You've probably been there. You download a dataset, a piece of open-source software, or some obscure driver, and instead of a friendly little ZIP folder, you're staring at a file ending in .tar.gz. It feels like you just tried to open a door only to find a second, smaller door locked behind it. That's basically what a TAR.GZ file is. It's a "tarball" (a collection of files) that has been squeezed down using GNU Zip compression. For years, Windows users had to download third-party tools just to peek inside these things, while Linux users laughed from the sidelines.
But things changed.
Windows 10 and 11 actually have native ways to handle this now, though Microsoft doesn't exactly shout it from the rooftops. If you're trying to figure out how to open tar gz file in windows, you don't necessarily need to go hunting for sketchy freeware. You just need to know which "secret" menu or command-line trick to use. Honestly, it’s one of those things that feels gatekept by developers, but once you know the trick, it takes about five seconds.
Use the Command Prompt (The Pro Way)
Most people see a black window with flickering text and immediately want to close the lid of their laptop. Don't. The Command Prompt is actually the cleanest way to do this because it doesn't require installing a single megabyte of extra software. Since 2018, Windows has included a native tar tool. It’s built right in.
First, hit the Windows key and type cmd. Right-click it and run as administrator just to be safe, though you usually don't need to for basic file extraction. You’ll need to navigate to where your file is. If it’s in your Downloads folder, you’d type something like cd %USERPROFILE%\Downloads.
Once you are in the right spot, the magic command is tar -xvzf filename.tar.gz.
Let’s break that down because it looks like gibberish. The -x tells the computer you want to extract. The -v stands for "verbose," which just means the computer will tell you what it’s doing instead of sitting there in silence. The -z tells it to uncompress the Gzip part, and -f tells it you’re about to provide the filename. It’s fast. It’s efficient. It works every time.
Why Windows File Explorer Still Struggles
You’d think by 2026, Windows File Explorer would handle every file type like a champ. Well, it’s getting better. In the latest versions of Windows 11, Microsoft finally added native support for RAR, 7-Zip, and TAR.GZ directly within the GUI.
If you are on an updated version of Windows 11, you can often just right-click the file and select "Extract All," just like you would with a ZIP file. It feels miraculous.
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However, there’s a catch. Windows File Explorer is notoriously slow with large archives. If your .tar.gz file is several gigabytes—maybe you're a gamer downloading a massive mod pack or a researcher with a giant database—Explorer might hang. It might tell you it’s going to take 99 hours to finish. It’s frustrating. That’s why many of us still swear by dedicated tools or the command line. If you're on Windows 10, don't even bother with Explorer for this; it won't know what you're talking about unless you've installed specific updates that backported the feature, and even then, it's buggy.
The 7-Zip Alternative
If the command line scares you and Explorer is being slow, 7-Zip is the gold standard. Igor Pavlov released this thing decades ago, and it remains the most reliable piece of software on the planet. It’s open-source. It’s free. It doesn’t have those annoying "Please buy a license" pop-ups that WinRAR uses to guilt-trip you.
When you install 7-Zip, it adds a context menu. You right-click the .tar.gz file, hover over 7-Zip, and select "Extract here."
Wait.
Usually, with a .tar.gz, 7-Zip will first extract the .tar file. Then you have to right-click that new file and extract it again to get your actual folders. It’s a two-step process. People forget this and get confused when they extract a file only to find another single file inside. Double extraction is the name of the game here.
Understanding the "Tarball" Logic
Why do we even use this format? It seems redundant. In the Unix world, where this originated, "tar" was meant for Tape Archives. It literally just bundles files together without shrinking them. Gzip is the part that does the shrinking.
Linux developers love it because it preserves file permissions and directory structures better than the standard ZIP format does in certain environments. If you are downloading software meant to run on a server, it’s almost certainly going to be a .tar.gz.
Common Pitfalls and Error Messages
Sometimes you'll try to open a file and get an error saying the archive is "corrupt." Before you panic and delete it, check the file size. A lot of times, a .tar.gz download gets interrupted, and you end up with a partial file that looks complete but is missing the "end of archive" marker.
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Another issue? Path length. Windows has a historical limit of 260 characters for a file path. If your tarball contains deeply nested folders with long names, extracting it to your desktop might fail because the total path gets too long. Try extracting it to a simple folder like C:\temp instead. This solves about 80% of the "unexpected error" messages people see.
WSL: The Nuclear Option
If you're a developer, you probably have WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) installed. If you do, just open your Ubuntu terminal (or whatever distro you use). Navigate to your Windows drive—usually located at /mnt/c/—and use the standard Linux commands.
tar -zxvf backup.tar.gz
It’s ironic, but sometimes the easiest way to do something in Windows is to use a little bit of Linux. WSL handles the file permissions much more gracefully than the Windows command prompt, especially if the archive was created on a Mac or a Linux machine.
Power Users and PowerShell
PowerShell is the "fancy" version of the Command Prompt. While the tar command works there too (because PowerShell aliases it), you can also use Expand-Archive, though it's technically designed for ZIP files. For TAR files, sticking to the tar executable is your best bet even within the PowerShell environment.
One thing to watch out for: case sensitivity. Windows generally doesn't care if a file is named Data.txt or data.txt, but the TAR format was born in a world where those are two totally different files. If you extract an archive that has both, Windows might freak out and try to overwrite one with the other.
Practical Steps to Get Your Files Now
If you are staring at a file right now and just want it open, follow this sequence. It is the most logical path to success without wasting time.
First, try the right-click. If you see "Extract All" and you’re on Windows 11, click it. It might just work. If you don't see that, or if it throws an error, move to the next step.
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Second, try the Command Prompt. It’s faster than downloading a new app. Open cmd, type tar -xf followed by a space, and then drag and drop your file directly into the black window. The computer will automatically fill in the full path for you. Hit Enter. Your files will appear in the same folder where the archive is sitting.
Third, if you deal with these files weekly, just download 7-Zip or PeaZip. These tools are lightweight and handle almost every compression format known to man, including .rar, .7z, .iso, and of course, .tar.gz.
Keep in mind that .tar.bz2 and .tar.xz are also things you might run into. They are just different flavors of the same concept—a bundle of files squeezed by a different compression algorithm. The tar command in the Windows Command Prompt handles most of these too, so you don't need a different tool for every extension.
To ensure you don't run into permission issues, always extract archives into a folder you created, rather than the root of the C: drive or the System32 folder. Windows gets very protective of those areas. A folder on your desktop or in your "Documents" section is always the safest bet for a smooth extraction process.
Once you’ve extracted the files, you can safely delete the original .tar.gz file to save space. These archives are often used for backups, so they can be quite large, and keeping both the compressed and uncompressed versions is a quick way to kill your hard drive space.
Check your file extensions. If you don't see the .tar.gz at the end of the filename, go to View in your folder options and check "File name extensions." It's much easier to work with these files when you can actually see what they are.
Now, go get those files out of their compressed cage. You've got the tools. Whether you choose the surgical precision of the command line or the brute force of a third-party app, the "tarball" is no longer an obstacle. It's just another folder waiting to be opened.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check your OS version: If you're on Windows 11 (build 22621 or higher), try the native right-click "Extract All" first.
- Run a quick test: Open Command Prompt and type
tar --helpto verify the tool is active on your system. - Install 7-Zip: If you plan on handling non-standard formats frequently, download the 64-bit version of 7-Zip from its official site to avoid the two-step extraction headache common with other tools.
- Clean up: After extraction, always verify the file count matches the expected output before deleting the source archive.