Is BZip2 better than GZip?

BZip2 typically produces smaller files than GZip but compresses more slowly. For distribution where download size matters more than compression speed, .bz2 is often preferred.

What are .tbz and .tbz2?

.tbz and .tbz2 are shorthand for .tar.bz2 — a TAR archive compressed with BZip2. The viewer treats them identically and lists the bundled files.

Are my BZ2 files uploaded?

No. Files you open from your device stay on your device and are read locally. Only the public sample archive is requested from the server.

Elysia Tools

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BZ2 Viewer

Free online BZ2 viewer. Open .bz2, .bzip2, .tbz and .tbz2 archives in your browser to list contents — no upload, no extraction.

.bz2.bzip2.tbz.tbz2

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Tool usage guide

About this file format

BZip2 (.bz2, .bzip2), introduced by Julian Seward in 1996, uses the Burrows-Wheeler block-sorting transform followed by Huffman coding. It achieves higher compression ratios than GZip's DEFLATE at the cost of slower compression and more memory. The combined .tar.bz2 (.tbz / .tbz2) format is common for source distributions where smaller file size matters.

BZ2 Viewer

About this file format

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BZ2 Viewer

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