Compress (Unix)
Writablearchive
Z Compressed Data are files that have been compressed by Unix's shell compression program, compress. The compress software was developed by Spencer Thomas in 1984 and uses LZW algorithm. The format has lossless data, it can be compressed and decompressed using the Unix and Linux operating systems.
Identify it
| Extensions | .z |
|---|---|
| MIME types | application/x-compress |
| Signatures | 1f9d at byte 0 (File Formats Wiki)1f9d90 at byte 0 (Z Compressed Data) |
| PRONOM | fmt/1671 |
| Wikidata | Q29209269 |
Not sure your file is this? Identify it from its first bytes, in your browser.
Open it
- libarchiveOpen source
- 7-Zip (WebAssembly)Open source
- Q215051Open source
- ZipegOpen source
Convert it
Convert a file in your browser The steps marked “in browser” run on your machine; nothing is uploaded.
| To | With | Fidelity | Command and losses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7z | 7-Zip (WebAssembly) | Lossless | in browser Files are kept; archive comments, permissions or encryption may not be. |
| Tape Archive | 7-Zip (WebAssembly) | Lossless | in browser Files are kept; archive comments, permissions or encryption may not be. |
| ZIP | 7-Zip (WebAssembly) | Lossless | in browser Files are kept; archive comments, permissions or encryption may not be. |
Sources
From WebAssembly engines (ImageMagick, FFmpeg, Pandoc, 7-Zip, GDAL, Assimp, resvg), Just Solve the File Format Problem (File Formats Wiki), PRONOM, Wikidata. Updated 2026-10-25.