How to Create Tarball & Compress to GZip Under Windows (.tar.gz)

I thought files with .tar.gz extension were just like compressed files with a .zip or .rar extension, but in fact they are a bit different.

.tar.gz are two extensions & not one, which means this kind of files are created using two processes (& probably two tools).

- The first process is for archiving one or more folders & files into one file, a Tarball file that has a .tar extension. Tarball files are not compressed.

- The second process will GZip (& compress) the Tarball file created in the first process. This will create a GZip file with .gz extension.

So if you use the first process on a folder called MyFolder, you will get a Tarball file called MyFolder.tar, now (to the 2nd process) you compress the file created using GZip & you get a file named MyFolder.tar.gz.

Why two processes & not one are used?

Because you can only GZip a single file, so if you have several files / folders, you have to first merge them to one Tarball file.

How to create a .tar.gz on Windows?

As I said that's a 2 processes task, there are several tools on the Internet, some for creating Tarball files & others to create GZip files.

But to do it most easily, you better download 7-Zip File Manager. This Open Source software has both tools to tarball & gzip & can also unpack archived & compressed files.

To use 7-Zip File Manager (after installation), just open it, browse to the place where your files / folders are, select them & hit the "Add" button on the top right. In "Archive format" select "Tar", then hit "OK".

Your .tar file was created, now select it & hit the "Add" button again; in "Archive format" select "GZip", choose your desired "Compression level" & hit "OK".

A tutorial with screenshots I used can be found HERE.