TXZ to ZIP Converter
FileFlip converts TXZ to ZIP 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 TXZ file to ZIP?#
- Drop your TXZ 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 ZIP 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 ZIP file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting TXZ to ZIP lose quality?#
No. Converting TXZ to ZIP 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 TXZ files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts TXZ 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 TXZ to ZIP actually does to the file#
Converting TXZ to ZIP 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, and drops file timestamps and file permissions.
| Engine | libarchive |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | 2 steps: TXZ → the unpacked files → ZIP |
| 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 | On the page's own thread, so a very large file will make the tab wait |
What survives the conversion
| What is in the file | This conversion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| File contents | Kept | Carried through into the converted file. |
| File timestamps | Dropped | The target format has nowhere to put it. |
| File permissions | Dropped | The target format has nowhere to put it. |
Worth knowing before you start:
- the built-in ZIP and TAR writer records no timestamps, permissions, or ownership
- every entry is extracted into memory before anything is written, so a very large archive can exhaust it
- this conversion runs on the page's own thread, so a large file will freeze the tab while it works
What is a TXZ file?#
A TXZ file is a TAR archive compressed as one xz stream under a single extension, combining tar's metadata-preserving bundling with the strongest general-purpose compression ratio of the tar pairings offered here.
Use TXZ for a source release or package where the smallest possible download size is worth slower compression.
Convert TXZ to TGZ when a tool in the chain only understands gzip, still the most universally supported tar compressor.
What is a ZIP file?#
A ZIP file is a container introduced by PKWARE in 1989 that holds any number of files and folders, each one compressed and stored as its own separate entry alongside a central directory listing them.
Use ZIP when the archive has to open on any device without the recipient installing anything, or when individual files need to be pulled out rather than the whole archive at once.
Convert away from ZIP when the same files need to be smaller for storage or transfer, since 7z or xz's solid compression usually beats it at the cost of that per-file random access.
TXZ to ZIP questions people ask#
Is TXZ smaller than TGZ or TBZ2?
Usually yes. xz's LZMA2 compression typically beats both gzip and bzip2 on the same data, so a TXZ archive is usually the smallest of the three tar-plus-compressor combinations, though it also takes the longest to create.
What's the difference between .tar.xz and .txz?
Nothing; TXZ is a tar archive compressed with xz, the same content as a file named .tar.xz, just written with one extension instead of two.
Why would software distribute a TXZ instead of just an XZ file?
XZ alone only compresses a single file or stream, so packaging an entire directory tree with permissions and structure intact requires tar first; TXZ is that tar archive compressed with xz in one step.
Why can I open one file from a ZIP without extracting the whole thing?
A ZIP archive compresses each file inside it separately and lists them in a central directory at the end, so a tool can jump straight to one entry and decompress only that file. Formats like TAR.GZ compress everything as one continuous stream and don't have this shortcut.