┌─ FILE ANALYSIS ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┐
│ DEVELOPER : Antonio Diaz Diaz
│ CATEGORY : Archive
│ MIME TYPE : application/lzip
│ MAGIC BYTES : 4C5A4950
└ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┘
What is an LZ file?
Lzip is a lossless data compressor based on the LZMA algorithm, designed as a cleaner alternative to gzip and bzip2. It features a simple, well-defined format with CRC-32 integrity checking and member-based structure for safe concatenation and parallel decompression. Lzip is valued for long-term archiving due to its data recovery capabilities.
How to open LZ files
- lzip (Linux, macOS) —
lzip -d file.lz - 7-Zip (Windows) — Free
- plzip (Linux) — Parallel lzip decompression
- PeaZip (Windows, Linux) — Free GUI
Technical specifications
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Algorithm | LZMA |
| Integrity | CRC-32 per member |
| Recovery | Member-based structure allows partial recovery |
| Dictionary Size | Up to 512 MiB |
| Parallel | Supported via plzip |
Common use cases
- Archiving: Long-term data preservation.
- Source distribution: GNU project source tarballs.
- Backup: Reliable compressed backups with integrity.
- Scientific data: Reproducible compression for datasets.