GZIP File Format | .gz Extension

The Gz compressed file is also known as Gzip, it’s miles a broadly used record compression format. It makes use of the DEFLATE compression set of rules, which reduces the size of documents and data without dropping data integrity. Gzip is characterized via the .Gz record extension, and it’s normally used to compress single or multiple files right into a compressed archive.

Why use Gzip?

• File Compression: It is a tool that can make big files smaller and easier to work with.
• Web Content Delivery: It helps websites in sending data faster by making web pages smaller.
• Data Backup: It can be also used in data backup as it reduces the size of the files.

How to Run Gzip Compressed Format

To compress a file, you can use the following command:

gzip filename

To decompress a Gz file, you can use the following command:

gzip -d filename.gz

Benefits of Gzip Compressed Format

• It reduces the size of files.
• During the compression, no single data is lost.
• You can quickly transfer your data because of the smaller file size.
• It can be cost-saving by reducing data transfer and storage expenses.
• It is supported by most of the operating systems.

Limitations of Gzip Compressed Format

• It doesn’t have an encryption feature.
• It can only compress a single file at a time.
• You can’t access the data without decompressing it.
• If file size is large then it may take more time to compress and decompress.

Applications That Use Gzip Compressed Format

• Web servers use it to compress web content before transmitting it to clients.
• System administrators use it to compress and manage log files efficiently.
• Backup tools use it for storage of backups.
• It is also used in software package transmission to reduce download size.

Malware Concerns Associated with Gzip Compressed Format

Malware creators use Gzip to hide their harmful code inside compressed files so that antivirus programs can’t find it easily. Because of this, you should be careful when dealing with Gzip files from people or websites you don’t trust. To stay safe, it’s important to use good antivirus software and follow smart security rules.

Example of Gzip

Explanation of Example:

• ls command is used to show the current directory. Initially, there is a file named gfg.txt.
• By using gzip gfg.txt command we compress the gfg.txt files and it is replaced by a gfg.txt.gz compressed file.
• After that, we used gzip -d gfg.txt.gz command to decompress the file and then it was replaced by the gfg.txt file.