GNU Zip (or ''gzip'' for short) is a stream compression program (like the UNIX [compress] program), and not an archiver (like the DOS [pkzip] program) that uses an ''unpatented'' (and unpatentable) algorithm for its compression.  The program [bzip2] can compress even more, but takes more memory to do so.  The [zlib] library uses the same algorithms, and can be used to process or produce gzipped files (IIRC, though there might be a header too.)

This governed by two RFC's

   * RFC 1950 [http://www.gzip.org/zlib/rfc-zlib.html] - Zlib Compressed Data Format
   * RFC 1951 [http://www.gzip.org/zlib/rfc-deflate.html] - Deflate Compressed Data format
   * RFC 1952 [http://www.gzip.org/zlib/rfc-gzip.html] - Gzip File Format

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gzip


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[Category Application] |
[Category Compression]