SampleTestFiles

50 MB TAR sample

A TAR file of exactly 52,428,800 bytes. It is a valid Tape archive file, generated by this site. Compare its checksum and test it with the parser used by your application. Use it wherever you need a 50 MB sample, test or dummy TAR file.

Download

sample-tar-50mb.tar

50 MB52,428,800 bytes

Download 50 MB TAR

Created in your browser and, in browsers that can stream to disk, sent straight to your downloads list; this can take a minute. No sign-up.

Type
application/x-tar
SHA-256
f9af35d086b063280114e04bfbdd62c0ed9c3a7c902e6878d0950c8deb8467e2
Delivery
Created in your browser from static generator assets (how it works).

What is in this file

A ustar archive with a README and payload.bin, 52,426,240 pseudo-random bytes, followed by the two zero blocks that end every tar archive.

Entries2 (README.txt, payload.bin)
FormatPOSIX ustar
CompressionNone
Block size512 bytes

First bytes of the file

The first 64 bytes of sample-tar-50mb.tar as a hex dump: offset, bytes, then the same bytes as text. The TAR signature is 75 73 74 61 72 at offset 257.

00000000  52 45 41 44 4d 45 2e 74  78 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 |README.txt......|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000030  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

Preview

TAR files cannot be shown in a browser. Download the file and open it in an application that reads TAR, such as tar on Linux, macOS and Windows.

Where 50 MB matters

A 52,428,800-byte file: exactly the size at which Git hosting on GitHub starts warning about large files, and about the limit for a zipped AWS Lambda package uploaded directly.

All 50 MB sample files

Use this file for

  • Measuring download speed from your own server or CDN
  • Testing container and package pipelines
  • Testing archive extraction on servers

Testing notes for TAR

  • There is no index, so listing the contents means reading the whole archive.
  • Like ZIP, tar entries can contain absolute paths or "../", and can be symbolic links. Validate before extracting.

TAR format reference

Technical details

File namesample-tar-50mb.tar
FormatTAR (Tape archive)
Extension.tar
MIME typeapplication/x-tar
Size52,428,800 bytes (50 MB)
KindBinary
Signature75 73 74 61 72 at offset 257
SHA-256f9af35d086b063280114e04bfbdd62c0ed9c3a7c902e6878d0950c8deb8467e2
Created2026-10-23
ValidationSee the listed size and SHA-256. Small downloads are checked in the browser; verify streamed downloads manually. A hash match does not prove parser compatibility.
PreviewNot available for this file; details only
SourceGenerated in your browser by this site's generator; not copied from elsewhere
LicenceFree to use, modify and redistribute (terms)
CategoryArchives

Check the stated structure and checksum against your application requirements. As with any download, scan the file with your own security tools before opening it. How files are made and checked

Verify your copy

This file is created in your browser, so it has no direct URL for curl or wget. The generator is designed to produce reproducible bytes. After saving, compare the checksum with the SHA-256 value above.

sha256sum sample-tar-50mb.tar     # Linux
shasum -a 256 sample-tar-50mb.tar # macOS

On Windows, run Get-FileHash sample-tar-50mb.tar -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell. For scripts and pipelines, save the file once and keep your own copy.

Related files

Other TAR sizes

Other 50 MB files

Use cases

Guides

Questions about this file

Is this file exactly 50 MB?
Yes. It is 52,428,800 bytes, which is 50 MB in the binary units that operating systems and server limits use (1 KB = 1,024 bytes).
What is inside the 50 MB TAR file?
A ustar archive with a README and payload.bin, 52,426,240 pseudo-random bytes, followed by the two zero blocks that end every tar archive.
Why is there no 1 KB TAR sample?
A tar archive is built from 512-byte blocks and ends with two empty blocks, so the smallest archive containing a README and a payload is larger than 1 KB.