UnpackForge

Convert ZIP to TAR

Going the other way is less common but has real uses: Docker build contexts, some CI pipelines and older Unix tooling want a tar specifically, and a few systems refuse ZIP outright.

Each entry is inflated out of the ZIP and written into a freshly built USTAR archive. Paths too long for tar's 100-byte name field get a PAX extended header, which is the standard way to carry them rather than truncating.

The archive is read by code running in this tab. It is not uploaded, not queued on a server, and not seen by anyone but you — which also means there is no size limit imposed from outside, only what your own device can hold.

  1. Step 1Drop a .zip file.
  2. Step 2Review the entries — the ZIP central directory gives exact sizes, CRC-32 values and compression methods.
  3. Step 3Convert to TAR. The result is parsed back with the tar reader before download.

Drag archives here

.zip— or anything else, and the format will be identified from the file’s own bytes. Files stay on this device.

What this page will not do

Every limit below is a real one, checked against real archives. None of them are upsells — there is no paid tier, and nothing here gets better by signing in.

  • The tar is uncompressed, so it will be substantially larger than the ZIP. That is what tar is: a container, not a compressor. Gzip it afterwards if you need it smaller.
  • ZIP timestamps are preserved. ZIP's DOS timestamps have two-second resolution and no time zone; they are read as UTC, which is what every other tool does.
  • Unix mode bits recorded by ZIPs created on Unix are not carried over; entries are written with conventional 644/755 modes.
  • Encrypted ZIP entries need the password entered first — unlike RAR and 7z, ZIP decryption genuinely works here.

If it did not work

The .tar is far bigger than the .zip

Why: Correct behaviour — tar stores files uncompressed.

Do this: Run `gzip archive.tar` afterwards, or keep the ZIP if size is what matters.

A long path appears twice in `tar -tvf` output

Why: The PAX extended header is itself an entry, and some listings show it. The real path is in the PAX record.

Do this: Extract normally; GNU tar and bsdtar both resolve it to the single correct file.

Questions

Which tar flavour is produced?

USTAR, with PAX extended headers only where a path will not fit the standard fields. GNU tar, bsdtar and 7-Zip all read it.

Can I get a .tar.gz directly?

Not yet — this route produces a .tar. Compressing it afterwards is one command locally, and adding a half-working combined path would be worse than saying so.