Convert TAR to ZIP
Turn your TAR into a ZIP. ZIP is the archive every computer opens without installing anything, on Windows, Mac, Linux and phones alike. Your file never leaves your computer.
Need the other direction? Convert ZIP to TAR
How to convert TAR to ZIP
- 1 Drop your TAR .tar file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Check the options. Nothing is thrown away on the way to ZIP, 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 ZIP, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert TAR to ZIP
- Built into Windows, macOS and Linux, so no software has to be installed.
- Any single file can be pulled out without unpacking the rest.
- Software distribution and application packages on every platform.
- TAR: no compression on its own, so it is almost always paired with gzip or xz.
TAR compared with ZIP
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | TAR | ZIP |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .tar | .zip |
| Compression | Uncompressed | Lossless |
| Colour depth | 512-byte headers, no compression, POSIX ustar and GNU variants | DEFLATE per entry, with a central directory at the end |
| Typical file size | Largest | Larger |
| Introduced | 1979 | 1989 |
| Developed by | AT&T Bell Labs, later POSIX | Phil Katz, PKWARE |
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: ZIP compresses the same data with a different algorithm, so the size can move in either direction.
- One ZIP limitation to keep in mind: compressing files separately misses redundancy shared between them.
Questions about TAR to ZIP
Can I open a ZIP in a browser?
No. No mainstream browser renders ZIP 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 TAR file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your TAR is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a ZIP. 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 TAR files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate ZIP 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.