Extract tar.bz2 archives. No terminal, no upload
The .tar.bz2 archive is the tar.gz’s heavier-compressing cousin: same tar bundle of files, but squeezed with bzip2 instead of gzip. You’ll meet it around older Linux source releases, scientific datasets, and backups where a smaller archive was worth the slower compression. Unpacking one on Windows, or on a locked-down machine where you can’t install anything, is more hassle than it should be. This tool extracts .tar.bz2, .tbz2, and .tbz archives directly in your browser using libarchive compiled to WebAssembly. Every file inside becomes a download with its full directory path preserved. Nothing is uploaded, which is what you want when the tarball is a private backup or unpublished dataset.
How it works
- Drop a .tar.bz2 or .tbz2 file below.
- It is decompressed on your device. Bzip2 is a little slower than gzip, so give large archives a moment.
- Download files individually, or everything at once as a ZIP.
Frequently asked questions
How is .tar.bz2 different from .tar.gz?
The tar part is identical: many files are bundled into one stream. Only the compression differs. bzip2 (.bz2) usually produces smaller archives than gzip (.gz) but is slower to compress and decompress. This page handles both; there is a separate tar.gz page for gzip tarballs.
Do .tbz2 and .tbz files work here too?
Yes. .tbz2 and .tbz are shortened extensions for a bzip2-compressed tar archive, and they are treated identically to .tar.bz2.
Will Unix permissions and symlinks be preserved?
No. Browsers download plain files, so executable bits, ownership, and symbolic links stored in the tar are not carried through. File contents and paths are preserved. For a deployment that needs permissions intact, extract with tar on the target machine.
Is the archive uploaded to be extracted?
No. libarchive runs as WebAssembly in your browser and reads the archive straight from your disk. Nothing is transmitted, and extraction works offline once the page has loaded.