GNU gzip
Sign in to savegzip is a file format and a file compression program. The program uses the Deflate algorithm to compress and decompress a single file using the gzip file format.
Key facts
- Software.name
- NetBSD Gzip / FreeBSD Gzip
- Software.logo
- Gzip-Logo.svg
- Software.developer
- The NetBSD Foundation
- Software.operating system
- Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno
- Software.genre
- Data compression
- Software.programming language
- C
- Software.license
- Simplified BSD License
- Software.website
- hide
- File format.name
- gzip (file format)
- File format.extension
- .gz, .tgz, .gzip
- File format.mime
- application/gzip
- File format.developer
- Jean-Loup Gailly
- File format.type
- Data compression
- File format.compression
- Lossless
- File format.container for
- Deflate stream
- File format.max_size
- Unlimited
via Wikipedia infobox
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- File format
- File structure
- Implementations
- Damage recovery
- Derivatives and other uses
- See also
- References
- External links
gzip is a file format and a file compression program. The program uses the Deflate algorithm to compress and decompress a single file using the gzip file format.
gzip was released in 1992 as a free software replacement for the compress program because its compression algorithm, LZW, was covered by patents from Unisys and IBM, which did not expire until 2003 and 2004. Jean-Loup Gailly designed the gzip file format, which was later specified by RFC 1952, and originally wrote the gzip program. Mark Adler wrote the decompression part. gzip is now developed by the GNU project.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “GNU gzip” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.