Browse Tools Top 100
BZ2 TAR
Free online converter

Convert BZ2 to TAR

Convert now
BZ2 to TAR converterFREE
Drop a .BZ2 file here
or pick one - we convert it to .TAR and give you the file to download

On this page

Tested on macOS, Windows & Linux
Last verified Oct 2026

More free converters

HEIC, PNG, WEBP, MP3 and more - every tool here is free.

Open the toolbox

How to convert BZ2 to TAR

  1. Add your .BZ2 file - drop it in the box above or click to browse.
  2. Convert it to .TAR in a few seconds.
  3. Download your new .TAR file.

What to expect

  • A bare .bz2 that is not a tarball contains exactly one file - decompressing it gives you that file, not a .tar.
  • The output .tar is completely uncompressed; it can be much larger on disk than the original .tar.bz2, so check available space before converting large archives.
  • bunzip2 removes the source file after decompressing by default; use bunzip2 --keep file.tar.bz2 to preserve the original.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a `.tar` without extracting all the files inside?
Yes - bunzip2 file.tar.bz2 and 7-Zip's single-layer extract both stop at the .tar without unpacking its contents.
Does the `.tar` keep file names, permissions, and directory structure?
Yes. The .tar inside a .tar.bz2 stores all metadata - paths, Unix permissions, symlinks, and timestamps - none of which is affected by removing the bzip2 wrapper.
What if my file ends in `.bz2` only, not `.tar.bz2`?
Run bunzip2 file.bz2 to get the decompressed file. There is no .tar layer unless the original was a tarball.
Are `.tar.bz2` and `.tbz2` the same format?
Yes - .tbz2 and .tbz are shorthand for .tar.bz2; both are a .tar archive wrapped in bzip2 compression.
Learn about the formats: .BZ2 · .TAR