Convert Z to GZ

Z to GZ converterFREE

Drop a .Z file here

or pick one - we convert it to .GZ and give you the file to download

How to convert Z to GZ

Both .Z and .gz are lossless; the decompressed content is byte-for-byte identical after conversion.
.Z files often contain a tar archive (.tar.Z); after converting you get a .tar.gz that unpacks normally on any modern system.
The znew utility ships with the gzip package - you do not need the old compress program installed to use it.

Does converting Z to GZ change anything inside the file?

No - both formats are lossless. Only the compression wrapper changes; the decompressed content is identical.

Can I convert .tar.Z to .tar.gz in one step?

Yes - run znew file.tar.Z on Linux or macOS; it produces file.tar.gz without unpacking the tar layer.

Is GZ always smaller than Z?

Almost always. gzip (DEFLATE) typically produces slightly smaller output than Unix compress (LZW), especially for text and source code.

Can gzip read .Z files directly?

Yes - gzip -d file.Z works because gzip recognises the .Z magic bytes and decompresses LZW without needing the old compress program.

Learn about the formats: .Z · .GZ

Programs that convert Z: ALZip