What is a .Z file?
Z is a file squeezed with classic Unix compress, the LZW tool that predates gzip. Analyser decompresses it in the browser so you can open the file inside.
- Did you know
- Unix compress and its .Z files date to 1984; patent worries over its LZW algorithm spurred the creation of gzip.
- The .Z format uses the LZW algorithm, which was independently implemented by Spencer Thomas at the University of Utah without realising a patent was pending on it.
- Royalty demands over the underlying LZW patent, later held by Unisys, helped drive users towards the patent-free gzip and its .gz files.
- What Analyser shows you
- Browse the file tree and compression details of archives without extracting them: ZIP in pure JavaScript, and RAR, 7z, TAR and compressed tarballs (.tar.gz / .tgz, .tar.xz, .tar.zst, .tar.bz2) through a bundled libarchive engine - click any file inside to analyse it. A single compressed stream (.gz, .xz, .zst, .lz4, .lzma, .Z) is decompressed so the file within can be opened; bare .bz2 streams are identified only.
- Open a .Z file
- Drag a .Z file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It opens entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.