Open TAR.GZ Files on Android Online — Chrome, No App
Android's built-in file manager (Files by Google, Samsung My Files) handles ZIP archives natively, but .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.bz2, and .tar.xz files appear as unknown formats. The Play Store has archive apps that handle these formats, but they often require storage permissions and many are ad-supported.
FastZip runs in Chrome on Android — no app install, no Play Store visit, full TAR.GZ support.
Who typically needs TAR.GZ on Android:
- Developers using Android as a secondary device — Reviewing a project's source archive while away from a desktop
- Data scientists — Accessing dataset archives (.csv.gz, .json.tar.gz) downloaded directly to Android
- Students — Opening course materials distributed as .tar.gz from university course pages
- System administrators — Inspecting server log archives downloaded to Android for quick triage
File access on Android — Chrome on Android can access files in internal storage and external SD card via the Android file picker. Files downloaded through Chrome go to /storage/emulated/0/Download/. Files from apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, or Gmail go to their respective app folders. Use "Save to device" or "Download" in those apps first, then select from Chrome's file picker.
TAR.GZ variants supported — FastZip handles the full family: .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.bz2, .tbz2, .tar.xz, .txz, .tar.lz4, .tar.zst, and plain .tar. No distinction needed — drop any of these and FastZip detects the format automatically.
Format & Feature Reference
| Format | Android Files App | FastZip in Chrome |
|---|---|---|
| .tar.gz / .tgz | Not supported | Full support |
| .tar.bz2 / .tbz2 | Not supported | Full support |
| .tar.xz / .txz | Not supported | Full support |
| .tar (uncompressed) | Not supported | Full support |
| .zip | Native (Android 9+) | Full support |
| .rar | Not supported | Full support |
| .7z | Not supported | Full support |
Opening Developer Source Archives on Android
Developers often review code on mobile while commuting or away from their workstation. GitHub, GitLab, and most source hosting services offer repository downloads as .tar.gz. If you need to quickly inspect a README, check a configuration file, or see the directory structure of a project on your Android phone, FastZip opens these archives in Chrome without any setup.
Tap "Download ZIP" or "Download TAR.GZ" on GitHub. The archive downloads to Chrome's Downloads folder. Open a new tab, navigate to fastzip.io, select the file, and browse the source.
Opening Python Package Distributions on Android
Python source distributions (sdists) are distributed as .tar.gz files on PyPI. If you need to inspect a package's source code — check its setup.py, read the README, or verify a file's content — FastZip opens the .tar.gz on your Android device in Chrome.
The directory structure inside Python sdists typically includes a top-level packagename-version/ directory with setup.py, README, src/, or packagename/ source subdirectory.