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BACKUP1 TAR
File conversion

Convert BACKUP1 to TAR

Verified by Adam B.· reviewed by FE Editorial ·updated Aug 24, 2026
QUICK ANSWER
Is it possible to convert BACKUP1 to TAR?
Yes - BACKUP1 converts to TAR.

A .backup1 is a 2GB slice of a raw ext4 image, not itself an archive. First cat the parts into one .img, mount that ext4 image, then create a fresh .tar from the mounted files. There is no one-step converter because the two formats store data completely differently.

Also to TAR: EXPRESS · ZST · Z

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Tested on macOS, Windows & Linux
Last verified Sep 2026

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Why convert BACKUP1 to TAR?

A .tar is a portable, browsable archive, whereas the backup is a raw block image. People repackage to .tar to move just the files off the device image without keeping a multi-gigabyte raw dump.

How to convert BACKUP1 to TAR

cat + mount + GNU tar FREE

Rebuild the image with cat *.backup* > userdata.img, mount it (sudo mount -o loop,ro userdata.img /mnt), then archive the contents: tar -cf userdata.tar -C /mnt .

gunzip (gzip) OPEN-SOURCE

If a rejoined part turns out to be gzip-compressed, decompress it first with gunzip userdata.img.gz before mounting and running tar.

About these formats

.BACKUP1 Split Android Recovery Backup File (part 2)

A .backup1 file is the second part of a split backup created by an Android phone or tablet in System Recovery Mode. When the userdata backup is larger than about 2GB, the recovery splits it…

Open .BACKUP1 details →
.TAR Tape Archive

A TAR file (also called a tarball) bundles files and folders into one archive but does not compress them. That is why you almost always see it as .tar.gz or .tgz, with gzip added on top. On…

Open .TAR details →

Quality & what to watch

  • This is a two-stage process; the parts are a raw image, so you must rebuild and mount it before any archive can be made.
  • Mounting ext4 read-write from another OS risks corruption - always mount read-only when just extracting files.
  • File ownership, permissions and symlinks are only preserved if you run tar with root privileges on the mounted image.

Frequently asked questions

Can I turn `.backup1` straight into a `.tar`?
No. You first join the parts into a raw .img, mount it, then create the .tar from the files inside.
Which OS makes this easiest?
Linux, because it can loop-mount ext4 natively; on Windows you would need WSL or a tool like DiskInternals Linux Reader.
Will the `.tar` be smaller than the image?
Usually yes, because a raw image includes empty space while the .tar holds only actual files. Add -z for a gzip-compressed .tar.gz.