Which file extension is commonly associated with tar archives?

The file extension commonly associated with tar archives is .tar. This extension signifies that the file is a tape archive, which is a file format used to collect multiple files into one single file for easier storage or transmission. This format was originally intended for use with tape drives but has since become widely used for distributing software and backups due to its ability to preserve file system attributes such as permissions and timestamps.

The .tar format does not compress the files; it merely archives them together. However, it can be combined with compression algorithms, which is where extensions like .gzip and .bzip2 come into play. These compression methods can be applied to tar archives, resulting in files like .tar.gz or .tar.bz2, but the core format itself remains .tar. The .zip extension refers to a different compression and archiving format, while the .gzip and .bzip2 extensions indicate compression types that can work with tar but do not represent the tar file format itself.