https://community.hpe.com/t5/operating-system-linux/real-difference-between-tar-and-gzip/m-p/5239864#M52116 The tar command is not used to compress files. Tar just packages the files. It's used to create one big file from multiple small files. After tar, you must gzip the file to reduce the size.<BR /><BR />If you use tar with the "z" option, it will use gzip to compress the data.<BR /><BR />A better question could be the difference between bzip2 and gzip, or tar and cpio. Thu, 13 May 2010 17:54:27 GMT Ivan Ferreira 2010-05-13T17:54:27Z https://community.hpe.com/t5/operating-system-linux/real-difference-between-tar-and-gzip/m-p/5239863#M52115 It may be bit silly question for you all. Apologies for that.<BR /><BR />But like to know that exact operation of these two. (tar &amp; gzip)<BR /><BR />Which is more effective in compression. Thu, 13 May 2010 17:16:17 GMT https://community.hpe.com/t5/operating-system-linux/real-difference-between-tar-and-gzip/m-p/5239863#M52115 bullz 2010-05-13T17:16:17Z https://community.hpe.com/t5/operating-system-linux/real-difference-between-tar-and-gzip/m-p/5239864#M52116 The tar command is not used to compress files. Tar just packages the files. It's used to create one big file from multiple small files. After tar, you must gzip the file to reduce the size.<BR /><BR />If you use tar with the "z" option, it will use gzip to compress the data.<BR /><BR />A better question could be the difference between bzip2 and gzip, or tar and cpio. Thu, 13 May 2010 17:54:27 GMT https://community.hpe.com/t5/operating-system-linux/real-difference-between-tar-and-gzip/m-p/5239864#M52116 Ivan Ferreira 2010-05-13T17:54:27Z https://community.hpe.com/t5/operating-system-linux/real-difference-between-tar-and-gzip/m-p/5239865#M52117 Super. Thu, 13 May 2010 19:08:10 GMT https://community.hpe.com/t5/operating-system-linux/real-difference-between-tar-and-gzip/m-p/5239865#M52117 bullz 2010-05-13T19:08:10Z