Opening GZ Files

The GZ file type is primarily associated with Gzip.

GZ	File extension: GZ
	File type:	compressed archive

What is a GZ file?

GZ files mostly belong to Gzip by The GNU Project. The GZ format is associated with the GNU compressed file archives meant for the Unix and Linux platforms. The GZ format is an open format that follows the compression standards and encoding specifications of the The GNU Project defined for the GZ format. The format uses the GNU ZIP Compression Algorithm (GZIP).

History: The GZ file and the GZIP compression technology was primarily developed for use in Unix and Linux systems, although a few Windows based systems are also compatible with the standard. The compression technology was developed by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler in 1992.
Features: GZIP technology can be used to compress single files, folders, as well as groups of files or folders into a single GZ archive. GZ files are quite often found in a double extension shared with TAR files (e:TAR.GZ) where the resultant tarball is the archive which has been compressed using the GZIP algorithm.
Availability: Windows users can use any popular decompression utility (such as WinZip) to open these files. MacOS users can similarly use MacOS-compatible decompression tools.

How to open a GZ file

You need a suitable software like Gzip to open a GZ file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your GZ file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a GZ file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online GZ File Viewer

Choose your .gz file to view

or drag and drop it here

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How to extract texts from GZ files or capture a screenshot to PDF, JPG, DOCX, TXT, ...

You can extract texts from GZ file or capture a preview screenshot using our online GZ file viewer:

To do this, click the button "Choose your .gz file to view" on this page.
After your file is opened in browser,
click "Save as..." in the menu.
Then choose the file format (e.g. JPG, PDF, DOCX, TXT, ...) you want.
Your file will be converted and downloaded.

Programs that open and convert GZ files:

Gzip by The GNU Project
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. GZ files are often referred to as Gzip compresseds because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
GIMP (image file) by The GIMP Team
The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages. This file format is classified as Vector Image. Related links: CKNOW GIMP Info
PeaZip (compressed archive) by PeaZip
PeaZip is a free compressing and decompressing program developed by Giorgio Tani. It supports several compression extensions, with a special feature of handling open-formats. Other than archiving and extracting PeaZip also allows the user to change the type of file, set size limits and encrypt data. PeaZip is available on Windows, Linux and BSD. Pzip uses the GZ extension for its compressed files. This file format is classified as Compressed. Related links: PeaZip Wikipedia Page, PeaZip
WinRAR (compressed comic book) by WinRar
WinRAR is a file archiving program that compresses files and groups them into one single archive. It supports all popular compression formats and encrypts archives with 256 bit of password encryption. WinRAR is able to compress executable, multimedia and library files with efficiency. WinRAR can decompress files with the CBR extension. This file format is classified as Compressed. Related links: WinRAR Wikipedia Page
WinZip (compressed archive) by Corel
WinZip is a file compressing and archiving program for Windows. This program grants users to compress and extract file archives and also create data backups. It has support for various compressed file formats.WinZip has AES encryption and password protection security consolidated to make data encryption possible and secure. WinZip uses the GZ extension to compress and archive data. This file format is classified as Compressed. Related links: WinZip Wikipedia Page, A Guide to File Compression by WinZip

GZ file format details:

The file format, which is the arrangement and type of data in a file, determines which program can open the file. A file format is determined by the file extension and signature, so JPEG images have the extension .jpg and the first bytes in the file are ÿØÿ. If the file extension does not match the file format, double-clicking on the file will cause an error upon opening. When there is a problem with a file, the first step to solving it is to determine the file format. Our evaluation of the GZ files is as follows:

GZ is a very commonly used file extension and contains well-defined data in an established structure that can be read by various programs. The two most popular formats are as follows:

95% of all GZ files are GZipped data files, which are using the popular GZIP file format. Gzip is a compressed archive file format. Gzip (GNU zip) is only capable of compressing a single file. If you open these files in a text editor, you will see only illegible characters. A typical file size is 1 MB. The file type was developed 10 years ago and is still in use today. Such GZ files store data about fastq, genomic, data, brats, mideco, yahoo, flair and linux.
1% of all GZ files are using the well-known Mac2OSX file format to store the data. The Mac2OSX format is an AppleDouble format and originally used to store additional metadata on Unix systems. These are binary files, so they do not contain words or text. The file size is in the range of 170 bytes to 330 bytes. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. Mac OS X, ATTR, com.apple.lastuseddate#PS and com.apple.quarantine. The file name ._la_029.nii.gz or ._hippocampus_001.nii.gz is characteristic of these files. These files can be linked to hippocampus, spleen, lung, pancreas and liver.

The remaining 4% of all GZ files are different files with different signatures, frequently e.g. zlib, ZIP, XML, HTML, JSON, TBI, BLAH, SIMPLE and Salted. They are often associated with fasta, phone, json, gene, trace, matrix or grch. Drag & drop your file here to see the file format and a preview of your GZ file!

Technical Data for GZ File Extension

File classification:

Compressed

Related files:

nii, fastq, qz, emz, gff, fna, tar, xes, gtf, mbz, zip, fasta, gr, jz, seb, dz, cpgz, fa, pz, tbi, tgz

Mime type:

application/gzip, application/gzip-compressed, application/gzipped

The following listing is compiled from the database produced by the 'Associate This!' program, selected data from the main FILExt database and file extension information submitted by users.

ProgramID: File.Gz, FileType: ZipGenius Gzip File, AppName: ZipGenius 1.4 Service Release 3

ProgramID: Frigate3.open, FileType: ZipMagic ZOO, AppName: Frigate3

ProgramID: GZip-Archiv, FileType: GZip archive, AppName: WinAce Archiver v2.5
EXEFile: WinAce.exe

ProgramID: PAGZIP, FileType: PowerArchiver GZIP File, AppName: The most powerful Freeware Archive Utility
EXEFile: POWERARC.EXE

ProgramID: PicoZip, FileType: PicoZip Archive, AppName: PicoZip
EXEFile: PicoZip.exe

ProgramID: PowerDesk Archive, FileType: PowerDesk Archive, AppName: PowerDesk

ProgramID: PowerDesk.Archive, FileType: PowerDesk.Archive, AppName: PowerDesk
EXEFile: PDExplo.exe

ProgramID: PowerDesk.Archive, FileType: PowerDesk.Archive, AppName: PowerDesk Pro

ProgramID: StuffIt.Compressed.File.Expand, FileType: StuffIt Compressed File, AppName: StuffIt for Windows 8.0
EXEFile: stuffit.exe

ProgramID: StuffItArchive, AppName: Aladdin Expander

ProgramID: WinRAR, FileType: WinRAR archive, AppName: WinRAR archiver
EXEFile: WinRAR.exe

ProgramID: WinZip, FileType: WinZip File, AppName: WinZip
EXEFile: winzip32.exe

ProgramID: WinZip, FileType: WinZip File, AppName: WinZip Executable
EXEFile: winzip32.exe

ProgramID: ZipMagic GZ

ProgramID: 7-Zip.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\7-Zip\7zFMn.exe %1

ProgramID: BitZipper.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\BitZipper\BITZIPPER.EXE %1

ProgramID: File.Gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ZipGenius 5\zipgenius.exe -open %1

ProgramID: GZip-Archiv
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\WinAce\WinAce.exe %1

ProgramID: JustZIPit_Archive
EXEFile: blank

ProgramID: JustZIPit_Archive
EXEFile: C:\Documents and Settings\Wayne\My Documents\AvatarSoft\JustZIPit\JustZIPit.exe %1

ProgramID: PAGZIP
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PowerArchiver\POWERARC.EXE %1

ProgramID: PicoZip.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PicoZip\PicoZip.exe %1

ProgramID: PowerDesk.Archive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Ontrack\PowerDesk\PDExplo.exe %1

ProgramID: PowerDesk.Archive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\VCOM\PowerDesk\PDExplo.exe %1

ProgramID: StuffIt.Compressed.File.Expand
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Aladdin Systems\StuffIt\\stuffit.exe -expand %1 -from_shell -override_open_tutorial

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PACKER\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Zippers\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: C:\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: D:\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: E:\WinRar 3.4\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: F:\utils\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: WinZip
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\SHAREW~1\WINZIP\winzip32.exe %1

ProgramID: WinZip
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\WinZip\winzip32.exe %1

ProgramID: WinZip
EXEFile: C:\DOCUME~1\ESTELA~1\MYDOCU~1\DEFAUL~1\WINZIP\winzip32.exe %1

ProgramID: WinZip
EXEFile: D:\EXTRA_~1\SMALLP~1\WINZIP9.0\winzip32.exe %1

ProgramID: WinZip
EXEFile: G:\SW\WINZIP\winzip32.exe %1

ProgramID: WinZip
EXEFile: Y:\WINZIP\winzip32.exe %1

ProgramID: StuffItArchive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Aladdin Systems\StuffIt 7.0\Expander\Expander.exe %1

ProgramID: WinRAR
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\WinRar 8\WinRar 8 beta\WinRAR.exe %1

ProgramID: File.Gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\!Ute\ZipGenius 5\zipgenius.exe -open %1

ProgramID: pkzipfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PKWARE\PKZIPW\PKZIPW.exe %1

ProgramID: StuffIt.Compressed.File.Expand
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Allume Systems\StuffIt\stuffit.exe -expand %1 -from_shell -override_open_tutorial

ProgramID: PAGZIP
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%r\PowerArchiver\POWERARC.EXE %1

ProgramID: IZArc
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\IZARC\IZARC.EXE %1

ProgramID: NetZIPFileType
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Netzip\Netzip.exe %l

ProgramID: ACDSee.GZ
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ACD Systems\ACDSee\ACDSee.exe %1

ProgramID: StuffIt.Compressed.File.Expand
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Aladdin Systems\StuffIt Standard\stuffit.exe -expand %1 -from_shell

ProgramID: QZ4..gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\QuickZip4\QuickZip.exe %1

ProgramID: Qzip.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\QuickZip\Quickzip.exe %1

ProgramID: StuffIt.Compressed.File.Expand
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Aladdin Systems\StuffIt 7.5\stuffit.exe -expand %1 -from_shell

ProgramID: TzTAR
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\TUGZip\TUGZip.exe %1

ProgramID: UltimateZip
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ULTIMA~1\uzip.exe %1

ProgramID: Filzip
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Filzip\Filzip.exe %1

ProgramID: 7-Zip.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\7-Zip\7zFM.exe %1

ProgramID: WinZip
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\UTILIT~1\WINZIP\winzip32.exe %1

ProgramID: MimarSinan Codex
EXEFile: %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /idlist,%I,%L

ProgramID: ExtractNow
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ExtractNow\extractnow.exe

ProgramID: JustZIPit_Archive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\JustZIPit\JustZIPit.exe

ProgramID: IZArcGZ
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\IZArc\IZArc.exe

ProgramID: ICEOWSDoc
EXEFile: rundll32 %SystemRoot%\system32\ShellExt\IceGUI.dll,RouteTheCall

ProgramID: uz.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ULTIMA~1\uzip.exe

ProgramID: PowerDesk.Archive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PowerDesk\PDExplo.exe

ProgramID: PAGZIP
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Accessories\PowerArchiver\POWERARC.EXE

ProgramID: ALZip.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ESTsoft\ALZip\ALZip.exe

ProgramID: GZip-Archiv
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\WinAce.exe

ProgramID: File.Gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ZipGenius 6\zipgenius.exe -open

ProgramID: JustZIPit_Archive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\AvatarSoft\JustZIPit\JustZIPit.exe

ProgramID: UltimateZip
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\UltimateZip 2.7\uzip.exe

ProgramID: StuffIt.Compressed.File.Expand
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Smith Micro\StuffIt\stuffit.exe -expand -from_shell -override_open_tutorial

ProgramID: ACDSee 9.0.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ACD Systems\ACDSee\9.0\ACDSeeQV.exe

ProgramID: pkarchive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\PKWARE\PKZIPW4\pkzipw.exe

ProgramID: EasyZip.Document
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles% PER UFFICIO\EASYZIP.EXE

ProgramID: Filzip
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Filzip\Filzip.exe

ProgramID: GZip-Archiv
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\WinAce.exe

ProgramID: StuffItArchive
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Aladdin Systems\StuffIt 7.0.2\Expander\Expander.exe

ProgramID: pkzipfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\_WWWUT~1\Security\Mail\PKWARE\PKZIPW\PKZIPW.exe

ProgramID: StuffIt11.Archive.Open.Generic
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Smith Micro\StuffIt11\StuffIt11.exe -o

ProgramID: ACDSee 7.0.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\ACD Systems\ACDSee\7.0\ACDSee7.exe

ProgramID: IZArcGZ
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\IZArc\IZArc.exe

ProgramID: LhaplusArchive_gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Lhaplus\Lhaplus.exe

ProgramID: 7-Zip.gz
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Utilities\7-Zip\7zFM.exe

Show all 82 listings To Top

a gz compressed archive is a special file format by The GNU Project and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.

How to solve problems with GZ files

Associate the GZ file extension with the correct application.
Update your software that should actually open compressed archives. Because only the current version supports the latest GZ file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the The GNU Project manufacturer website after an available Gzip update.
To make sure that your GZ file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
Click here to open your .GZ file online - secure, fast, and no downloads needed.