Compress and Extract Files

Same handful of tasks — compress, list contents, extract, extract one file, password-protect — done with whichever archiver you’ve got or the target format requires. Each tool’s own flags and quirks live on its own page; this hub just frames the task and links out.

Compress a folder

• tar — the Unix-native default, no built-in compression on its own (paired with gzip/bzip2/xz in practice).
• tar.gz — tar plus gzip, the common compressed tarball.
• zip — cross-platform, what most non-Unix tools expect.
• 7zip — best compression ratio, native .7z format, can also read/write .zip.

List an archive’s contents without extracting

Every tool supports this — see each page’s “Show Files” section: tar, zip, 7zip.

Search inside an archive without extracting

Stream the contents to grep, or use rga/zipgrep — see Search Inside Archives.

Extract everything, or just one file

All three support extracting to a specific location and pulling a single named file out of the archive without unpacking the rest — see each page’s “Extract” sections.

Password-protect an archive

tar has no native encryption — pipe through gpg or openssl instead if you need this with tar. zip and 7zip both support a -e/-p password flag directly — see their “Zip with Password” / “Compress with Password” sections.

Which one should I actually use?

• Sending a file to someone on Windows who’ll just double-click it → zip.
• Best compression ratio, don’t care about cross-tool compatibility → 7zip.
• Working entirely within Unix tooling, piping to/from other commands → tar.