ZIP to TAR Converter
Convert ZIP to TAR online for free. Fast, secure archive conversion that preserves folder structure and file integrity. No software installation required.
Up to 50 MB per file. Sign up free to convert files up to 100 MB.
| File name | Size | Convert to |
|---|
Checking files and selected output formats.
ZIP to TAR: universal format to Unix archive
TAR is the native archiving format for Unix/Linux systems, preserving Unix file permissions, symbolic links, and ownership metadata that ZIP handles inconsistently. A bare TAR file is uncompressed, the conversion extracts files from the ZIP and concatenates them into a TAR stream with appropriate header blocks. The result is typically larger than the ZIP source since DEFLATE compression is removed. Pair with gzip (tar.gz) or xz for compression.
Convert ZIP to TAR for Linux/Unix deployment workflows, Docker image layers, and software distribution on Unix platforms. TAR preserves Unix permissions and symlinks that ZIP may mangle. Compress the result with gzip or xz for efficient storage.
ZIP vs TAR: Side-by-side
Technical comparison of the two formats, useful for deciding which to use, or for confirming what changes during conversion.
| Property | ZIP | TAR |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | ZIP Archive | Tape Archive |
| Year introduced | 1989 | 1979 |
| Developer / standard body | PKWARE (Phil Katz) | AT&T Unix |
| MIME type | application/zip | application/x-tar |
| File extension | .zip | .tar |
| Compression | DEFLATE (typically) | None (often paired with gzip to make .tar.gz) |
| Color / data depth | N/A | N/A |
| Max dimensions / size | 4 GB per file (ZIP64 extension lifts this) | 8 EB file size |
| Transparency | No | No |
| Animation | No | No |
| Standard / specification | PKWARE APPNOTE / IETF RFC 1951 | POSIX / IEEE 1003.1 |
| Best for | Universal archives, opens natively on Windows, macOS, Linux | Unix / Linux backups, source-code distribution |