.GZIP File Extension
Gnu Zipped File
| Developer | The GNU Project |
| Popularity |
4.2 | 33 Votes |
What is a GZIP file?
A GZIP file is an archive compressed using GNU zip (gzip) compression. It typically contains a single file, which has been compressed for easier storage and sharing. In many cases, this single file is a .TAR archive (which itself contains several files).
More Information
In 1992, Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler created the gzip utility and file format for use with Unix systems. gzip was packaged with GNU, a collection of free software, and intended to replace previous Unix file compression programs. gzip proved useful enough that is still used today, primarily by Linux and other Unix-like users.
Most commonly, archives created using gzip are saved as .GZ files. However, in rare cases, gzip archives may use the .gzip extension.
NOTE: The GNU Project now maintains gzip and the GZIP format.
How to open a GZIP file
You can open a GZIP file with 7-Zip (Windows), Apple Archive Utility (Mac), B1 Free Archiver (multiplatform), and many other archiving utilities. Before doing so, you may have to change your GZIP file's extension to .gz.