---
name: "znew"
section: "1"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/znew"
---

# znew(1)

convert compressed files to gzipped files

## NAME

**znew** – convert compressed files to gzipped files

## SYNOPSIS

**znew** \[**-ftv9K**\] *file ...*

## DESCRIPTION

The **znew** utility uncompresses files compressed by [compress(1)](/compress/1.md) and recompresses them with [gzip(1)](/gzip/1.md).

The options are as follows:

- **-f**

  Overwrite existing ‘.gz’ files. Unless this option is specified, **znew** refuses to overwrite existing files.

- **-t**

  Test integrity of the gzipped file before deleting the original file. If the integrity check fails, the original ‘.Z’ file is not removed.

- **-v**

  Print a report specifying the achieved compression ratios.

- **-9**

  Use the -9 mode of [gzip(1)](/gzip/1.md), achieving better compression at the cost of slower execution.

- **-K**

  Keep the original ‘.Z’ file if it uses less disk blocks than the gzipped one. A disk block is 1024 bytes.

## SEE ALSO

[gzip(1)](/gzip/1.md)

## CAVEATS

The **znew** utility tries to maintain the file mode of the original file. If the original file is not writable, it is not able to do that and **znew** will print a warning.