TAR groups files, directories and metadata into one archive; a plain .tar is usually not compressed. It is common in Unix projects and backups. Fileso reads supported TAR variants and places their members into the destination folder.
Extract .tar in Fileso
- Save the complete archive somewhere Fileso can access. Keep all volumes together if the sender supplied several files.
- Tap the archive and choose View for a temporary extracted preview. To keep the result, choose Extract beside the original or Extract to Folder for another destination.
- Enter the original password if requested. Wait for the extraction task to finish before opening the destination.
- Check the folder tree and open a few files, including one near the end of a large archive, before removing the source.
Inspect the listing before sharing a TAR from an unfamiliar source. Paths, symbolic links and Unix permission data may not behave on iPhone exactly as on the system that created the archive. Extract to a new folder so similarly named files nearby remain easy to distinguish.
If extraction fails
If the file ends in .tar.gz or .tar.xz, it has an outer compression layer. Fileso can open supported wrappers and then the inner TAR, but a truncated outer stream will prevent the TAR listing from loading. Confirm the original filename and download size.
Common question
Is a TAR file the same as a ZIP file? No. TAR is an archive container; ZIP combines an archive structure with per-entry compression. A TAR may be compressed afterward by gzip, xz or another codec.
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