diff --git a/openwhisk/extractor.go b/openwhisk/extractor.go
index 097de0a..adf4cc7 100644
--- a/openwhisk/extractor.go
+++ b/openwhisk/extractor.go
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@
 		}
 		Debug("Extract Action, assuming a zip")
 		return file, Unzip(*buf, newDir)
+
+	} else if IsGz(*buf) {
+		Debug("Extract Action, assuming a tar.gz")
+		return file, UnTar(*buf, newDir)
 	}
 	return file, ioutil.WriteFile(file, *buf, 0755)
 }
diff --git a/openwhisk/filetype.go b/openwhisk/filetype.go
index 20fe388..ed255d0 100644
--- a/openwhisk/filetype.go
+++ b/openwhisk/filetype.go
@@ -65,3 +65,13 @@
 		(buf[2] == 0x3 || buf[2] == 0x5 || buf[2] == 0x7) &&
 		(buf[3] == 0x4 || buf[3] == 0x6 || buf[3] == 0x8)
 }
+
+// IsGz checks if the given file is a valid tar.gz file
+func IsGz(buf []byte) bool {
+	// Magic number: The first two bytes are fixed (0x1f and 0x8b), which represent the magic number of a gzip file.
+	// Compression method: The third byte indicates the compression method used. For gzip files, this is always  (deflate).
+	return len(buf) > 3 &&
+		buf[0] == 0x1f &&
+		buf[1] == 0x8b &&
+		buf[2] == 0x08
+}
diff --git a/openwhisk/tar.go b/openwhisk/tar.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc683f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openwhisk/tar.go
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package openwhisk
+
+import (
+	"archive/tar"
+	"bytes"
+	"compress/gzip"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+func openTar(src []byte) (*tar.Reader, error) {
+	// Create a new bytes.Reader from the input byte slice
+	reader := bytes.NewReader(src)
+
+	// Create a new gzip.Reader from the bytes.Reader
+	gzipReader, err := gzip.NewReader(reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	defer gzipReader.Close()
+
+	// Create a new tar.Reader from the gzip.Reader
+	tarReader := tar.NewReader(gzipReader)
+
+	return tarReader, nil
+}
+
+func UnTar(src []byte, dest string) error {
+	r, err := openTar(src)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	Debug("open Tar")
+	os.MkdirAll(dest, 0755)
+	for {
+		header, err := r.Next()
+		switch {
+
+		// if no more files are found return
+		case err == io.EOF:
+			return nil
+
+		// return any other error
+		case err != nil:
+			return err
+
+		// if the header is nil, just skip it (not sure how this happens)
+		case header == nil:
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// the target location where the dir/file should be created
+		target := filepath.Join(dest, header.Name)
+		// isLink := header.FileInfo().Mode()&os.ModeSymlink == os.ModeSymlink
+
+		// the following switch could also be done using fi.Mode(), not sure if there
+		// a benefit of using one vs. the other.
+		// fi := header.FileInfo()
+
+		// check the file type
+		switch header.Typeflag {
+
+		// if its a dir and it doesn't exist create it
+		case tar.TypeDir:
+			if _, err := os.Stat(target); err != nil {
+				if err := os.MkdirAll(target, 0755); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+
+		// if it's a file create it
+		case tar.TypeReg:
+			f, err := os.OpenFile(target, os.O_CREATE|os.O_RDWR, os.FileMode(header.Mode))
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			// copy over contents
+			if _, err := io.Copy(f, r); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			// manually close here after each file operation; defering would cause each file close
+			// to wait until all operations have completed.
+			f.Close()
+		}
+	}
+}