What is a .LZ file?
The file extension .LZ indicates a Lzip Compressed File. This type of file is an archive that has been compressed using Lzip, which is a software application designed for lossless data compression. Lossless means that when the file is uncompressed, all the original data is restored without any loss of information. Lzip utilizes the LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain) algorithm, which is known for providing high compression ratios, often better than what you can achieve with bzip2, another compression tool.
Additionally, Lzip files include a 32-bit CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) checksum. This checksum is a form of verification used to ensure that the data within the file has not been corrupted during the compression process. It checks the integrity of the data when you decompress the file, helping to confirm that the decompressed file is exactly the same as the original.
To open a file with the .LZ extension, you can use several programs, but the primary tool recommended is Lzip itself. Lzip is specifically designed to work with its own format and provides the most reliable handling of these files. Another option for Mac users is Keka, which is a file archiver that supports multiple compression formats including Lzip. Both of these programs allow you to decompress .LZ files to access the original data stored inside.
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