TAR.LZO (TLZO) to CPIO Converter
Convert your tar.lzo files to cpio online & free
tar.lzo
cpio
How to convert TAR.LZO to CPIO
Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.
Choose cpio or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)
Let the file convert and you can download your cpio file right afterwards
About formats
TAR.LZO is a compound archive format pairing TAR) archiving with LZO (Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer) compression, created by Markus Oberhumer in 1996. The TAR layer bundles files with Unix metadata, and the LZO algorithm compresses the stream prioritizing decompression speed above all else. LZO is an asymmetric compressor — it sacrifices compression ratio for extremely fast decompression, operating at speeds that approach raw memory bandwidth on modern hardware. This makes TAR.LZO ideal for scenarios where archives must be extracted quickly and frequently, such as real-time backup systems and embedded device firmware images. One advantage is decompression performance — LZO extraction is several times faster than gzip and an order of magnitude faster than bzip2, critical for time-sensitive operations like boot-time filesystem initialization or rapid backup restoration. The low CPU overhead during extraction is another strength, making TAR.LZO practical on resource-constrained embedded systems and for streaming decompression without buffering. The lzop command-line tool integrates with tar via pipeline, and the format is used in the Linux kernel's initramfs, Btrfs filesystem compression, and various real-time data processing systems where extraction latency matters more than archive size.
CPIO (Copy In, Copy Out) is a Unix archive format dating to the PWB/UNIX system at AT&T Bell Labs in 1977, predating even the tar format. The name describes the tool's original operation: copying files in to an archive and out from an archive. CPIO stores files sequentially with per-file headers containing the filename, inode information, permissions, ownership, timestamps, and file size, followed by the file data itself. The format exists in several variants: the original binary format, the POSIX.1-defined octet-oriented (ODC) format, the SVR4 newc format with expanded device and inode fields, and the CRC variant that adds checksum verification. Unlike tar, CPIO reads the list of files to archive from standard input, making it naturally composable with find and other Unix utilities through pipes. One advantage is faithful Unix metadata preservation — CPIO records device numbers, inode information, and hard link relationships with higher fidelity than early tar implementations, making it suitable for system-level backups and device file archiving. The format's central role in Linux package management is another practical significance: the RPM package format uses CPIO as its internal payload container, meaning every RPM-based Linux installation relies on CPIO extraction. While tar has become more common for general archiving, CPIO persists in system administration, initramfs images, and package management infrastructure.