Is there a simple method of converting a tar.xz into a tar.gz from the terminal? Maybe there is a free application that I can download that someone here is aware of? I would rather not use online converters... not sure why but I dont trust them lol.

Is there some reason you don't just run "xz -d <file>.tar.gz && gzip *.tar"? Or just uncompress the file, and re-compress it with "tar xvfz"???

Well I am working with a make file designed to unpack .gz files and my C/Makefile skills are almost non-existent.

This makes no sense.


tar does not need any flags to create the proper zipped file type, it will detect based on the filename extension.


tar will not block you for different file types, it will contend with the files based on their extensions.


What I mean is/are:Recommend you just use the tar command in your Makefile.

I mean if you dont know the answer to the question that's fine. Anyone else know?

Why doesn't the command suggested by TB0ne work for you? Have you not tried it? Or better yet, if you've tried and it doesn't work, what is the continued problem?We most certainly know plenty of things, please try not be taunt other users, we don't know exactly what you're trying to do.And also realize that there are many different ways to do the same thing.Perhaps you ought to be more direct and post representative code from your Makefile, and then say exactly something like, "I have <this> and I need it to be converted to <that>"

Once again, tar will unpack gz files, why don't you try it?

Perhaps where you can benefit from is a description about how to include a call to tar from within your Makefile. Because that is exactly what can be done.

That's the problem. Why are we wasting time trying to figure out my motivations for wanting to convert a file type? All I want to know is if there is a simple command, method or application for converting a tar.gz into a tar.xz.

OK, sorry for wasting your time.


There is no one, simple command.


There is no application which will do this in one call.


The only method I know of is exactly what TB0ne suggested.

in general it is a two-step process.
1. uncompress gz (or xz) - to create a tar
2. compress tar with gzip or xz or whatever you wish.

gz can be created by gzip and uncompressed by gunzip (or gzip -d) - see man page about usage
xz - again see man page about usage

You were given the answer. And as was said...your post makes no sense, in the context in which you framed it. You said:
...indicating you're developing/deploying software, you have some knowledge of C/Makefile, and you ALREADY know how to unpack a .gz file. Seems very odd, then, that you can't use another command, read a man page on the xz, gzip, or tar commands. Specifically, "tar -cJF", which extracts a .tar.xz file, providing you have the xz-utils installed.

We don't know your skill level, or what you've done/tried unless you tell us and provide details. You asked a question, and I gave you an exact answer. Whether you know how to use it past that point is unknown.

He didn't suggest a method for changing the file types. He suggested a method for unpacking tar files.

No offense but you sound as if you're objecting merely for the sake of raising an objection.


There is no known method to directly convert.


Since you seem to be developing code, perhaps you can write some which will fulfill this functional need you have and then you can share that as a contribution for the community at large.


Sorry, but at present the only way to perform what you wish to accomplish would be to extract the files from the first file and then repack them into a newly created archive file of your desired format.

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Ah I see, are you aware of any applications out there which I can just upload a tar.gz and it will output a tar.xz for me?

no, but you can implement a tool (shell script) in 5 minutes yourself.

I have never written a shell script lol so I doubt that. How might I go about it?