TERSE

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File Format
Name TERSE
Ontology
Released 1984?

TERSE is a data compression format used on OS/2, and on IBM mainframes. It is still in regular use on IBM mainframes to this day.

More research is needed to understand the scope of what TERSE was used for, and how many versions of it there are.

It can at least be used for single-file compression, as is done by the Advantis software listed below. This file format does not appear to have a conventional filename extension – compressed files may keep their original name.

Contents

Identification

At least some TERSE-compressed files start with bytes 05 01 01 00.

Related formats

The ZIP format documentation (APPNOTE) lists two "TERSE" compression methods:

10 - PKWARE Data Compression Library Imploding (old IBM TERSE)
18 - File is compressed using IBM TERSE (new)

So, apparently, PKWARE DCL Implode is closely related to TERSE. It's possible that this distinction is or is related to the PACK/SPACK distinction in the file type.

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