Extract text from TZ files
To convert your TZ file to another format, you need 7-Zip or other Compressed software.
To convert other file formats to the "Unix Compressed Archive" file type, you need software like 7-Zip or a similar tool.
The .tz extension serves multiple technical roles, primarily acting as a Compressed Archive. Historically, it represents a Tar archive compressed using the Unix compress utility (LZW algorithm), functionally similar to a .TAR.Z file. While efficient in early Unix environments, this legacy compression format is rarely supported natively by modern operating systems like Windows 11 or macOS, forcing users to hunt for third-party tools just to view contents.
In modern contexts, .tz is frequently encountered as a resource file for Topaz Video AI by Topaz Labs. These files are often internal ZIP containers holding neural network models; users often mistake them for video files and fail when trying to open them in media players like VLC. Additionally, the extension denotes compiled Time Zone Information files from the IANA database, which are binary system files located in /usr/share/zoneinfo on Linux systems.
For general archiving, users should convert legacy .tz files to standard ZIP or 7Z formats to ensure universal accessibility. If dealing with Topaz models, the file is likely not meant to be converted but can be inspected by renaming to ZIP. For time zone data, converting to human-readable Text (.TXT) via zdump is the only way to interpret the binary structures.
Convert.Guru analyzes your TZ file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted 7Z, TZZ, ZIP, ZIPX, PIZ, KSH, KES and ZAR files.
If you want to convert TZ file to KSH, KES, ZAR, ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, LZMA or CAB, you can use 7-Zip or similar software from the "Compressed Archive & Model Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert XXE, 7Z, Z, PAK, LHA, DEB, UUE, TAR, LZH, ZIP, PKG or RAR files to TZ, try 7-Zip or another comparable tool in the "Compressed Archive & Model Data" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our TZ converter.