Turn ZIP files into TAR
Turn your ZIP into a TAR. A TAR gathers a folder of files into one file, keeping names, folders and permissions intact. Your file never leaves your computer.
Need the other direction? Convert TAR to ZIP
How to convert ZIP to TAR
- 1 Drop your ZIP .zip file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Check the options. Nothing is thrown away on the way to TAR, 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 TAR, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert ZIP to TAR
- Preserves Unix permissions, ownership, links and timestamps exactly.
- Streams cleanly, so it can be piped without ever touching disk.
- Backups that must preserve permissions, ownership and symbolic links.
- ZIP: filenames and the directory listing stay readable even in an encrypted archive.
ZIP compared with TAR
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | ZIP | TAR |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .zip | .tar |
| Compression | Lossless | Uncompressed |
| Colour depth | DEFLATE per entry, with a central directory at the end | 512-byte headers, no compression, POSIX ustar and GNU variants |
| Typical file size | Larger | Largest |
| Introduced | 1989 | 1979 |
| Developed by | Phil Katz, PKWARE | AT&T Bell Labs, later POSIX |
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: TAR stores the data without compression, so expect a much larger file.
- One TAR limitation to keep in mind: no compression on its own, so it is almost always paired with gzip or xz.
Questions about ZIP to TAR
Can I open a TAR in a browser?
No. No mainstream browser renders TAR 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 ZIP file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your ZIP is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a TAR. 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 ZIP files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate TAR 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.