A File with the BZ2 File extension is a BZIP2 File Compression. They are typically only used on Unix-based systems for software distribution.
BZ2 is usually the compression used for popular File containers that don’t support compression (like a TAR file) to have a name like data.tar.bz2. Others are holding compressed PNG images, for example, that might be named something similar to image.png.bz2.
A CPU that supports multiple threads can benefit from an upgraded PBZIP2 File compressor.
How to open a BZ2 file
BZ2 files can be opened with the most popular compression/decompression programs. Among them, PeaZip and 7-Zip are probably my favorites, both of which fully support BZ2 files. This means they can open BZ2 files as well as compress files in the BZIP2 format.
Another option is to use the B1 Online Archiver website. It can open these files in your web browser to not have to download software to extract the BZ2 files.
Linux systems can extract the contents of a BZ2 archive without the need for any external software. Use this command in a terminal, but replace file.bz2 with your BZ2 file:
Bzip2 -dk file.bz2
Note: This command will keep the original archive file on your computer. Use the command bzip2 -d file.bz2 so that the original is deleted after extraction.
The file is stored in file TAR, but compressed with BZIP2, can be unpacked by this command (again, substitute the name of the file you file.tar.bz2):
Tar xvjf file.tar.bz2
If you see an application on your computer trying to open the BZ2 file, but it is the wrong application or wants another installation program, opens the BZ2 file.
How to Convert a BZ2 File |
The easiest way to convert a BZ2 file to another archive format is to use one of the Free Converters for Occasional Format list options.
FileZigZag is an example of a free file converter that runs in your browser to convert BZ2 to GZ, ZIP, TAR, GZIP, TBZ, TGZ, 7Z, and other similar formats. Just upload the BZ2 file to that website and choose the form to convert it to. You must then download the conversion file to your computer before you can use it.
AnyToISO can be used to convert TAR.BZ2 files to ISO.
Since the BZ2 files are stored, they are not in a “regular” format like PDF, MP4, TXT, CSV, etc. This means you cannot convert the BZ2 file to one configuration (i.e., you can ‘Convert BZ2 to TXT).
However, if you have a BZ2 file containing one of those files, you can easily convert it to a new format by extracting it from the BZ2 file first using one of the programs. I have mentioned above. Finally, you can use a file converter on a TXT file (or whatever file type you’re working on) to save that file to a new format.
Tip: If you want to do the opposite and compress something like a BSP (Quake Engine Game Map) file into a BZ2 file, you can use a file compression tool like 7-Zip.
