Convert TAR.GZ to ZIP
To convert tar.gz to zip, drop the .tgz file into the converter on this page and click Convert to ZIP. Your browser unpacks the gzip and TAR layers and rebuilds a .zip locally with WebAssembly, so the archive and everything inside it stay on your own machine.
Runs in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.Drop your TAR.GZ hereChoose a TAR.GZ to convert
It becomes a ZIP right in your browser, up to 100 MB
Your file never leaves your device
Works in airplane mode. See the proof
Limits, published exactly
| Where it runs | In your browser. The file never leaves your device. |
|---|---|
| Free conversions | Unlimited. No account, no ads, no queue, no watermark. |
| Max file size, free | 100 MB |
Why convert TAR.GZ to ZIP?
The classic situation is a .tar.gz that landed on a Windows machine that cannot open it. Source releases, server exports and backups from the Linux and macOS world ship as .tar.gz by habit, but stock Windows has no native handler for it, so a colleague double-clicks and gets nothing useful. Repacking the exact same contents into a ZIP fixes that in one step, because Windows, macOS and Linux all open ZIP out of the box with no extra software. It is the friendliest way to hand a Unix-flavoured archive to someone who is not on Unix.
What is TAR.GZ?
TAR.GZ (also seen as .tgz) is a TAR archive squeezed through gzip compression: the standard distribution format for source code, Linux packages and server-side exports. The two-step design means the whole archive is one compressed stream, which compresses well but cannot extract a single file without reading everything before it. Windows opens it only with third-party tools, which is the usual reason people need to convert one.
What is ZIP?
ZIP is the archive format the whole computing world agreed on: a 1989 design that bundles files and folders into one compressed container using DEFLATE. Windows, macOS, Linux, phones and even email clients open ZIPs natively, with no extra software. It is not the strongest compressor available, but its universality made it the default way to hand someone a folder, attach multiple files or download a project.
Quality and what to expect
Only the outer wrapper changes; the files inside do not. The converter unpacks the gzip compression and the TAR container, then writes the identical files into a ZIP using DEFLATE, so each file inside arrives byte-for-byte the same as it was in the .tgz. Nothing is recompressed in a lossy way and no file content is altered. One honest note: TAR records Unix-specific details like file permissions and symlinks, and the ZIP format does not preserve all of those the way TAR does, so executable bits and links may not survive in the way a Linux user expects. For plain files and folders the contents are completely intact.
TAR.GZ to ZIP FAQ
Why will the ZIP open on Windows when the .tar.gz would not?
Windows ships with native ZIP support but no built-in handler for .tar.gz, so a .tgz needs extra software while a .zip does not. Repacking the same files as ZIP lets a stock Windows machine open them with a double-click.
Are the files inside changed by the conversion?
No. Each file is extracted and rewritten into the ZIP byte-for-byte, so the contents are identical to what the .tar.gz held. Only the outer container and its compression change, not the data inside.
Do Unix permissions and symlinks carry over?
Not reliably. TAR stores Unix permission bits and symlinks that ZIP does not represent the same way, so things like the executable flag may be lost. Regular files and folder structure come through completely intact.
Is the archive uploaded to be repacked?
No. Both the unpacking and the rezipping happen with WebAssembly inside this browser tab, so a backup full of private files is never sent to a server. The whole conversion runs on your own device.