A .tar.bz2 file is a TAR archive, compressed with a Burrows-Wheeler (BZ2) compression algorithm, along with Run-Length Encoding (RLE) for better compression. Most commonly, this file format is used for distributing software packages on Unix based operating systems like Linux. Reading or extracting files from a tar.bz2 archive is much easier with the new WinZip developed by Corel.
How to open TAR-BZ2 files
Save the .tar.bz2 file to the desktop. If your compressed file was downloaded from a website, it may be saved in the Downloads folder in your Documents or user directory.
Launch WinZip from your start menu or Desktop shortcut. Open the compressed file by clicking File > Open. If your system has the compressed file extension associated with WinZip program, just double-click on the file.
Select all the files and folders inside the compressed file. Or multi-select only the files or folders you want to open by holding the CTRL key and left-clicking on them.
Click 1-click Unzip and choose Unzip to PC or Cloud in the WinZip toolbar under the Unzip/Share tab.
Choose the destination folder to place the extracting files and click "Unzip" button.
Find your extracted files in the destination folder.
Open TAR-BZ2 files on Windows or Mac
WinZip 25
Windows 10
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Internet Explorer 8 or later
WinZip Mac 8
Mac OS X 10.8, 10.9, or 10.10
Intel 64-bit processor
Supports Apple Retina Displays
WinZip opens and extracts TAR-BZ2 Compressed Archive Files—and many more formats
We designed WinZip to open and extract from the widest range of file formats, including all of the following:
Get WinZip now to open your TAR-BZ2 file(s), then enjoy all that the world's most popular compression utility has to offer, including the easiest and most practical file compression, encryption, packaging, file management and data backup capabilities.