diff --git a/android/build.gradle b/android/build.gradle
index f28740e..515a528 100644
--- a/android/build.gradle
+++ b/android/build.gradle
@@ -74,7 +74,9 @@ dependencies {
     //noinspection GradleDynamicVersion
     implementation 'com.facebook.react:react-native:+'  // From node_modules
     implementation 'commons-io:commons-io:2.5'
-    implementation 'org.apache.commons:commons-compress:1.1'
+    implementation 'org.apache.commons:commons-compress:1.21'
+    // https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.kamranzafar/jtar
+    implementation 'org.kamranzafar:jtar:2.2'
 }
 
 def configureReactNativePom(def pom) {
diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/GzipModule.java b/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/GzipModule.java
index 714e326..193cf56 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/GzipModule.java
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/reactlibrary/GzipModule.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package com.reactlibrary;
 
+import android.os.Build;
+
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.Arguments;
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.Promise;
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.ReactApplicationContext;
@@ -11,6 +13,10 @@
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
+import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
+import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
+import java.util.zip.ZipInputStream;
 
 import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveEntry;
 import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.ArchiveException;
@@ -21,6 +27,7 @@
 import org.apache.commons.compress.compressors.CompressorStreamFactory;
 import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.kamranzafar.jtar.TarInputStream;
 
 public class GzipModule extends ReactContextBaseJavaModule {
 
@@ -109,32 +116,26 @@ public void unGzip(String source, String target, Boolean force, Promise promise)
     public void unGzipTar(String source, String target, Boolean force, Promise promise) {
         File sourceFile = new File(source);
         File targetFile = new File(target);
-        if(!checkDir(sourceFile, targetFile, force)){
-            promise.reject("-2", "error");
+        if (!checkDir(sourceFile, targetFile, force)) {
+            promise.reject("-2", "error while checking directories for unGzipTar");
             return;
         }
 
-        ArchiveInputStream inputStream = null;
-        FileInputStream fileInputStream;
-
-        try{
-            fileInputStream = FileUtils.openInputStream(sourceFile);
-            final CompressorInputStream compressorInputStream = new CompressorStreamFactory()
-                    .createCompressorInputStream(CompressorStreamFactory.GZIP, fileInputStream);
-            inputStream = new ArchiveStreamFactory()
-                    .createArchiveInputStream(ArchiveStreamFactory.TAR, compressorInputStream);
-            ArchiveEntry archiveEntry = inputStream.getNextEntry();
-
-            while (archiveEntry != null) {
-                File destFile = new File(targetFile, archiveEntry.getName());
-                if (archiveEntry.isDirectory()) {
-                    destFile.mkdirs();
-                } else {
-                    final FileOutputStream outputStream = FileUtils.openOutputStream(destFile);
-                    IOUtils.copy(inputStream, outputStream);
-                    outputStream.close();
-                }
-                archiveEntry = inputStream.getNextEntry();
+        try {
+            // Include all versions below API level 26
+            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
+                // Manual gzip and tar extraction for Android versions below 8.0 (API level 26)
+                FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(sourceFile);
+                GZIPInputStream gis = new GZIPInputStream(fis);
+                untar2(gis, targetFile);
+            } else {
+                // Use Apache Commons Compress for Android 8.0 (Oreo, API level 26) and above
+                FileInputStream fileInputStream = FileUtils.openInputStream(sourceFile);
+                final CompressorInputStream compressorInputStream = new CompressorStreamFactory()
+                        .createCompressorInputStream(CompressorStreamFactory.GZIP, fileInputStream);
+                ArchiveInputStream inputStream = new ArchiveStreamFactory()
+                        .createArchiveInputStream(ArchiveStreamFactory.TAR, compressorInputStream);
+                extractFromArchiveInputStream(inputStream, targetFile);
             }
 
             WritableMap map = Arguments.createMap();
@@ -146,6 +147,51 @@ public void unGzipTar(String source, String target, Boolean force, Promise promi
         }
     }
 
+    private void extractFromArchiveInputStream(ArchiveInputStream inputStream, File targetFile) throws IOException, ArchiveException {
+        ArchiveEntry archiveEntry;
+        while ((archiveEntry = inputStream.getNextEntry()) != null) {
+            File destFile = new File(targetFile, archiveEntry.getName());
+            if (archiveEntry.isDirectory()) {
+                destFile.mkdirs();
+            } else {
+                try (final FileOutputStream outputStream = FileUtils.openOutputStream(destFile)) {
+                    IOUtils.copy(inputStream, outputStream);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void untar2(GZIPInputStream gis, File targetFile) throws IOException {
+        // Create a TarInputStream from the GZIPInputStream
+        TarInputStream tis = new TarInputStream(gis);
+        org.kamranzafar.jtar.TarEntry entry;
+
+        // Iterate through the entries in the TAR stream
+        while ((entry = tis.getNextEntry()) != null) {
+            File outputFile = new File(targetFile, entry.getName());
+
+            // Check if the entry is a directory
+            if (entry.isDirectory()) {
+                outputFile.mkdirs();
+            } else {
+                // Ensure parent directories exist
+                outputFile.getParentFile().mkdirs();
+
+                // Write the entry to file
+                try (BufferedOutputStream bos = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(outputFile))) {
+                    int count;
+                    byte data[] = new byte[2048];
+
+                    // Read data from the entry and write it to the output file
+                    while ((count = tis.read(data)) != -1) {
+                        bos.write(data, 0, count);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        tis.close();
+    }
+
     private Boolean checkDir(File sourceFile, File targetFile, Boolean force) {
         if (!sourceFile.exists()) {
             return false;
@@ -157,11 +203,7 @@ private Boolean checkDir(File sourceFile, File targetFile, Boolean force) {
             }
 
             try {
-                if (targetFile.isDirectory()) {
-                    FileUtils.deleteDirectory(targetFile);
-                } else {
-                    targetFile.delete();
-                }
+                deleteRecursively(targetFile);
                 targetFile.mkdirs();
             } catch (IOException ex) {
                 return false;
@@ -169,5 +211,23 @@ private Boolean checkDir(File sourceFile, File targetFile, Boolean force) {
         }
         return true;
     }
+
+    private void deleteRecursively(File file) throws IOException {
+        if (file.isDirectory()) {
+            // List all the directory contents
+            File[] files = file.listFiles();
+            if (files != null) {  // Some JVMs return null for empty directories
+                for (File child : files) {
+                    // Recursive delete
+                    deleteRecursively(child);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Check if file actually exists before deletion
+        if (!file.delete()) {
+            throw new IOException("Failed to delete file: " + file.getAbsolutePath());
+        }
+    }
 }