DEB to GZ Converter
FileFlip converts DEB to GZ entirely inside your browser, using libarchive compiled to WebAssembly. The file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. That means no file-size limit, no queue and no account.
How do I convert a DEB file to GZ?#
- Drop your DEB file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer. You can add as many as you like.
- Leave the target set to GZ and the conversion starts on its own. FileFlip downloads 1.0 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, then runs libarchive on your own machine.
- Save the GZ file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting DEB to GZ lose quality?#
No. Converting DEB to GZ does not touch the files inside the archive. Each member is read out and written back byte for byte, so only the wrapper around them changes and nothing is recompressed.
Is it safe to convert DEB files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts DEB files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What DEB to GZ actually does to the file#
Converting DEB to GZ runs on libarchive, downloads 1.0 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, copies the archived files through unchanged, keeps file contents.
| Engine | libarchive |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | 2 steps: DEB → the unpacked files → GZ |
| Downloaded to your browser | 1.0 MB, once, then cached by your browser |
| Quality | Lossless, contents copied unchanged |
| You get back | One file |
| Where it runs | In a background worker, so the page stays responsive |
What survives the conversion
| What is in the file | This conversion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| File contents | Kept | Carried through into the converted file. |
| File timestamps | Sometimes | Survives for some files and not others. |
| File permissions | Sometimes | Survives for some files and not others. |
Worth knowing before you start:
- the output is a PAX tar archive inside the compressor, not a single compressed stream
- every entry is extracted into memory before anything is written, so a very large archive can exhaust it
What is a DEB file?#
A DEB file is a Debian package: an ar archive containing a debian-binary version marker, a control.tar of package metadata and maintainer scripts, and a data.tar of the files to install.
A .deb is the format to build or inspect when packaging software for Debian, Ubuntu or another Debian-derived distribution.
Convert or extract a .deb when only the files inside are needed, such as pulling a binary out without registering it in the package database, or when the target system uses RPM instead.
What is a GZ file?#
A GZ file wraps a single DEFLATE-compressed stream in a header that can carry the original filename and modification time, plus a trailing CRC-32 checksum, as defined in RFC 1952.
Use GZ to compress a single file quickly, especially one going over HTTP, where gzip decoding is effectively free.
Convert GZ to XZ when the same data needs to be as small as possible and slower compression is an acceptable cost.
DEB to GZ questions people ask#
How do I open a .deb file without installing it?
Running dpkg-deb --extract on a .deb file unpacks its data.tar contents to a folder without touching the package database, and dpkg-deb --control does the same for the metadata in control.tar. Both stop short of actually installing anything.
What's inside a .deb package?
A .deb file is an ar archive holding three parts: a debian-binary text file with the format version, a control.tar archive of package metadata and any install or remove scripts, and a data.tar archive of the actual files the package installs.
How do I install a .deb file?
sudo dpkg -i package.deb installs it directly, though dpkg does not resolve dependencies on its own, so a missing dependency needs a follow-up sudo apt --fix-broken install. Running sudo apt install ./package.deb instead handles both steps in one command.
Can I open a .deb file on Windows or macOS?
7-Zip on Windows can open a .deb because the format is just an ar archive underneath, letting you browse into its control.tar and data.tar. There is no equivalent built-in support on macOS, and installing the package itself only makes sense on a Debian-based Linux system regardless of platform.