---
name: "znew"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
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** \[**-9fKtv**\] *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:

- **-9**

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

- **-f**

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

- **-K**

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

- **-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.

## SEE ALSO

[compress(1)](/compress/1.md), [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 will be unable to do so and **znew** will print a warning.