What is gzip? Easily explained

You stumble across the term "gzip" particularly as a Linux user. Gzip is a widely used program and file format for compressing data. In this practical tip, we show you what you should know about gzip.

Program and file format - that's gzip:

• "Gzip" is an abbreviation for "GNU-Zip" and usually has the file extension ".gz".
• "GNU" is a Unix-like operating system based on the Linux kernel. We will explain to you exactly what a kernel is in a practical tip.
• Gzip is a free compression program and file format for compressing files. Other known compressed file formats are 7Z, ACE, CAB, RAR, SFX and ZIP.
• Unlike many of these formats, gzip uses an unpatented deflate algorithm. Therefore, it is preferably used by free operating systems such as Linux and Ubuntu.
• Gzip is lossless, which means you can compress files for transfer and reconstruct the full file for use.
• You can unpack .GZ files with the freeware 7-Zip according to these instructions. Alternative freewares, such as PeaZip, as well as the paid software WinRAR, WinAce and WinZip, are available in our download area.
• Encoders and decoders are required for compression and decompression. So gzip is a codec.
• A GZ file is always a compressed version of a single file. However, this file can be a container file, which in turn contains several files. This is usually the case for files with the extension ".tar.gz".
• You can find out more about container files in another practical tip.

In many other practical tips we explain computer terms such as WiFi, VPN connections and CPU.