Compress (Unix)

From Just Solve the File Format Problem
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
m (Change telparia.com samples link to template)
 
(8 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 19: Line 19:
  
 
== See also ==
 
== See also ==
* [[SCO compress LZH]]
+
* [[SCO compress LZH]] - variant
* [[pack (Unix)]]
+
* [[Quasijarus Strong Compression]] - variant
* [[compact (Unix)]]
+
* [[pack (Unix)]] - predecessor
 +
* [[compact (Unix)]] - predecessor
 
* [[Squash (RISC OS)]]
 
* [[Squash (RISC OS)]]
 +
* [[compact (Gene Olson)]]
 +
 +
Formats that could be considered to be the successors of ''compress'' include [[Freeze/Melt]], and (especially) [[Gzip]].
 +
 +
== The 0x1f compression family ==
 +
There are several compressed file formats, with similar features, that begin with byte value {{magic|0x1f}} (octal 037; decimal 31). We arbitrarily choose ''compress'' as the representative example, and list the formats here.
 +
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
! Signature (hex) !! Format
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f 1e</code> || [[pack (Unix)]]
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f 1f</code> || [[pack (Unix)]] - old format
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f 8b</code> || [[gzip]]
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f 9d</code> || compress
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f 9e</code> || [[Freeze/Melt]] - old format
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f 9f</code> || [[Freeze/Melt]] - new format
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f a0</code> || [[SCO compress LZH]]
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f a1</code> || [[Quasijarus Strong Compression]]
 +
|-
 +
| <code>1f ff</code> or <code>ff 1f</code> || [[compact (Unix)]]
 +
|}
  
 
== Software ==
 
== Software ==
* [https://github.com/vapier/ncompress ncompress]
+
* [https://vapier.github.io/ncompress/ ncompress]
* [https://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/ Gzip] can uncompress '''.Z''' files.
+
* [https://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/ Gzip]
 
* [[7-Zip]]
 
* [[7-Zip]]
 
* [https://github.com/vapier/liblzw liblzw]
 
* [https://github.com/vapier/liblzw liblzw]
 
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20130702195528/http://www.willus.com/archive/unixcmds.zip Windows port of Compress utility]
 
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20130702195528/http://www.willus.com/archive/unixcmds.zip Windows port of Compress utility]
 
* {{Deark}}
 
* {{Deark}}
 +
* [https://github.com/temisu/ancient Ancient]
 +
 +
== Sample files ==
 +
* {{DexvertSamples|archive/compress}}
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
* [[Wikipedia:Compress|Wikipedia article]]
+
* [[Wikipedia:Compress (software)|Wikipedia article]]
  
 
[[Category:File formats with extension .z]]
 
[[Category:File formats with extension .z]]
 
[[Category:File formats with case sensitive extensions]]
 
[[Category:File formats with case sensitive extensions]]
 
{{DISPLAYTITLE:compress (Unix)}}
 
{{DISPLAYTITLE:compress (Unix)}}

Latest revision as of 05:14, 28 December 2023

File Format
Name compress (Unix)
Ontology
Extension(s) .Z
MIME Type(s) application/x-compress
Wikidata ID Q29209269
Released ~1984
This article is about a specific file format. For compression in general, see Compression.

compress is a Unix command line utility, and a general-purpose compressed file format. Its compression algorithm is based on LZW.

Contents

[edit] Identifiers

The conventional filename extension is a capitalized .Z.

[edit] Identification

Files begin with bytes 1f 9d.

[edit] See also

Formats that could be considered to be the successors of compress include Freeze/Melt, and (especially) Gzip.

[edit] The 0x1f compression family

There are several compressed file formats, with similar features, that begin with byte value 0x1f (octal 037; decimal 31). We arbitrarily choose compress as the representative example, and list the formats here.

Signature (hex) Format
1f 1e pack (Unix)
1f 1f pack (Unix) - old format
1f 8b gzip
1f 9d compress
1f 9e Freeze/Melt - old format
1f 9f Freeze/Melt - new format
1f a0 SCO compress LZH
1f a1 Quasijarus Strong Compression
1f ff or ff 1f compact (Unix)

[edit] Software

[edit] Sample files

[edit] External links

Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox