diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index e5d09befd0..213570c9e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -88,14 +88,14 @@ jobs:
           pyinstaller -y ./distribution/macos/CellProfiler.spec
       - if: startsWith(matrix.os, 'macos')
         name: MacOS tar package
-        run: tar -cvf CellProfiler+AI.tar CellProfiler+AI.app
+        run: tar -czvf CellProfiler+AI.tar.gz CellProfiler+AI.app
         working-directory: ./dist
       - if: startsWith(matrix.os, 'macos')
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         name: MacOS tar upload
         with:
-          name: CellProfiler-macOS-4.2.80001-ai.tar
-          path: ./dist/*.tar
+          name: CellProfiler-macOS-4.2.80001-ai.tar.gz
+          path: ./dist/*.tar.gz
       - if: startsWith(matrix.os, 'windows')
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         name: Windows artifact upload
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ jobs:
           draft: true
           files: |
             ./*.exe
-            ./*.tar
+            ./*.tar.gz
 
 name: create-release
 on: