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.gz

Low risk

GZIP compressed file

A gzip-compressed single file. Combined with tar it forms `.tar.gz`, the most common Linux distribution archive.

MIME types

  • application/gzip

Category

archive

Aliases

.gzip

What opens this file

  • gzip / gunzip
  • 7-Zip
  • The Unarchiver
  • tar -xzf

How to open by OS

Windows

  • 7-Zip is the reliable option. Windows 10 1803+ also handles it via tar.

Mac

  • Finder, or gunzip / tar on the CLI.

Linux

  • gzip, gunzip, and tar -xzf are standard.

Ios

  • Files.app can extract.

Android

  • ZArchiver.

Safety notes

  • gzip itself is simple, but crafted .tar.gz archives can create deeply nested directories that exhaust a filesystem on extraction (zip-bomb style).

Common mistakes

  • gz compresses a single file only — pair it with tar to bundle directories.
  • .tgz and .tar.gz are the same thing, just different naming conventions.

Related extensions

References