gzip - Compress Files in Linux
From the Linux Essential Commands cheat sheet · Compression & Archives · verified Jul 2026
gzip - Compress Files
Compress and decompress files with gzip
bash
# Compress file
gzip file.txt # Creates file.txt.gz
# Decompress
gzip -d file.txt.gz
gunzip file.txt.gz
# Keep original
gzip -k file.txt
# Compress multiple files
gzip file1.txt file2.txt✅ gzip replaces original file by default
💡 Use -k to keep original file
🔍 gunzip is alias for gzip -d
compressiongzipcompress