A .tar.gz file is an archive file that contains one or more compressed files. These are similar to .zip files, and many of the file compression applications you are used to using work with Windows 7.
The Free Option: 7-Zip
7-Zip is free open-source file compression software. It costs nothing to download, and is able to work with a variety of file compression algorithms including those used to make .tar.gz files.
After installing 7-Zip, right-click on your .tar.gz file and choose one of 7-Zip’s extraction options. This will extract the .tar file — after that’s done, right click on the .tar file to extract its contents. After you’ve extracted the contents of the .tar file, you will have access to all of the files that were compressed inside the .tar.gz archive.
The non-free options
WinZip and WinRAR can also decompress .tar.gz files, however they are shareware and must be purchased after their trial periods expire. WinZip will ask if you want to extract the .tar file to a temporary folder and then extract its contents (answer “Yes”), while WinRAR will extract the contents of your .tar.gz file without any additional prompts.
