OPENING A TAR FILE ON MS COMPUTER?

On current versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11, no extra download is needed: Windows includes built‑in support for .tar files via the tar command and (on Windows 11, version 24H2) via File Explorer.

Option 1 – Use the built‑in tar command (Windows 10 and 11)

1. Press Windows + R, type cmd, and select OK.
2. Use cd to go to the folder that contains the .tar file. For example, if it is in Downloads:

      cd %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
   

3. Extract the .tar file with:

      tar -xvf YourFileName.tar
   

   Replace YourFileName.tar with the actual file name.

Windows’ tar can also handle .tar.gz, .zip, and .7z archives from the command line. For example:

# Extract
tar -xf archive.tar.gz

# Create a .tar.gz
tar -czf archive.tar.gz .\my-folder

# Create a .zip
tar -caf archive.zip .\my-folder

Option 2 – Use File Explorer (Windows 11, version 24H2) Windows 11, version 24H2 adds native support for TAR archives in File Explorer alongside ZIP, RAR, and 7z. On that version you can:

1. Right‑click the .tar file.
2. Choose Extract All… (or a similar extract option) to open it without installing anything.

Older Windows versions On older Windows versions that do not include tar or native TAR support, a third‑party application is required to open .tar files. Use a trusted tool found via a search such as how to extract tar in windows.

References:

• tar on Windows
• Export or delete your data in Microsoft Teams Free
• Zip and unzip files