tarbz2Archiven

Tarbz2Archiven are archive files created by applying bzip2 compression to a tar archive. They are commonly named with extensions such as .tar.bz2, .tbz2, or occasionally .tbz, and are widely used on Unix-like systems to package and compress multiple files into a single file.

All tar archives store a sequence of file entries, including metadata such as permissions, timestamps, and directory structure. When compressed with bzip2, the resulting tarbz2Archive compresses the tar stream, producing a single file that must be decompressed and untarred to recover the original contents.

Creation and extraction: To create a tarbz2Archive, a typical command is tar -cjf archive.tar.bz2 /path/to/files; to extract, tar -xjf archive.tar.bz2. Long-form equivalents are tar --create --bzip2 --file=archive.tar.bz2 /path and tar --extract --bzip2 --file=archive.tar.bz2. The -v option can be used to list files as they are processed.

Compatibility and performance: tarbz2Archiven are supported by GNU tar, BSD tar, and most Unix-like environments, and can be opened by many archive tools on Windows (such as 7-Zip and WinRAR). Bzip2 generally offers higher compression ratios than gzip but slower encoding and decoding, and it performs better on large text-based data than on already compressed files.

Alternatives and related formats: Similar archives exist with gzip compression (.tar.gz or .tgz) or with xz compression (.tar.xz). The choice depends on the desired balance of compatibility, speed, and compression ratio.

History: The tar archive format dates to early Unix usage, while bzip2 compression was introduced in the 1990s, making tar.bz2 a common combination for distribution and backups.