Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet

by Electronic Frontier Foundation

.gz A Unix version of ZIP. To uncompress, type

gunzip filename.gz

at your host system's command line.

.zoo or .ZOO A Unix and MS-DOS compression format. Use a program called zoo to uncompress

.Hqx or .hqx Mactintosh compression format. Requires the BinHex program.

.shar or Another Unix format. Use unshar to uncompress. .Shar

.tar Another Unix format, often used to compress several related files into one large file. Most Unix systems will have a program called tar for "un-tarring" such files. Often, a "tarred" file will also be compressed with the gz method, so you first have to use uncompress and then tar.

.sit or .Sit A Mactinosh format that requires the StuffIt program.

.ARC Another MS-DOS format, which requires the use of the ARC or ARCE programs.

.LHZ Another MS-DOS format; requires the use of LHARC.