Introduction
TGZ (also known as TAR.GZ) is a file compression format used by Linux operating system. It uses TAR algorithm to combine multiple files into a single one, and GZ algorithm to compress them. Hence, the name, TAR.GZ, or TGZ for short. Its primary use is to distribute Linux software packages, though it is occasionally used for other purposes as well. There’s generally little reason to store your files in TGZ archives; other file formats, such as ZIP, are better suited for this purpose. So if you do have such archives, you probably should convert them to ZIP (do note that converting Linux app packages is not recommended). One way to accomplish this task is by using a TGZ to ZIP converter for Mac. But which one of these is the best? Read our article to find out.
What is the best TGZ to ZIP converter for Mac?
WinZip Mac
The best TGZ to ZIP converter on Mac is undoubtedly WinZip. It is a powerful archive manager program that is available on both Mac and Windows. It supports many archive file formats, including TGZ, and has many powerful features. It allows you to view files inside archives without extracting them, protect your archives with a password, and upload them into cloud. The Pro version also includes support for making file backups and automatically adding watermarks. But even if you aren’t interested in these features, you should know that WinZip Mac can be used to extract TGZ files and convert TGZ to ZIP. The process is both simple and fast, which is why WinZip is the best TGZ to ZIP converter for Mac.
Various online converters
There are several websites online that can convert TGZ to ZIP, and vice versa. We do not truly recommend any of them, as they have many issues. The most obvious one is privacy; any site that offers to convert your files may be secretly storing or analyzing them. Thus, you should not use these sites to convert archives containing sensitive data. The conversion will also take longer, especially if you have a slow internet connection.
Nonetheless, such converters still have their place; for example, if you just need to convert one file and don’t want to install any programs. Not all of them are trustworthy, but here’s a few that are more trustworthy than most.
Convertio
Convertio is a versatile converter website that can convert many files, TGZ and ZIP included. It can convert files located on your computer, as well as in your Dropbox and Google Drive accounts. It can also reverse the procedure by converting ZIP to TGZ. Despite all of this, Convertio is not very useful; free users are limited to converting files up to 100 MB in size, which is nothing when it comes to archives.
CloudConvert
CloudConvert is an alternative to Convertio that has several advantages. For one, it provides you with an option to specify the archive’s password, thus allowing you to convert encrypted archives. Additionally, it can be used to convert archives up to 1 GB in size, which is far better than Convertio’s restrictive limtation. It can convert ZIP to TGZ as well.
Converting the archive manually
One simple way to convert TGZ to ZIP on Mac, as well as on Windows, is to do it manually. That is to say, unpack your TGZ archive into a folder, then compress the resulting folder as a ZIP archive. Any specialized program will essentially perform the same steps, so it is not necessary to use a dedicated converter app.
Also, consider this: if you are trying to convert TGZ to ZIP so that you could extract it afterwards, creating a ZIP archive is not necessary at all. You can simply extract the TGZ file itself and be done with it.
Conclusion
The best TGZ to ZIP converter for Mac is a program called WinZip Mac. It works with other formats as well; for example, it can convert RAR to ZIP.
If you don’t want to install a program, you may use a website to convert TGZ to ZIP instead. However, these websites have limited functionality and obvious privacy issues. You may also convert your archives manually.
