How to Unzip BZ2 in Linux

The bzip2 utility is an open source way to compress large files. The bzip2 utility uses the ".bz2" file extension. This compression utility is usually used with the Linux and Unix operating systems. The contents of the compressed file can be extracted (unzipped) using the "bzip2" or "bunzip2" commands.

Instructions

1. Click on the main program menu for your distribution.

2. Click on the "Accessories," "Utilities," "System Tools" or "XShells" sub-menu, depending on which distribution you are using.

3. Click on the "Terminal," "Konsole" or "XTerm" program to open a terminal window. This is where you will type the following commands.

4. Type the command "bunzip2 filename.bz2" or "bzip2 -d filename.bz2" to unzip the "bz2" file. You can use whichever command you prefer. They are completely interchangeable. Replace "filename.bz2" with the name of the file you want to unzip.

5. Type the command "ls -l" to check that the file has been extracted. You will see the filename without the ".bz2" file extension.

References

• Linux Man Page: bunzip2