TAR Online — Create TAR and TAR.GZ Archives Free
Bundle multiple files into a TAR or TAR.GZ archive right in your browser. Choose plain TAR for compatibility or TAR.GZ for compression. Runs entirely client-side — no uploads required.
⏱ 5 min read · Complete guide below
Drop files here or click to browse
Select multiple files to bundle into a TAR archive
How to Create a TAR Archive Online
- 1Drop files onto the dropzone or click Browse to select multiple files.
- 2Choose TAR.GZ (compressed) or TAR (uncompressed) from the format selector.
- 3Click Create Archive. The browser packs files into a ustar TAR, then applies GZIP if selected.
- 4Download
archive.tarorarchive.tar.gzto your device.
When to Use TAR vs TAR.GZ
Use plain TAR when you want a single bundle but compression is already handled elsewhere (e.g., sending over an encrypted channel). Use TAR.GZ when you want to reduce transfer size — it is especially effective for source code, logs, and other text-heavy content.
What TAR Actually Does — and Why GZIP Is Separate
TAR (short for “tape archive”) does exactly one job: it takes many files and folders and joins them into a single continuous stream, recording each file's name and size along the way. That is it — a plain TAR is not smaller than the files it contains, because it does no compression at all. Compression is a deliberately separate step, which is why you so often see the two combined as .tar.gz: the files are first bundled with TAR, then that bundle is squeezed with GZIP. Keeping the two jobs apart is what makes the format so flexible — you can stream a tarball straight through any compressor, and the same TAR bundle can be compressed with gzip, bzip2, or xz depending on your needs.
Why GZIP Shrinks Some Files Far More Than Others
GZIP works by finding repeated patterns and replacing them with shorter references, so it is dramatically effective on text-based content — source code, CSV data, JSON, XML, and log files are full of repetition and often shrink by 70–90%. Files that are already compressed, such as JPEG and PNG images, MP4 videos, MP3 audio, or PDFs, contain very little redundancy left to exploit, so wrapping them in TAR.GZ saves almost nothing and occasionally adds a few bytes of overhead. A practical rule of thumb: reach for TAR.GZ when your archive is mostly text, and plain TAR (or no archive at all) when it is mostly media.
Common Ways People Use a TAR Archive
Bundling files into a single TAR is the everyday way to package things in the Unix world. Developers use it to distribute source releases, share a reproducible set of config files, or hand off a collection of assets as one clean download. It is also the natural format for backups and for moving a folder of files between servers over SSH, since a single stream transfers far more reliably than hundreds of individual files. Because this tool builds a standard ustar archive entirely in your browser, the result opens with the ordinary tar command on any Linux or macOS machine without a second thought.
Tips for TAR Archives
Text files compress best
Source code, CSVs, JSON, and logs can shrink 70–90% with GZIP. Binary files like images or videos see minimal gains.
macOS and Linux native support
TAR.GZ is the standard exchange format in Unix environments. Most macOS and Linux users can open .tar.gz files natively without extra software.
Windows users
Windows 11 supports .tar natively in Explorer. For .tar.gz, 7-Zip or the built-in WSL tar command can open the archive.
Combine with encryption
TAR does not encrypt. For sensitive files, archive first, then encrypt separately using a tool like age or GPG.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between TAR and TAR.GZ?
A TAR file is an uncompressed bundle — it concatenates files without reducing their size. TAR.GZ (also called tgz) adds GZIP compression on top, significantly reducing the total size of text-based files.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. Both TAR creation and GZIP compression run entirely in your browser. Your files never leave your device.
Does this preserve file permissions?
File permissions are not available via the browser File API, so they are not stored in the archive. For permission-preserving archives, use native tar on Linux/macOS.
Can I add folders?
The browser file picker does not expose folder paths, so each file is archived at the root level. The file names are preserved exactly.
What TAR format standard does this use?
The output uses the ustar format, which is compatible with GNU tar, BSD tar, and virtually all Unix/Linux systems.
How does this compare to ZIP?
TAR is more common on Linux/macOS systems and preserves Unix metadata better. ZIP has better compatibility on Windows. For web transfers, TAR.GZ and ZIP offer similar compression.
Can I open the TAR.GZ I create on Windows?
Yes. Windows 11 opens plain .tar files directly in File Explorer. For .tar.gz, use the free 7-Zip application, or the built-in tar command available in modern Windows (run "tar -xzf archive.tar.gz" in a terminal). Every Linux and macOS machine opens both formats natively. So while TAR is a Unix-first format, the archives you make here are perfectly usable on Windows too.
Why can't I add whole folders?
Browsers deliberately restrict the file picker for privacy, so a web page cannot read the directory structure around the files you choose — it only receives the files themselves. As a result each file is placed at the root of the archive with its name preserved. If you need to keep a nested folder structure, use the native tar command on your computer, which has full access to the filesystem.
Is there a limit on how many files or how large?
There is no fixed limit imposed by this tool, because the archive is built in your browser rather than uploaded. The practical ceiling is your device's available memory for the browser tab, which is typically 1–2 GB on desktop. Very large collections are more reliably archived on a phone using a desktop browser, where memory limits are higher.
Does TAR.GZ encrypt or password-protect my files?
No. TAR only bundles and GZIP only compresses — neither adds any encryption, and a .tar.gz can be opened by anyone. If your files are sensitive, create the archive first and then encrypt the result separately with a tool such as GPG or age, or place it in an encrypted container. Never rely on an archive format alone for security.