Common Linux Compression and Archiving Tools: Commands and Usage

This article summarizes the common compression tools available on Linux— zip , gzip , bzip2 , xz —and the tar archiving command, covering their basic commands, special parameters, and how to combine them for packaging and compression.

The primary compression commands and their associated file extensions are:

zip → .zip

gzip → .gz

bzip2 → .bz2

xz → .xz

Packaging commands include tar (producing .tar ) and its combinations with compression formats, such as .tar.gz / .tgz , .tar.bz2 , and .tar.xz . The compression ratio is calculated as (compressed size) / (original size).

Note that gzip , bzip2 , and xz can only compress single files; to compress directories you must use tar together with one of these tools or use zip , which can handle directories directly.

gzip

gzip compresses a file in place, creating <file_name>.gz . Use the -v flag to display the compression ratio.

gzip -v <file_name>

Decompress with:

gzip -d <file_name>.gz

gunzip <file_name>.gz

bzip2

bzip2 also compresses in place, producing <file_name>.bz2 . The -v flag shows the compression ratio.

bzip2 -v <file_name>

Decompress with:

bzip2 -d <file_name>.bz2

bunzip2 <file_name>.bz2

xz

xz compresses in place, creating <file_name>.xz . Use -v to see the ratio and -l to list compression details.

xz -v <file_name>

xz -l <file_name>.xz

Decompress with:

xz -d <file_name>.xz

zip

zip does not overwrite the original files. To compress a single file:

zip <compressed>.zip <file_name>

To compress multiple files:

zip <compressed>.zip a.txt b.txt c.txt

To compress a directory recursively:

zip -r dir.zip <dir_name>

Decompress with:

unzip <compressed>.zip

tar

tar is a packaging command that can also compress when combined with gzip , bzip2 , or xz . Core options include:

-c : create archive

-t : list archive contents

-x : extract archive

-z : filter through gzip

-j : filter through bzip2

-J : filter through xz

-f : specify archive file name

-v : verbose output

-C : change to directory before extracting

Examples:

tar -cvf target.tar a.txt b.txt c.txt

tar -cvf target.tar dir1 dir2

tar -cvf target.tar dir1 dir2 a.txt b.txt

Pack and compress with gzip :

tar -cvz -f target.tar.gz dir1 dir2 a.txt

Pack and compress with bzip2 :

tar -cvj -f target.tar.bz2 dir1 dir2 a.txt

Pack and compress with xz :

tar -cvJ -f target.tar.xz dir1 dir2 a.txt

List contents:

tar -tvz -f target.tar.gz

tar -tvJ -f target.tar.xz

Extract:

tar -xvz -f target.tar.gz

Extract to a specific directory using -C :

tar -xvz -f target.tar.gz -C ~/test

In summary, tar can bundle any files or directories into a single archive; by default extraction dumps the contents into the current directory, but the -C option allows extraction to a chosen path.