xz

Additional Notes

xz is an archive command used to compress or decompress files using XZ compression. It compresses files using the LZMA algorithm, offering high compression ratios often better than gzip or bzip2.

Use -T0 to utilize all CPU cores. XZ compresses very tightly but is slower than gzip; xz -d decompresses, and unxz is an alias.

Syntax

xz [options] [archive] [files...]

Parameters

• options: Flags that change how xz behaves.
• archive: Archive or compressed file to read, create, or extract.
• files: Files or directories that should be included or processed.

Common Options

• -d: Decompress.
• -k: Keep input files.
• -T0: Use all available CPU threads when supported.
• -9: Use high compression.

Examples

xz file.img
xz -d file.img.xz
xz -T0 -9 backup.tar

Practical Notes

XZ can compress very well but may be slower than gzip.