# Many Files as One: tar and zip An archive packs a whole folder into one file you can send, back up or download; tar -czf makes a .tar.gz, tar -tzf lists one, tar -xzf unpacks it, and zip makes the .zip files any computer opens. Apprentice · Unix · Linux · Updated November 10, 2026 ## After this lesson you can - Pack a folder with tar -czf, and list or unpack a .tar.gz with tar -tzf and tar -xzf - Choose tar or zip for an archive, and make a .zip with zip -r ## Key takeaways - An archive is one file that holds many files and folders, usually squeezed smaller, like a vacuum-packed suitcase. - Read tar's letters aloud: -czf is create, zip, file; -tzf lists (t for table of contents); -xzf extracts. - The f comes last, right before the archive's name. tar -cfz makes an archive called z. - List an archive before you unpack it. Unpacking puts its files in the folder you're in and replaces any with the same names. - zip -r makes a .zip that opens with a double-click on Windows and macOS; unzip -l lists one and unzip unpacks it. Diego is coming on the trip, and he needs the tickets and the hotel booking from your documents folder. You can't attach a folder to an email or a chat message, and sending seven files one at a time is how one gets left behind. You already use the answer whenever you click **Download ZIP** on GitHub: an archive, a whole folder in one file. Developers meet archives every day, in backups, in software downloads, and in every website they send to a server. These examples use the packing folder from *What's Filling My Disk? du and df*. Go into it with `cd ~/terminal-practice/packing`. ## One file instead of many Packing for a trip, you put everything in one suitcase, and squeeze the clothes in a vacuum bag so they take less room. An **archive** is the suitcase: one file that holds many files and folders, names and folder structure included. **Compression** is the vacuum bag: it makes the file smaller. `tar` (from *tape archive*, from the days when backups went on tape) packs a folder: ```bash tar -czf trip-documents.tar.gz documents ls ``` ```text documents music packing-list.txt photos trip-documents.tar.gz videos ``` Read the letters aloud: `c` *create*, `z` *zip it smaller* (with a tool called gzip), `f` *file*: the archive's name comes next. Then the folder to pack. The name ends in `.tar.gz`: a tar archive, gzipped. The `f` must come last, because the very next word is the archive's name. Swap the letters and tar takes the wrong word as the name: ```bash tar -cfz oops.tar.gz documents ``` ```text tar: oops.tar.gz: Cannot stat: No such file or directory tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors ``` tar named the archive `z` and went looking for a file called `oops.tar.gz` to pack. If you tried it, delete the stray `z` with `rm z`. (These are Ubuntu's messages; a Mac words them differently, and the letters work the same there.) ## Look before you unpack `t` lists what's inside, like a *table of contents*: ```bash tar -tzf trip-documents.tar.gz ``` ```text documents/ documents/2026/ documents/2026/summer-trip/ documents/2026/summer-trip/hotel.txt documents/2026/summer-trip/tickets/ documents/2026/summer-trip/tickets/flight.txt documents/2026/summer-trip/tickets/train.txt ``` ![The documents folder, with its four folders and three files, packed by tar -czf into one file, trip-documents.tar.gz; tar -tzf reads its list of names without opening it; and tar -xzf unpacks the same folders and files into the folder you're in](https://fsdtrainingmedia.blob.core.windows.net/public/images/2026/11/6906bb9db9d54409a6f7cbfabd93b946.webp) Names ending in `/` are folders. Everything sits inside one `documents/` folder, so unpacking makes one folder and nothing spills out. That's why you look first: tar unpacks into the folder you're in, and replaces any file with the same name without asking. So unpack into a new, empty folder. `x` is for *extract*: ```bash mkdir unpacked cd unpacked tar -xzf ../trip-documents.tar.gz ls ls documents/2026/summer-trip cd .. ``` ```text documents hotel.txt tickets ``` `../trip-documents.tar.gz` is the archive one folder up. Unpacking copies files out of it; the archive itself stays as it was. ## What shrinks and what doesn't ```bash ls -lh trip-documents.tar.gz tar -czf photos.tar.gz photos ls -lh photos.tar.gz du -sh photos ``` ```text -rw-r--r-- 1 sam sam 348 Nov 9 04:01 trip-documents.tar.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 sam sam 7.7M Nov 9 04:01 photos.tar.gz 7.7M photos ``` The whole documents folder fits in 348 bytes, because text squeezes well. The photos are 7.7M before and after: photos, videos and music are already compressed by the camera or the app, and the stand-ins are random bytes, which don't squeeze either. Packing photos gives you one file to send, not a smaller one. Your sizes may differ by a few bytes. ## zip: for anyone, on any computer A `.tar.gz` is at home on Linux and on a Mac. For a friend on Windows, or anyone who'll double-click it, send a `.zip`: Windows and macOS both open one without extra software. `zip -r` packs a folder (`r` for *recursive*, the folder and everything in it, as in `cp -r`), with the archive's name first and then what to pack: ```bash zip -r photos-to-share.zip photos ``` ```text Command 'zip' not found, but can be installed with: sudo apt install zip ``` That's Ubuntu telling you `zip` isn't installed yet, which is common, and giving you the line that installs it. Run that line (`sudo` asks for your password; *Installing Tools: Homebrew and apt*, in Module 4, explains it), then the `zip` line again. It prints one line for each folder and file as it adds them. A Mac has `zip` and `unzip` already. The other direction has the same habit, list first: `unzip -l photos-to-share.zip` lists what's inside (`-l` for *list*), and `unzip photos-to-share.zip -d from-sam` unpacks it into a new folder called `from-sam`. Which one to send? A `.zip` for sharing with anyone, on any computer. A `.tar.gz` for backups, Linux servers and software downloads, where it's the usual choice. ## Check yourself 2 questions to try on the lesson page. ## So what A whole folder becomes one file you can email, download or keep as a backup, and you can always look inside before you let it unpack. ## Key terms - [tar](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/tar) - [zip and unzip](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/zip-and-unzip) - [Archive](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/archive) - [Compression](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/compression) ## Cheat sheets - [Many Files as One: tar and zip](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/bash-archives-cheat-sheet) ## Related - [What's Filling My Disk? du and df](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-disk-space) - [Shortcuts to Files: ln -s](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-symbolic-links) - [Copy, Move and Rename: cp and mv](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-copy-move-rename) Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/bash-archives