And, like RAR and ZIP, you can open and extract files from a GZ archive using both built-in as well as third-party tools on your computers. Like any file, GZ files can be used to distribute harmful software, so always ensure you trust the source of the file before opening it. Make sure to update the syntax to include the source and destination paths. First, press the Start key on your keyboard or the Start icon on the taskbar.
Once you see the Command Prompt result, right-click on it and choose the “Run as Administrator” option. The author combines expert insights with user-centric guidance, rigorously researching and testing to ensure you receive trustworthy, easy-to-follow tech guides. WindowsDigitals is an independent tech website that features articles, how-to guides, tutorials, and news related to Windows 11 and Windows 10. Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003.
Using Mac Terminal
There are popular options, like The Unarchiver or Keka (paid on the macOS App Store but free on the developer’s site). Both apps support several other formats as well, including ZIP and RAR. There are various ways to open and create compressed files on Windows, and that applies to .GZ files as well. In case you’re a graphical user interface person, you can use a free how to buy solana on phantom third-party app to access your GZ archives. A file with the TGZ or GZ file extension is created using the Unix-based archival application tar and further compressed using GZIP Compression. These files are made up of a collection of files placed in a TAR archive mainly for making storage and tracking easy.
It is assumed that you are extracting a tarball created on another system. We are skipping some arguments usually necessary to preserve bitcoin has just halved again permissions, which on Windows 10 are not required to access the files. If you’d rather unzip a GZ file on your Windows using apps, there are lots of free alternatives. 7-Zip is a pretty good choice for this task, as it’s easy, free, and open-source. There’s a command called tar that you can use within the Windows Terminal or Command Prompt to extract your GZ archive contents. This command is built into your operating system, so you don’t need to install anything to use it.
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- Open the Command Prompt with administrative rights, and you should be fine.
- If you’re coming across one for the first time, use one of the methods above to extract the contents from your GZ archive.
- Like ZIP, you can simply double-click on your GZ archive, and it should start extracting its content.
- It typically contains a single compressed file but may also store multiple compressed files.
- GZ files are compressed files, similar to ZIP files, created using the Gzip compression utility.
Once you complete the steps, you will have all the files and folders extracted to the destination path you specified after a few moments. This guide will teach you the steps to use native tar commands on Windows 10 from Command Prompt and Ubuntu to extract the content of a .tar.gz file. You can open GZ files with the GNU zip (gzip) compression utility. Alternatively, you can use 7zip’s context menu tools on Windows to unzip a .GZ files. Be sure to select this option during installation, and then you’ll be a right-click away from opening GZ files with 7zip.
Is it safe to download and use file archivers like 7-Zip or WinRAR?
These files are often referred to as “tarballs.” While you can find them with a double extension (.tar.gz), the extension can also be shortened to .tgz or .gz. A GZ file is an archive compressed using the gzip compression technology. Like other compressed files, this archive type helps you combine your files and reduce the size of your files by compressing them. WinRAR is yet another popular file archiver tool widely used by users around the world to compress and uncompress files.
You can use it to easily open, view and extract any .gz, tar.gz or .tar file. 7-Zip can work with most compression methods and extensions including .gz, tar.gz and .tar. You can use it to archive and compress files using any supported methods you prefer, or to open and extract any compressed file. Both options will extract the contents of the GZ file, but with “Extract Here,” the contents will be placed in the same location as the GZ file.
Decompress GZ file from windows command line
But they are sometimes used for regular data archiving purposes; hence, Windows 11/10 users may also come across such types of files and may need to extract their content. If you’re coming across one for the first time, use one of the methods above to extract the cryptocurrency theft on the rise contents from your GZ archive. The above methods work on all the popular platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. As soon as you execute the command, tar will unzip and extract the file.
Using the Terminal to Unzip a GZ File on macOS
As long as you download them from their official websites or trusted sources, they are safe to use. 2] Now select ‘Choose Files’ to select a TGZ archive to convert to ZIP. On Windows 10, to use tar on Linux, you need to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and a distro like Ubuntu from the Microsoft Store. But, if you use with a GZ file it doesn’t work, I’ve been looking for a way to decompress the GZ file with CMD but still not finding a solution.
6] Go to the downloaded files folder and double-click the downloaded ZIP file to open its Extract tab. Now, hit the ‘Extract all’ button to open the window directly below. 5] Now select and right-click the TGZ file, hit, 7-zip, and press the Extract files to open the Extract window as shown below.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.
Usually, tar files are more common with Ubuntu (other Linux distros) and macOS users for data archival and backups. However, Windows 10 users may also come across these files, which is a reason to have a way to extract their contents. Like ZIP, you can simply double-click on your GZ archive, and it should start extracting its content. You can do this from any Finder window on your Mac, and your extracted files will be available in a new folder in the same directory as the original GZ archive. If you’re a Linux user who wants to open a GZ file, you can use a command in the Terminal to extract all the files from your GZ archive. Some distros also have built-in options in the context menu to unzip .GZ files.
If your target folder looks empty even after successfully running the command, that’s probably because you ran the it without admin privileges. Open the Command Prompt with administrative rights, and you should be fine. Did you just download a GZ file, and now you’re unsure how to open it? Worry not, as we’ll cover what a GZ file is and how to open it on Windows, macOS, and Linux.