---
title: Working with tzst Zstandard compressed archives
description: Learn how to create, extract, and work with tzst archives, compressed with tar and Zstandard.
source: "https://nodecraft.com/support/knowledgebase/advanced/working-with-tzst-zstandard-compressed-archives"
image: "https://dynamic-assets.nodecraft.com/signedurl/w7vokBAexMnVlnMZ1Q/image.jpg?modifications=W3sibmFtZSI6ImdhbWVfYmciLCJpbWFnZV91cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2Ntcy1hLm5vZGVjcmFmdC5jb20vZi8xMzM5MzIvMjAwMHg1NTAvZGNiMGFkNjkzOC9jYXZlcy1hbmQtY2xpZmZzLXB0LTItMS0yLTAucG5nL20vIn0seyJuYW1lIjoiZ2FtZV9sb2dvIiwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9jbXMtYS5ub2RlY3JhZnQuY29tL2YvMTMzOTMyLzM3NXgxNTAvM2MxZGIyYmFiNS9taW5lY3JhZnQucG5nL20vIn0seyJuYW1lIjoiY3RhX3RleHQiLCJ0ZXh0IjoiQ3JlYXRlIHlvdXIgb3duIHNlcnZlciEifSx7Im5hbWUiOiJ0ZXh0IiwidGV4dCI6Ildvcmtpbmcgd2l0aCB0enN0IFpzdGFuZGFyZCBjb21wcmVzc2VkIGFyY2hpdmVzIn1d&s=761dbb391688e85602a6f606b9c015e6e56887371e35cb5fe378a04428324c86"
published: "2024-11-12T19:30:04.000Z"
updated: "2024-11-12T20:29:25.588Z"
---

# Working with tzst Zstandard compressed archives

Learn how to create, extract, and work with tzst archives, compressed with tar and Zstandard.

Nodecraft utilizes modern compression for archiving your server files. This can drastically speed up the time it takes to both compress and decompress your server files, as well take up less space in your backups storage!

These work very similarly to zip files in practice, and are just as easy to work with, but use more sophisticated techniques for compression under the hood.

Zstandard is a lossless data compression algorithm developed by Facebook. It supports lots of great features including custom dictionary compression and various levels of compression that offer trade-offs for speed vs file size.

## Extracting tzst archives

Since this compression format is still relatively new, not all operating systems and programs support it natively.

### Windows

Windows 11 supports extracting `tzst` archives natively. Simply double click to open one and then extract it as you would any other `zip` or similar archive.

Windows 10 doesn't support `tzst` natively,  but you can download the latest version of 7Zip which does, and will allow you to work seamlessly with these archives. Support in 7Zip was added in version `24.01`. [Download 7Zip here](https://7-zip.org/download.html).

### MacOS

MacOS doesn't yet support extracting `tzst` archives natively. For now, we recommend [Keka](https://www.keka.io/en), which is a great macOS file archiver with support for Zstandard.