The most common way to handle these files is via the terminal using curl or wget . : wget https://example.com
Downloading and extracting tar archives—often called "tarballs"—is a foundational task for Linux and macOS users, commonly used for software distribution and backups. A tar file (Tape Archive) bundles multiple files into one, while extensions like .tar.gz or .tgz indicate it has also been compressed. 1. Basic Download and Extract Commands Download tar
To save disk space and time, you can pipe the download directly into the tar command without saving the archive locally. : wget -qO- https://example.com | tar -xzv Using curl : curl -L https://example.com | tar -xzv 3. Remote Downloads via SSH The most common way to handle these files
For automation in development, most languages have dedicated libraries: Remote Downloads via SSH For automation in development,
curl -L -o file.tar.gz https://example.com (The -L flag follows redirects) : tar -xzvf file.tar.gz -x : Extract files. -z : Decompress (for .gz files). -v : Verbose (shows progress). -f : Use the specified file.
If you need to archive a folder on a remote server and download it to your local machine immediately: ssh user@remote "tar -cz /path/to/dir" > local_file.tar.gz 4. Language-Specific Methods