How to Extract Tar.gz Files in Windows 11

Why You Might Need This

Windows 11 lets you open .tar.gz files without installing 💿 anything extra, so you can get at the contents of these Linux-style archives right away. A tarball is a single file made by the Unix-based tar application, which bundles many files and folders together. The bundle is then compressed with gzip compression to make it smaller. Tarballs were originally made for Linux systems, which is why you see them so often when you download source code, backups or software from Linux and open-source projects.

The good news is that Windows 11 has built-in support for .tar.gz, .tgz, and .gz files. You don’t need a third-party archive tool anymore. The command-line method below uses the tar tool that comes with Windows, so it works the same way on Home and Pro.

There is also a second route. If you run Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) version 2.0, you can use the virtual Linux environment to extract tar.gz content. This mimics Linux command-line operation inside Windows. It is a good choice if you already use WSL, but for a quick extraction you don’t need it. The built-in method is faster.

How to Extract Tarball Files in 🪟 Windows 11

What You’ll Need

Windows 11 includes native support for tar.gz and tar.bz2 file types, so you can open them without extra software. The steps below extract a tarball using the built-in tar command. Before you start, note where the archive is saved and which folder you want the files to end up in. The destination folder should already exist.

Steps to Extract Your Files

1. First, open the Command Prompt app, or use the Windows Terminal app and select the Command Prompt tab. A window opens with a prompt showing your user folder. You do not need administrator rights for this, unless you are extracting into a protected location.
2. Next, run the extract command, which starts with tar -xzf. After it, you give the location of your .tar.gz file and the folder where you want the contents to go. Press Enter to run it. If the command works, the prompt returns with no message and the extracted files appear in the destination folder.
3. Open the destination folder in File Explorer 📁 and check that the files are there. If you get an error such as “no such file or directory”, check the path for typos. Wrap any path that contains spaces in quotation marks.

The tar -xzf command tells Windows where to find the .tar.gz file and where to save the extracted content. It is the core of the whole process, and the same command works for any tar.gz archive.

In this example, the command extracts the tar file (FileName.tar.gz) from your Downloads folder (C:\Users\User\Downloads), which is the source. It saves the extracted files to your Documents folder (C:\Users\User\Documents), which is the destination. Swap in your own file name and folders when you run it. The original archive is not changed or deleted, so you can extract it again at any time.

Understanding Tar Command Options

Knowing the main tar options helps you handle archives with confidence. You can extract files from a .tar.gz, list what is inside without extracting anything, or create new archive files. For example, tar -xf extracts files, while tar -tf lists them. Listing first is a handy way to check an archive before you unpack it, especially if you don't know what it contains.

• tar -tf - List all files inside a tarball.
• tar -xf - Extract tarball files.
• tar -cf [filenames…] - Create tarball files.
• tar -czf - Tells tar to uncompress the content of a .tar.gz file with gzip.

That's all you need to do. Run the command, then check the destination folder for your files.

Summary

Windows 11 lets you extract tar.gz files without extra software, thanks to built-in support for the tar command. Open Command Prompt or Windows Terminal, point tar at your archive and a destination folder, and the contents are unpacked in a few seconds.