# How to open a .gz file? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440 "2018-03-12T18:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/1 "2018-03-12T18:05:50Z")
I am trying to view a compressed .tif map from the US Geological Survey. It downloads as a large .gz file They say to use gZip from [gzip.org](http://gzip.org). It is a self extracting file. When I unzip it I do get a gZip executable but it doesn’t do much. It is an odd shaped icon, It is an old MS-Dos file. WinZip is supposed to open .gz but doesn’t seems to be freeware. There has to be a decent .gz decoder somewhere. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/2 "2018-03-12T18:08:29Z")
that probably came from a Unix/Linux system. 7-zip should be able to open it. edit: [link.](https://www.7-zip.org) it’s all I use any more. forget WinZip. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/3 "2018-03-12T19:04:40Z")
The page at [gzip.org](http://gzip.org) is quite out of date, but if you read further on it, it actually recommends 7-zip or WinZip for extracting its files on Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/4 "2018-03-12T20:18:29Z")
Doesn’t Windows come with a built-in utility for unzipping files? I’d be surprised if it doesn’t, at least, and surprised in turn if it can’t handle a format as common as gz. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/5 "2018-03-12T21:49:14Z")
The advantage of 7-zip over plain gzip is that 7-zip will open a bunch of ZIP formats, including gzip, while the latter only uncompresses gzipped files. 7-zip also smoothly integrates with the Windows Explorer and is free. Windows does ship with a bunch of command-line utilities; perhaps one of them understands .gz? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/6 "2018-03-13T01:46:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Doesn’t Windows come with a built-in utility for unzipping files? I’d be surprised if it doesn’t, at least, and surprised in turn if it can’t handle a format as common as gz. > [@DPRK](#): > > Windows does ship with a bunch of command-line utilities; perhaps one of them understands .gz? And the answer to these questions is **no** - Windows supports ZIP (as in pkZip archives) and their own CAB format archives, but not _gz_ ---
**Author:** ![GottaBeMeh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/57b2e6/32.png) [@GottaBeMeh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GottaBeMeh)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/7 "2018-03-13T14:28:47Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > When I unzip it I do get a gZip executable but\*\* it doesn’t do much\*\*. It is an odd shaped icon, It is an old MS-Dos file. That’s a console application. Sounds like you’re just double clicking the .exe file. Bring up a cmd prompt and run it from there. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-open-a-gz-file/810440/8 "2018-03-13T14:58:55Z")
The usage is ```auto gzip -dk myfile.gz ``` This will decompress myfile.gz into a new file “myfile” (the same name with the “.gz” extension removed). This assumes gzip is in a directory in your PATH, and you have done a cd into the directory containing myfile.gz.