Turn RAR files into TGZ
Your RAR goes in and a TGZ comes out. TGZ is the usual choice for source code releases and Linux software tarballs. Your file never leaves your computer.
How to convert RAR to TGZ
- 1 Drop your RAR .rar file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Check the options. Nothing is thrown away on the way to TGZ, so there is no quality dial to set.
- 3 Convert. The work happens on your own machine, so how long it takes depends on your computer and the file.
- 4 Download the TGZ, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert RAR to TGZ
- Better ratio than ZIP on many small files with similar content.
- Keeps Unix permissions and ownership that ZIP handles poorly.
- Server backups that must keep permissions and ownership.
- RAR: nothing extracts it out of the box on Windows, macOS or Linux.
RAR compared with TGZ
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | RAR | TGZ |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .rar | .tgz |
| Colour depth | Proprietary LZ variant, optional recovery record and volumes | Tar stream compressed end to end with gzip DEFLATE |
| Introduced | 1993 | 1992 |
| Developed by | Eugene Roshal, win.rar GmbH | GNU project convention |
| Standard | Proprietary | Open |
Quality and what changes
Both sides are lossless, so every pixel survives the trip intact and converting back returns the same image. What changes is the size and what the file can carry: TGZ compresses the same data with a different algorithm, so the size can move in either direction.
- RAR files can be read here but not created, so conversions run one way only.
- One TGZ limitation to keep in mind: windows has no built-in extractor for it before recent versions.
Questions about RAR to TGZ
Can I open a TGZ in a browser?
No. No mainstream browser renders TGZ natively, so it will download rather than display. That is fine when the file is heading into desktop software or an archive, and a problem if it is going on a web page.
Is my RAR file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your RAR is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a TGZ. Nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is stored and there is no account.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server-side limit because no server sees the file. The real ceiling is your device memory, since the input and the output both have to fit in the tab. A few hundred megabytes is usually fine on a desktop machine and considerably less on a phone.
Can I convert several RAR files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate TGZ downloads or as a single ZIP. Speed depends on your own processor rather than on a queue.
Does the converter work offline?
Yes, after the page has loaded once. The engine is cached by the browser, so you can disconnect, reload and keep converting. That falls out of doing the work locally rather than being a separate mode you switch on.