Skip to the converter

WIM to TAR converter, without the upload.

Turn WIM disk images into TAR. It is converted in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.

Drop WIM files here

or choose from your computer paste with Ctrl V

Ready · other file types work too0 bytes uploaded, ever

Convert to

How to convert WIM to TAR

  1. Add your WIM disk images

    Drop WIM files onto the box above, or click it to choose them. ToAny reads the file's contents to detect the type, so a wrong extension does not matter.

  2. TAR is already chosen

    Press Convert. There is nothing else to set. The work happens in this tab.

  3. Download

    Save the TAR, or download everything as one ZIP if you converted several files.

Why ToAny

  • Private by construction

    The WIM to TAR converter is part of this page and runs inside your browser. Your disk images are never sent to ToAny or to anyone else.

  • No upload, no queue

    Nothing has to travel to a server and back, so the conversion starts the moment you press Convert, even on a slow connection.

  • Free, without an account

    No sign-up, no email address and no watermark. Add several files and download them together as a ZIP.

WIM to TAR: what to expect

WIM is a Windows deployment format that general file tools do not open. TAR preserves Unix file permissions and is expected by many developer tools. WIM is at home in Windows installation images and system deployment; TAR is the usual choice for bundling files on Unix systems.

A password-protected archive is refused, since its contents cannot be read without the password. A plain TAR does not compress anything, so expect it to be about as large as the files inside; TAR.GZ and 7z make smaller files. WIM files are read, not installed or mounted: every file inside is unpacked and repacked into the TAR, so nothing of the system image or installer is run.

WIM vs TAR

WIM

Windows Imaging file

WIM stores a Windows installation as a collection of files rather than a sector-by-sector copy, and stores identical files once. The install.wim inside a Windows installer is a WIM holding the system, and administrators use WIMs for deployment.

Opens in Windows (DISM, Windows setup) and 7-Zip

WIM converter
TAR

TAR archive

TAR glues files into one stream while preserving Unix permissions, without compressing them. It is nearly always paired with gzip, giving .tar.gz.

Opens in macOS, Linux and recent Windows; 7-Zip elsewhere

TAR converter
WIM compared with TAR
WIMWindows Imaging fileTARTAR archive
Stands forWindows Imaging FormatTape Archive
TypeDisk image archiveArchive (no compression)
CompressionLossless (XPRESS, LZX or LZMS)None
Introduced2006, by Microsoft1979, by the Unix project at Bell Labs
Opens inWindows (DISM, Windows setup) and 7-ZipmacOS, Linux and recent Windows; 7-Zip elsewhere
Best forWindows installation images and system deploymentBundling files on Unix systems
File extension.wim.tar

Questions

Are my disk images uploaded anywhere?

No. The WIM to TAR conversion runs inside your browser, on your own phone or computer. The file is not sent to ToAny or to anyone else.

Is anything lost when converting WIM to TAR?

No. The files inside are repackaged unchanged.

Can I convert several WIM files at once?

Yes. Add as many as you like, convert them together and download each result or all of them as one ZIP.

How do I convert WIM to TAR on Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android?

The steps are the same everywhere because ToAny runs in the web browser: open this page in a current version of Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox, add the WIM file, press Convert and save the TAR. There is nothing to install.

Is there a file size limit?

Yes. An archive can be up to 500 MB, unpack to at most 1 GB and hold up to 50,000 files; beyond those limits the page says so. Beyond that the limit is your device's memory, since nothing is uploaded; a computer copes with large files better than a phone.