How to Unzip a .gz File in Linux

Gzip is a common compression format used on Linux and other Unix-like systems.

Files compressed with gzip usually end with .gz or .z.

This article explains how to unzip a .gz file in Linux with gzip or gunzip, and how to extract .tar.gz archives with tar.

Unzipping a gz File #

On Linux and macOS, you can use the built-in gzip utility to decompress a .gz file.

Basic Syntax #

gzip -d file.gz

The command restores the compressed file to its original state and removes the .gz file after extraction.

Keep the Original .gz File #

If you want to decompress the file without deleting the original compressed file, use the -k option:

gzip -dk file.gz

Using gunzip #

Another command you can use to decompress a .gz file is gunzip . This command is a convenience alias for gzip -d.

To open a .gz file with gunzip, run:

gunzip file.gz

The command produces the uncompressed file and removes the .gz archive by default.

Extracting .gz Files Using a File Manager #

If you use a desktop environment and are not comfortable with the command line, you can use your file manager to extract .gz files.

To open (unzip) a .gz file, right-click on the file you want to decompress and select “Extract” (or a similar option, depending on your file manager).

Windows users need to install additional software such as 7-Zip to open .gz files.

Extracting a .tar.gz File #

The Gzip algorithm is designed to compress only a single file.

The tar file format allows you to combine multiple files into a single archive that can be compressed with the Gzip algorithm. This results in a compressed file that is smaller in size and easier to transfer or store.

Files ending in .tar.gz (or .tgz) are TAR archives compressed with gzip.

To extract a tar.gz file , use the tar command with the -xf option followed by the compressed archive name:

tar -xf archive.tar.gz

The command automatically detects the compression type and extracts the contents to the current working directory .

Conclusion #

You can unzip a .gz file in Linux with gzip -d or gunzip, and use gzip -dk when you want to keep the original archive. For .tar.gz files, use tar -xf to extract the archive contents.

About the authors

Dejan Panovski

Dejan Panovski is the founder of Linuxize, an RHCSA-certified Linux system administrator and DevOps engineer based in Skopje, Macedonia. Author of 800+ Linux tutorials with 20+ years of experience turning complex Linux tasks into clear, reliable guides.

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