Understanding File Extension TAR
File extensions are unnoticed yet are very crucial parts of the computer world. But many are still unaware of the basic foundation and principles behind the remarkable wonders of computers. One file extension you may overlook is File Extension TAR. File extension TAR is most commonly associated with an uncompressed archive created by the tar utility, and are most often found on UNIX-based operating systems. Files with File Extension TAR were originally developed for use with sequential backup systems such as tape. Whilst this allows the creation of TAR files from any stream of data input, it does mean that extracting single files is slow as the entire archive must be read through.
Files with File Extension TAR contain multiple files stored as one archive. They are simply a packaged file and folder structure, and as such can be used to store data of any kind. They contain backups of data or applications which have been packaged for distribution over a network, and whilst files within an archive are not run on extraction, caution should be used when opening archives from unknown sources as the contents could potentially be malicious. TAR files can be opened by the majority of archiving utilities such as WinZip, 7-Zip, WinACE and Stuffit, the latter of which is available on both the Windows and Mac platforms. Alternatively, a TAR file can be extracted on any UNIX-based system from a shell prompt using tar -xf, which will restore the original file and folder structure.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Computer Files. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
