TAR file format

.tar · archive (no compression) · introduced 1979 by AT&T (Unix)

What is a TAR file?

TAR (Tape ARchive) is the canonical Unix archive format. Created in 1979 for writing files to magnetic tape, it simply concatenates files with 512-byte headers and does not compress. TAR preserves Unix permissions, ownership, symbolic links, and device nodes, which is why it is still the default packaging format for Linux distributions and source releases.

Most readers reach this page after double-clicking a .tar file and finding their operating system unsure what to do with it. The good news: TAR is a well-understood format with mature tooling on every major platform. It is supported in one click by mainstream archivers on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

How to extract a TAR file

Opening a .tar file is straightforward on every modern operating system. The exact steps depend on which platform you are on:

On Windows

Locate the .tar file in File Explorer.
Right-click the file. If you have 7-Zip installed, choose 7-Zip → Extract Here. On Windows 11 the built-in extractor handles ZIP, 7z, RAR and several other formats directly through Extract All…
If prompted, pick a destination folder and click Extract.
The extracted files appear in a folder next to the original archive.

On macOS

Find the .tar file in Finder.
Install The Unarchiver from the Mac App Store, or Keka for both creating and extracting.
Right-click the file → Open With → The Unarchiver (or just double-click after Unarchiver is set as the default).
The extracted folder appears next to the archive.

On Linux

Use your file manager: right-click the archive → Extract Here (file-roller on GNOME, Ark on KDE).
On the command line, run one of:
```
tar -xf archive.tar
```
The files appear in the current directory.

How to create a TAR file

To pack files into a .tar archive, you typically need an archiver that supports writing this format. Not every tool can create every format — for example, only WinRAR can create real RAR files. The sidebar lists the software known to read and write TAR.

On the command line, the canonical create command is:

tar -cf archive.tar folder/

If you regularly create archives at scale, a dedicated archive automation suite can wrap this command in scheduled jobs, integrity checks, and offsite replication.

Strengths

Preserves full Unix metadata
Streamable
Universally available
Trivially scriptable

Weaknesses and limitations

No built-in compression
No random access — must scan from start
No integrity check

Typical use cases

Source code releases (paired with gzip/xz)
Linux package payloads (.deb, .rpm contain tar)
Docker image layers
System backups

Technical details

TAR uses the None (concatenation with 512-byte headers) algorithm and is identified on disk by the magic byte sequence 75 73 74 61 72 (offset 257). The standard MIME type is application/x-tar. The format is an open specification and is free for any use.

Frequently asked questions

Is TAR safe to open?

Archive files are containers — they are only as safe as what they contain. A .tar from a trusted source is fine; one received from a stranger can hold malicious executables, scripts, or files engineered to exploit bugs in your archiver. Always keep your archiver updated, and never run unknown executables that come out of an archive. A safe workflow is to extract into a sandbox and scan the contents before opening anything.

What is the maximum file size?

POSIX TAR is limited to 8 GB per file in the historical header, but the GNU and PAX extensions raise this to 8 ZB and are universally supported by modern tar implementations.

Can I password-protect a TAR?

Not natively. TAR and the standard Unix compressors do not include encryption. Wrap the archive with GnuPG or age for confidentiality, or use a format like 7z that builds AES-256 in.

How does TAR compare to other formats?

See our format comparison pages such as ZIP vs 7z, ZIP vs RAR, and tar.gz vs tar.xz for side-by-side feature tables.