Use the bzip2 selector: tar jcvf archive.tar.gz file1 file2 file3

Use the ZIP archiver: zip -r -q archive.tar.gz file1 file2 file3

Use the xz selector: tar Jcvf archive.tar.gz file1 file2 file3

Use the gzip selector: tar zcvf archive.tar.gz file1 file2 file3