How to Extract tar.gz Files in Windows 11

This article explains how to extract .tar.gz, .tgz, or .gz files on Windows 11.

Why You Might Need This

Windows didn’t always support files created with the tar command and compressed with gzip. If you needed to open a .tar.gz file (also called a tarball), you had to use extra software like 7-Zip or PeaZip.

A tarball is a file created using the Unix-based tar application and then compressed using gzip compression. It was originally made for Linux systems.

The good news? Windows 11 now has built-in support for .tar.gz, .tgz, and .gz files. You don’t need extra tools anymore.

In addition, Windows devices with WSL can use the virtual Linux environment to extract tarballs content.

How to Extract Tarball Files in Windows 11

What You’ll Need

Windows 11 now includes native support for these file types. Follow the steps below to extract your tarball files.

Steps to Extract Your Files

1. First, open the Command Prompt app or use the Windows Terminal app and select the Command Prompt tab.
2. Next, run the command below to extract a tarball file:
   

   tar -xvzf C:\Users\User\Downloads\FileName.tar.gz -C C:\Users\User\Documents

   
   

This command tells Windows where to find the file and where to save the extracted content.

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.

Understanding Tar Command Options

Here’s what each tar command does:

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

That’s all you need to do!

Summary

Windows 11 now includes built-in support for extracting tarball files compressed with gzip. You no longer need third-party software to extract .tar.gz, .tgz, and .gz files. Simply use the tar command in Windows Terminal to extract your files quickly and easily. This makes file management more efficient for Windows users working with Linux-based file formats.

Frequently Asked Questions