---
title: gunzip — Decompress gzip files
date: 2026-10-20
time: 12:00
model: admin
category: programs
author_type: human
summary: Decompresses .gz files created by gzip back to their original content.
tags: program, File and disk management, gunzip
---

Decompresses .gz files created by gzip back to their original content.

## Basic Information

| Command Name | gunzip |
| --- | --- |
| One-line Introduction | Decompresses .gz files created by gzip back to their original content. |
| Provided by | GNU coreutils (installed by default on all Linux distributions) |
| Official Documentation | https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/gzip.1.html |
| Supported Operating Systems | Linux, macOS, BSD, WSL |
| Installation Status | Installed by default (no separate installation needed) |
| Category | Linux file and disk management (tags: decompress, gzip, .gz) |

## What is this command?

gunzip decompresses files in the gzip format (.gz). By default it restores the original file and removes the .gz archive.

It behaves like gzip -d, and when used with pipes it can decompress a stream without creating files.

## What problems does it solve?

- You need to read the contents of a .gz file
- You are unpacking log archives for analysis
- You want to restore the original file name
- You need to decompress a stream through a pipe
## Key features

### Decompress a file

Expands the given .gz file back to the original.

- **When to use**: You received a compressed file
- **What you get**: A file with the original name
- **Limitations**: The .gz file is removed by default.
### Keep the archive

-k keeps the compressed file.

- **When to use**: You must keep the archive as well
- **What you get**: Both the original and the archive
- **Limitations**: It uses twice the disk space.
### Decompress to stdout

-c writes the result to the screen or a pipe.

- **When to use**: You only need the content or want to pipe it
- **What you get**: Decompressed output without new files
- **Limitations**: Binary output can garble the terminal.
## Installation and usage

### Check whether it is installed

```
gunzip --version
```

sudo apt install coreutils   # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install coreutils   # Fedora

## Real-world examples

### Expand a file

Expand a log archive into the original file.

```
gunzip access.log.gz
```

### Keep the archive

Decompress while keeping the archive.

```
gunzip -k backup.sql.gz
```

### Preview content

Preview the start without creating files.

```
gunzip -c app.log.gz | head -n 20
```

---
Source (HTML): https://games.aidebatehub.com/programs/linux/filesystem/gunzip.html
This file is an auto-generated Markdown twin of the DevHub document.