tar - compress/uncompress files

tar stands for tape archive.

We can use the tar command to create, compressed, or uncompressed Archive files, and also maintain/modify them.

Archive files are used to collect multiple data files together into a single file for easier portability and storage, or simply to compress files to use less storage space.

Example of opening tar files:

tar xvf file.tar

Example of creating tar files:

tar cvf file.tar file

gzip compression on the tar Archive

tar cvzf folder.tar.gz folder # Creating tar

tar xvzf folder.tar.gz # Extract tar 

bzip2 compression on tar Archive

tar cfvj folder.tar.bz2 folder # Creating tar

tar xvjf folder.tar.bz2 # Extract tar