Microsoft SZ installation compression
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
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== Sample files == | == Sample files == | ||
* Examples of SZ files may be found in packages containing a decompression utility; see the Software section. | * Examples of SZ files may be found in packages containing a decompression utility; see the Software section. | ||
+ | * [https://winworldpc.com/product/ms-dos/50 WinWorld: MS-DOS 5.0] → "Microsoft MS-DOS 5.00 (Beta 5.0.224)" → ... → *.??$ | ||
[[Category:Microsoft]] | [[Category:Microsoft]] | ||
+ | [[Category:MS-DOS]] |
Latest revision as of 18:49, 12 February 2024
Microsoft SZ installation compression refers to a compressed file format that was used by some Microsoft software distributions.
It is presumably an early version of the MS-DOS installation compression formats. The libmspack documentation calls it the "QBasic variant".
Contents |
[edit] Discussion
One of the SZ utilities calls itself "lzw 1 Compression Utility". However, the format does not use LZW compression. It uses Okumura's LZSS.
[edit] Identification
Files start with bytes 53 5a 20 88 f0 27 33
. This is normally followed by d1
, but other values are used by the file splitting feature, for fragments after the first one.
[edit] Specifications
[edit] Software
- Dr. Windows 3 → dr win3/DATABASE/ACCSDBS.ZIP → COMPRESS.EXE - "A lzw 1 Compression Utility - Version 1.00" (compression and decompression)
- ANORMAL's DOSEXE collections → Compiler pack → microsoft/quickbasic-4.50.rar → quickbasic-4.50/1400k disks/UNPACK.EXE - "Microsoft BASIC Unpack Utility - Version 1.10" (decompression only)
- libmspack
[edit] Sample files
- Examples of SZ files may be found in packages containing a decompression utility; see the Software section.
- WinWorld: MS-DOS 5.0 → "Microsoft MS-DOS 5.00 (Beta 5.0.224)" → ... → *.??$