The best replacement for tar is zip.

The best alternatives to tar are rated as following:
★★★★★  zip
★★★  gzip
★★★  asphalt
★★  cpio
★★  pitch
★★  rsync
★  cycler trv
★  tar.gz
★  rar
★  nicotine
★  tur
★  tgz
★  trv
★  scar
★  bitumen
  jar
  asphalt emulsion
  gtar
  oil sands
  dump
  salicylic acid
  dmg
  anthralin
  nicotine causes cancer
  coal tar
  asphalt sealer
  ar
  china white
  paving
  rpm
  tape
  bin
  honey lyrics
  gz
  acr

Your alternative for tar is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about tar, one probably shouldn't forget about compression.

Other search terms related to tar and their ratings are:
★★★★★ compression
★★★★ gzip
★★ zip
★★ exclude
★ bzip2
★ directory structure
★ pigz
★ absolute path
★ find
★ gz
★ xz
★ compress
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Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of tar in all years. Click on graph for more.
tar
zip
gzip