Open a .tar online
Open, browse, preview, or extract a .tar in your browser — no command line, no upload.
Drop your .tar anywhere on this page
Parsed entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
A .tar is a plain tarball — many files bundled into one stream with their folder structure and metadata, but no compression. It is the Unix-native packaging format (the ustar magic sits at byte 257), and on its own it is just a packager, not a shrinker. To use the files inside you open or extract it, and the usual way is the command line — tar -xf archive.tar. ZipTool does it in your browser: you drop the .tar on the page and it is parsed locally with nothing uploaded and nothing installed.
You open the page, drop the .tar onto it (or paste a direct URL), and the file tree renders locally — Unix file paths preserved. Browse the contents, search by name, and preview code, images, audio, video, and PDFs without unpacking anything to disk — then extract when you are ready. The parse runs entirely in your tab. For the background, see the tarball glossary entry.
What you can do with a tar here
One archive, three workflows — pick the one that matches what you need.
- Browse and preview — look inside the tarball without writing anything to disk. Click any entry to read source code with syntax highlighting, view images, or render a PDF.
- Extract — get the real files out. Use extract-all to write the original files to a folder you choose (Chrome/Edge) or download them as a bundle (Firefox/Safari).
- Search — filter the file tree by name across the whole archive to find one file without unpacking it.
.tar versus .tar.gz
A plain `.tar` is uncompressed — it bundles files but does not shrink them, so it is the same size as (or very slightly larger than) the original files. A `.tar.gz` is a tar bundle that was then run through gzip, which is the far more common form for downloads because it is much smaller. If your file is named .tar.gz or .tgz, you want open a .tar.gz online — the workflow is the same, it just adds an extra decompression layer.
Both are decoded client-side here. If you are not sure which you have, drop it on the page either way — ZipTool detects the format from the file's bytes, not its name.
How to open a .tar in your browser
No tar -xf, no terminal, no install. The browser parses the tarball locally.
- Go to ZipTool and drag the
.taronto the page (or use the file picker, or paste a URL). - The file tree opens on the left, with the archive's folder structure intact. Expand folders and search to jump to any entry.
- Click a file to preview it inline, or use extract-all to write everything to a folder.
- For the combined
.tar.gzcase, see how to open a tar.gz file; the plain-tar steps are identical minus the gzip layer.
Honest limits
A browser-based tar reader is simple and reliable, with a couple of boundaries.
- A .tar is uncompressed. If you expected a much smaller download, the file may actually be a
.tar.gz(see /tar-gz) or another compressed form. - Other compressors are out of scope here. A
.tar.xz,.tar.bz2, or.tar.zstuses a different compressor around the tar; ZipTool handles gzip (.tar.gz) natively but not xz/bzip2/zstd. Use the command line or a desktop tool for those. - Extract-to-folder needs Chrome or Edge. Writing a real directory tree uses the File System Access API, absent in Firefox and Safari; there you download the contents as a zip instead.
- Unix permissions are not restored on extraction. tar records file permissions and timestamps; the browser extractor writes the file contents and folder structure but does not replay Unix mode bits the way
tar -xpfwould.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a .tar file online?
Open the page and drop your .tar onto it. ZipTool parses the tarball in your browser — no terminal, no install, no upload. The file tree appears, and you can browse, search, preview, and extract the contents.
What is the difference between .tar and .tar.gz?
A .tar is uncompressed — it bundles files but does not shrink them. A .tar.gz is a tar bundle that was then gzipped, which is smaller and far more common for downloads. ZipTool opens both; if your file is .tar.gz or .tgz, see open a .tar.gz online.
Can I extract a tar without the command line?
Yes. ZipTool opens and extracts a .tar entirely in your browser with no install — drop the file on the page and use extract-all to write the files to a folder (Chrome/Edge) or download them as a zip (Firefox/Safari).
Do you upload my .tar file?
No. The tarball is parsed entirely in your browser; your contents are never sent to a server, never stored, and never handed to a third party. Confirm it in DevTools — the Network tab shows no upload — and by disconnecting from the internet after the page loads: browsing and previewing keep working.
Can it open .tar.xz or .tar.bz2?
Not on this page. ZipTool handles plain .tar and gzip-compressed .tar.gz natively, but xz, bzip2, and zstd wrappers are out of scope here. Use the command line (tar -xJf, tar -xjf) or a desktop tool for those.