File extension TGZ is used for files archived in TAR format and compressed in GZIP format. A TGZ sample file is provided. Free software for creating and opening TGZ files are listed.

File Extension: .TGZ, .TAR.GZ

MIME Type: application/x-gzip

File Content: Archive and compressed files

What is TGZ? TGZ is a file extension for files that are first archived in TAR format, then compressed in GZIP format. TGZ files sometimes have .tar.gz extension.

Some technical notes on TGZ file format:

• TGZ is not a new file format, because a TGZ file is really a normal GZIP file, except that the compressed file is a TAR file.
• A TGZ file is created by first archiving all source files into a TAR file. The TAR file is then compressed into a GZIP file to produce the final TGZ file.
• To extract a TGZ file, a GZIP decompression tool should be used to restore the TAR file, which is then unpacked with a TAR extraction tool.

TGZ files are binary files. Here are the first 64 bytes of a sample TGZ file dumped in HEX values:

1f 8b 08 08 6a 99 85 47 00 00 73 61 6d 70 6c 65 ....j..G..sample
2e 74 61 72 00 ed 7c 0f 78 53 d7 75 f8 d5 1f 07 .tar....xS.u....
01 36 12 ad 0d 6e 62 12 91 40 31 60 8c 41 86 e0 .6...nb...1..A..
08 27 76 b0 8c 69 2c 10 c8 d8 78 fc 71 84 24 f3 ..v..i....x.q...

The magic number of a TGZ file is the same as a GZIP file, "0x1f8b".

TGZ sample file: Click sample.tgz to download.

TGZ files can be created and extracted by free archive software:

• GNU Project - tar - Creates and extracts TAR files. An open source software.
• gzip and gunzip - Creates and decompresses GZIP files. An open source software.
• WinRAR - Extracts TGZ files. A shareware.