XZ Utils
The facts below are what the maker publishes about XZ Utils, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
The facts
Each one read from XZ Utils's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Bindings
- The project lists bindings for Python, Perl, Haskell, Delphi, and Free Pascal.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Components
- It includes the liblzma compression library, the xz command line tool, the decompression-only xzdec tool, and shell scripts for viewing, searching, and comparing compressed files.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Compression library
- liblzma provides a general-purpose compression API similar to zlib and supports .xz, .lzma, and raw streams.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Current release
- The site lists XZ Utils 5.8.3, released 2026-03-31, and says it fixes a minor security issue affecting all stable releases.checked 8 Oct 2026
- File format
- The .xz format supports streaming, limited random access, chained filters, integrity checks, concatenation, and padding; it does not provide archiving capabilities.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Format features
- The .xz format supports streaming, limited random-access reading, filter chaining, integrity checks, concatenation, and padding.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Format limitation
- The .xz format is a container for compressed streams and has no archiving capability; each stream holds a single file.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The project describes XZ Embedded as a small .xz decompressor developed with the Linux kernel in mind and usable in other projects.checked 8 Oct 2026
- License
- Core components from version 5.5.2beta onward use the BSD Zero Clause License (0BSD), while some scripts and build files use other free software licenses.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Licensing
- Since version 5.5.2beta, core components use the BSD Zero Clause License; some other parts use licenses including LGPLv2.1, GPLv2, or GPLv3.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Maintenance
- The v5.8 stable branch is maintained; v5.6, v5.4, and v5.2 receive critical fixes only, and v5.0 is unmaintained.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- XZ Utils is a C99 implementation of the .xz file format.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Security
- The security page reports a buffer overflow affecting XZ Utils 5.8.2 and older, under conditions the project says likely do not occur in real-world applications.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Security incident
- The site reports that XZ Utils 5.6.0 and 5.6.1 release tarballs contained a backdoor inserted by a malicious co-maintainer, disclosed on 2024-03-29 as CVE-2024-3094.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Security reporting
- The project asks people to report security issues privately by email, encrypted if possible, or through GitHub's vulnerability reporting feature.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Support
- The project accepts bug reports through GitHub, email, or IRC, and asks that security issues be reported privately by email or through GitHub's vulnerability reporting feature.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Supported formats
- The tools support the .xz format and the legacy .lzma format.checked 8 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Platforms
- The supported-platform list includes GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows, among other operating systems.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Supported platforms
- The project lists GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows, and numerous other operating systems as supported platforms.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Windows binaries
- The site offers XZ Utils 5.8.3 Windows binaries and says they should work on Windows 10 and later; future binary releases are uncertain.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Windows downloads
- The site offers Windows 5.8.3 binaries and says they should work on Windows 10 and later; it says future binary releases are uncertain.checked 8 Oct 2026
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