Extract tar.gz archives — no terminal, no upload
If you spend any time around Linux, servers, or open-source software, tarballs are unavoidable: source releases, log bundles, website backups, and exported data all travel as .tar.gz. Technically it’s two formats stacked on top of each other — tar bundles many files into one stream, and gzip compresses that stream — which is why the extension is doubled. On a Unix machine a single command unpacks it; on Windows, or a locked-down work laptop where you can’t install anything, it’s more awkward than it should be. This tool unpacks .tar.gz, .tgz, and plain .tar archives directly in your browser. libarchive, compiled to WebAssembly, reads the archive on your device and presents every contained file as a download, full directory paths intact. Nothing is sent to any server — which matters when the tarball is a production backup you’d rather not hand to a random website.
How it works
- Drop a .tar.gz, .tgz, or .tar file below.
- Browse the extracted files — full directory paths are shown for each.
- Download what you need, or grab everything with “Download all as ZIP”.
Frequently asked questions
What actually is a .tar.gz file?
Two things layered together. tar (originally “tape archive”) concatenates many files and folders into a single uncompressed stream, preserving paths. gzip then compresses that stream. That split is why the extension has two parts, and why .tgz is simply the same thing spelled shorter.
Is .tgz different from .tar.gz?
No — .tgz is just an abbreviated extension for a gzip-compressed tar archive, a habit from old systems that limited file names to one dot. This tool treats them identically, and plain uncompressed .tar files work here too.
Will Unix file permissions and symlinks survive extraction?
Honest answer: no. Browsers download plain files, so executable bits, ownership, and symbolic links recorded in the tar are not carried through — file contents and paths are. If you are unpacking source code to read or grabbing files from a backup, that is fine; if you need permissions intact for deployment, extract with tar on the target machine.
This tarball is a backup of my server — is it safe to open here?
It never leaves your machine. The archive is parsed by libarchive running as WebAssembly inside your browser, with no upload step at all. Load the page, go offline if you like, and extract — your backup’s contents stay on your device throughout.