| Feature | ZIP | TGZ (tar + gzip) | |-----------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------| | | Yes | No (stream-based) | | Store Unix permissions | Partial (extra fields) | Fully preserved | | Symbolic links | Limited support | Native | | Hard links | Not really | Yes (tar tracks inode refs) | | Encryption | Yes (AES-256, legacy ZipCrypto) | No (but can be layered with GPG) | | Solid compression | No | Yes (single gzip stream) | | Random access | Yes (central directory) | No (must decompress from start) | | Split archives | Yes (multi-part .z01, .z02) | Manual ( split command) |