TAR File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
Format Name TAR (Tape Archive)
File Extension .tar
MIME Type application/x-tar
File Type Archive
Binary/Text Binary
Developed by AT&T Bell Laboratories
Introduction Year 1979
Primary Usage File archiving and compression
Maximum Archive Size Depends on the filesystem maximum file size (practically unlimited)
Compression Support Archive only, compression through other tools (gzip, bzip2, etc.)
Multi-Volume Archive Support Yes
Checksum for Data Integrity Header checksum for error detection
Archive Encryption No native support, encryption through external tools
File System Support Stores file system metadata (permissions, timestamps, etc.)
Encoding Schemes Supports various encoding schemes through external tools
File Spanning Yes, can span across multiple volumes
Platform Compatibility Unix/Linux, Windows (with third-party software), and other systems
Advantages Simple format, wide support, preserves Unix file system metadata
Disadvantages No built-in compression or encryption
Common Tools tar (Unix/Linux), 7-Zip, WinRAR (Windows)
Typical Use Cases Backup, software distribution, file archiving