gzip
| gzip (software) | |
|---|---|
| Original authors | |
| Developer | GNU Project |
| Initial release | 31 October 1992 |
| Stable release | 1.14
/ 9 April 2025 |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno |
| Type | Data compression |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Website | gnu.org/software/gzip gzip |
| Repository | savannah |
gzip is a file format and a file compression program. The program uses the Deflate algorithm to compress and decompress a single file using the gzip file format.
gzip was released in 1992 as a free software replacement for the compress program because its compression algorithm, LZW, was covered by patents from Unisys and IBM, which did not expire until 2003 and 2004. Jean-Loup Gailly designed the gzip file format, which was later specified by RFC 1952, and originally wrote the gzip program. Mark Adler wrote the decompression part. gzip is now developed by the GNU project.
As the file format can be decompressed via a streaming algorithm, it is commonly used in stream-based technology such as Web protocols, data interchange and ETL (in standard pipes).