressed with Gzip, Bzip2, or XZ for reduced size
Usage
Extract using `tar -xf file.tar` on Linux/macOS
Open with archive tools like 7-Zip, WinRAR, or BSD tar
Create TAR archives using `tar -cf archive.tar folder/`
Combine with compression utilities (e.g., Gzip, Bzip2) for `.tar.gz` or `.tar.bz2` files
Use Cases
Common Use Cases
Here are the use cases for this file extension
Directory Archiving
Used to pack entire folder structures for backups or transfers.
Software Distribution
Open-source projects commonly use `.tar` archives for releases.
System Backups
TAR preserves metadata that is critical for restoring Unix systems.
Compatibility
Supported By
This extension is compatible with the following platforms.
Linux (native TAR utilities)
macOS (native tar command)
Windows (via 7-Zip, WinRAR, or WSL)
Android (archive manager apps)
iOS (file manager apps)
Web Tools (online tar extractors)
More Details
Technical Specs
Here are some technical details about this extension
File Extension
.tar
MIME Type
application/x-tar
Compression
None (often combined with .gz, .bz2, or .xz)
Archive Structure
Sequential file entries containing headers + content blocks
Metadata Support
Permissions, ownership, timestamps, symlinks, and device files
Typical Use
Backups, packaging, software distribution in Unix systems
Related
You May Also Like
Here are some related extensions
Got Questions?
Get answers to common questions
TAR is an archiving format only—it bundles files but does not compress them. Compression is applied separately with tools like Gzip or Bzip2.
TAR preserves Unix metadata more reliably and compresses more efficiently when paired with Gzip. However, ZIP is more common on Windows and supports random file access.
You can extract archives using 7-Zip, WinRAR, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), or PowerShell (Windows 10+ has built-in support through the BSD tar utility).