txz

TXZ is a filename extension used for tar archives that have been compressed with the XZ compression algorithm. It is a shorthand variant of tar.xz, reflecting a tar archive stored in a single compressed file. The .txz form is common on some Unix-like systems and packaging ecosystems, although some environments prefer the more explicit .tar.xz extension.

A tar archive aggregates multiple files and directories into a single container while preserving metadata such as permissions and timestamps. When this tar container is compressed with XZ, the resulting file becomes smaller and is often named with the .txz extension. The .tar.xz extension is also used in other contexts, but .txz is a widely seen alternative.

Creation and extraction are typically done with the tar utility. To create a txz, a common command is tar -cJf archive.txz directory/ or tar --create --xz -f archive.txz directory/. To extract, use tar -xJf archive.txz; to list contents without extracting, tar -tvJf archive.txz. The exact options may vary slightly across tar implementations, but -J or --xz denotes XZ compression.

TXZ is commonly used on Unix-like systems for distributing source code, software packages, or backup archives. XZ compression generally offers higher compression ratios at the cost of CPU time, making txz suitable where disk space is more constrained than CPU resources. Windows and other platforms can access txz files using tools such as 7-zip, WinRAR, or compatible tar implementations.

See also: tar, xz, tar.xz, tgz, tarball.