DEB to TAR.Z (TZ) Converter
Convert your deb files to tar.z online & free
deb
tar.z
How to convert DEB to TAR.Z
Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.
Choose tar.z or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)
Let the file convert and you can download your tar.z file right afterwards
About formats
DEB is the software package format used by the Debian) project and its numerous derivatives, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and other Debian-based Linux distributions. Created alongside the Debian project's founding in August 1993, the format packages compiled software binaries, configuration files, documentation, and installation scripts into a structured archive for automated software management. A DEB file is actually an ar archive containing three members: debian-binary (a text file with the format version), control.tar (metadata including package name, version, dependencies, maintainer scripts), and data.tar (the actual files to install, compressed with gzip, xz, or zstd). The dpkg tool and higher-level package managers like APT handle DEB installation, dependency resolution, upgrades, and removal. One advantage is the sophisticated dependency system — DEB packages declare precise relationships (depends, recommends, suggests, conflicts, replaces) enabling APT to automatically resolve and install entire dependency chains from repositories. The maintainer script system is another strength, allowing packages to execute pre/post installation and removal logic for tasks like creating system users, initializing databases, or registering services. With Debian and Ubuntu powering a substantial share of servers, desktops, and embedded Linux deployments worldwide, DEB is one of the two dominant Linux packaging formats alongside RPM.
TAR.Z is a compound archive format combining TAR) archiving with Unix compress, one of the earliest general-purpose data compression tools available on Unix systems. The compress utility, originally written by Spencer Thomas, Joe Orost, and others around 1985, implements adaptive LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) compression — a dictionary-based algorithm that builds a translation table during compression and decompression. The TAR layer bundles files with full Unix metadata into a single stream, and compress reduces the stream size typically by 40-60%. TAR.Z was the standard compressed archive format on Unix systems throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, before gzip emerged as a patent-free replacement. The LZW algorithm used by compress) was subject to patent claims by Unisys (holders of the LZW patent through Sperry), which motivated the development of gzip as an unencumbered alternative. One advantage is universal legacy compatibility — TAR.Z files can be extracted on any Unix system, including very old installations where newer compression tools may not be available. The format's historical ubiquity means that decades of archived software, documentation, and system backups exist as TAR.Z files. While TAR.GZ and TAR.XZ have replaced TAR.Z for new archives, the uncompress/zcat tools remain standard on all Unix-like systems, ensuring continued accessibility of legacy archives.