zip file is a collection of compressed files. As we’ll see later, one popular compression utility is gzip, which compresses a. tar doesn’t compress anything, it requires a separate compression utility for compression. tar file is a collection of uncompressed files, sometimes known as a tarball. Rather, they both accomplish the same task ( file compression) in the same way. tar files are some kind of “lesser” format than. tar files - at least not in ways that are easy to notice. zip files, the same can’t really be said for. Where most operating systems make it easy to extract and create.

tar.gz files in Linux and Windows with help from this guide 🚀 Click to Tweet. Compressing and extracting files isn’t always intuitive. tar comes with a few extra features that make it the better compression format for certain files and applications. tar in the first place? As we’ll see in the next section. zip being the easier of the two to use, why use. As a result, it’s become a common file extension for many open-source software packages and other resources.īut with. tar files compress large files into a single package, making it easier to store and send them through email, servers, and so on. tar files even have anything to do with old computers. Thankfully, you don’t need to be a 1960s computer technician to use and extract.

Short for “ Tape ARchive,” the name “TAR” is a throwback to when files were stored on magnetic tape drives. A “.tar” file is a collection of files compressed into a single file or archive.

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