TAR.GZ to ZIP

Convert TAR.GZ to ZIP online: turn gzipped tarballs (.tar.gz, .tgz) into ZIP archives that open on any computer. Free and private, in your browser.

Files are processed in your browser and never uploaded.

How to convert TAR.GZ to ZIP

  1. Click Choose a file and pick your .tar.gz or .tgz file, or drop it on the box above.
  2. Skip Password (only if the archive is encrypted). Gzip tarballs are not encrypted; that field is used only for encrypted ZIP files.
  3. Press Convert to ZIP. The gzip layer is decompressed, the tarball is unpacked, and every file is packed again into a ZIP.
  4. Click Download. The double extension is replaced, so website-2024.tar.gz is saved as website-2024.zip.

All of this runs inside your browser tab using libarchive (WebAssembly) and zip.js. Nothing is sent to a server, which matters when the tarball holds a database dump or configuration files.

Two layers in one file

A TAR.GZ is really two formats stacked together. First, TAR bundles many files and folders into a single stream. Then gzip compresses that stream as a whole. This is the standard way software is distributed on Linux, how many hosting control panels export site backups, and how developers ship source code releases. On a Linux or macOS terminal you would unpack it with tar -xzf file.tar.gz.

Windows users are the ones who get stuck. Windows 10 and older tools often show a .tar.gz as a single unknown file, and even where it opens, colleagues may not know what to do with it. A ZIP removes that friction: it opens with a double-click on Windows, macOS and phones, and can be uploaded to services that accept ZIP only.

Size and content after conversion

Because gzip compresses the whole tarball as one stream, while ZIP compresses each file separately with Deflate, the ZIP is usually a little larger than the TAR.GZ, especially when the archive contains thousands of small files. For a few large files the difference is small. Folder paths are rebuilt exactly and long or non-English names come through intact.

Original modification dates cannot be read from the tarball in the browser, so the files in the ZIP get the current date. Unix permissions, ownership and empty directories are not carried over either. That rarely matters for documents and media, but it does for executable scripts. If you plan to deploy the files on a Linux server, keep the original TAR.GZ for that purpose.

Tips

  • Want the files without a new archive? Extract TAR.GZ unpacks them for individual download.
  • Got a lone .gz that is not a tarball, such as a compressed log? Open GZ Files decompresses it to the original file.
  • Need to go the other way for a Linux server? ZIP to TAR.GZ builds a gzip tarball from a ZIP.
  • A .tar.xz or .tar.bz2 can be converted to ZIP with the Archive Converter.
Tip: Many release tarballs contain a single top-level folder named after the project. That folder is kept, so after unzipping you will find everything inside it.

Frequently asked questions

Is a .tgz file the same as .tar.gz?

Yes. .tgz is a short form of the same format, and the converter accepts both.

Why is my ZIP larger than the TAR.GZ?

Gzip compresses all files together and can exploit similarities between them. ZIP compresses each file on its own, which costs some space but lets you extract any single file quickly.

Will the dates of my files change?

Yes. The original dates are not available when a TAR.GZ is read in the browser, so each file in the ZIP shows the date of the conversion. If timestamps matter, unpack with tar -xzf instead.

What is the largest file I can convert?

Up to about 700 MB works well. Larger archives take longer because everything is held in memory, and inputs over 2 GB are refused.

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