Novus Convert
Convert files
Archive format

TAR converter

A .tar file is a tape archive: many files and directories laid end to end in a single uncompressed stream, preserving Unix permissions, owners, and symlinks. It bundles but does not compress — that job is delegated to gzip, bzip2, or xz layered on top.

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Drop TAR files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

Where TAR comes from

tar appeared in Version 7 Unix in 1979 to write file collections onto magnetic tape, which is why it reads and writes strictly sequentially. POSIX standardized the ustar layout in 1988, and the pax extensions of 2001 removed the old limits on path lengths and file sizes.

How TAR works

  • Each file gets a 512-byte header block (name, mode, uid/gid, size, mtime, type) followed by its data padded to 512-byte boundaries.
  • Preserves the full Unix file model — permissions, ownership, symlinks, hard links, and device nodes — which ZIP handles poorly or not at all.
  • There is no index: locating one file means scanning the archive from the front.
  • No compression layer of its own, hence the ubiquitous pairing with gzip and friends.
  • Historic ustar limits (100-character names, 8 GB files) are lifted by GNU and pax extension headers.

When to use TAR

  • Source code distribution across the Unix world.
  • Container images — every Docker layer is a tarball.
  • System backups where ownership and permissions must survive intact.
  • Piping whole directory trees between machines over SSH.

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Exact preservation of Unix metadata that other archive formats drop.
  • Dead-simple, fully streamable structure.
  • Present on every Unix-like system for over four decades.
  • The foundation of the entire compressed-tarball family.

Limitations

  • Uncompressed on its own, so bare .tar files are as large as their contents.
  • No random access or central index.
  • Windows gained a bundled tar (bsdtar) only with Windows 10 version 1803.

Compatibility

Every Linux distribution, macOS, and the BSDs ship tar as a core utility, and Windows 10 and later include bsdtar at the command line. Graphical tools like 7-Zip open tarballs too, though they may need two passes for compressed variants.

Records owner and group both by name and numeric id, permission bits, and modification times — extraction as root can restore ownership faithfully.

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