Loona ZIP to TAR.GZ Converter - Turn a .zip into a .tar.gz Tarball
Deploying to a Linux server, feeding a Docker build, or handing files to a tool that expects a tarball? ZIP is the odd one out in that world - .tar.gz is the native tongue. This converter reads your ZIP in the browser, writes a spec-correct TAR archive and gzips it, all without uploading anything.
How to use the ZIP to TAR.GZ Converter
- Drop your .zip file onto the box above, or click it and pick the file from your device.
- Click Convert to TAR.GZ. The ZIP is read on your device, a TAR archive is written with the same paths, and gzip compresses it.
- Check the summary: number of files converted and the size of the new tarball.
- Click Download to save the .tar.gz file - tar -xzf opens it on any Linux or macOS system.
How it works
This page reads the ZIP with JSZip, then writes the contents out as a TAR archive using a spec-correct ustar writer built into the page: every file gets a 512-byte header block (name, size, mode, checksum, and a prefix field for long paths - with GNU longname entries for paths too long even for that), its contents padded to a 512-byte boundary, and two zero blocks to close the archive. The finished TAR is compressed with your browser's built-in gzip engine (the Compression Streams API). The output was verified against Python's tarfile module and GNU tar conventions during testing - it is a real tarball, not a renamed ZIP.
Worked example
You have site-assets.zip (12 MB, 240 files) to upload to a Linux VPS whose deploy script runs tar -xzf. Converted here, you get site-assets.tar.gz (11.6 MB) with the same 240 files at the same paths and their ZIP timestamps kept. The server extracts it exactly as if the tarball had been created on Linux.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this ZIP to TAR.GZ converter free?
Yes - free, no sign-up, no limits and no watermarks.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. JSZip reads the ZIP, the TAR is written by code in this page, and gzip is done by your browser's built-in engine. Everything stays on your device.
Will GNU tar and Linux tools accept the output?
Yes. The TAR writer follows the ustar specification - correct header checksums, octal size fields, ustar prefix splitting for long paths and GNU longname entries when a path exceeds even that - and the result was test-verified by reading it back with Python's tarfile module.
Are file timestamps and permissions preserved?
Timestamps stored in the ZIP are carried into the TAR headers. Permissions are written as standard defaults (files 0644, folders 0755), because ZIP does not reliably store Unix permissions - if you need exact modes, set them after extraction with chmod.
Why not convert to plain .tar instead?
A plain TAR is uncompressed, so it would be roughly the size of all the files added together. .tar.gz is what Linux tooling expects and stays close to the ZIP's size. For a plain TAR of loose files, use the TAR File Creator.