TXZ File Format (.txz)
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.
TXZ at a glance#
| Full name | xz compressed tarball |
|---|---|
| File extension | .txz |
| Category | Archives |
| MIME types | application/x-xz-compressed-tar |
| Other extensions | .tar.xz |
| Compression | Lossless |
| FileFlip support | FileFlip reads and writes this format |
What a .txz file can hold#
These are the things a TXZ file either supports or does not, and they are what decides whether a conversion keeps everything or quietly drops something.
| Embedded metadata | Yes |
|---|---|
| Streaming | Yes |
Strengths and limitations of TXZ#
What TXZ does well
- Usually the smallest of the tar-plus-compressor combinations, beating both TGZ and TBZ2 on the same files
Where TXZ falls short
- Same solid-stream extraction tradeoff as TGZ and TBZ2: pulling one file out still means decompressing everything before it
- Building or extracting a large txz is markedly more CPU-intensive than TGZ
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.
How to open a .txz file#
A .txz file opens in the programs below, grouped by the platform you are on. If you would rather not install anything, FileFlip converts TXZ into a format your machine already opens, and it does it in the browser tab rather than on a server.
| Platform | Programs that open it |
|---|---|
| Windows | 7-Zip, WinRAR |
| macOS | Archive Utility |
| Linux | Archive Manager (File Roller), tar (terminal) |
| Web | FileFlip |
TXZ questions people ask#
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.
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.
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.
Converting TXZ files#
Convert TXZ to another format
Convert another format to TXZ
Every conversion runs inside your browser. The file is read from your disk, the work happens on your own machine, and nothing is uploaded. How FileFlip works names the engine behind each family and how to verify that for yourself.