| Extension | .lzh |
| Category | archives |
| Description | The LZH file format (short for Lempel-Ziv-Huffman) is a data compression format that was popular on Amiga computers and MS-DOS in the early 90s. It uses a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman algorithms to compress files, resulting in a high compression ratio.
It was especially popular in Japan and was often used to distribute software and games on computers of the era. Although it is not as widely used today, many modern archive utilities still support the LZH format.
LZH was one of the first archive formats to provide fairly efficient file compression, making it a popular choice for compressing programs, games, and other types of data at a time when Internet connections were slow and disk space was limited. |
| Technical details | Files with the .LZH or .LHA extension are archives compressed using the Lempel-Ziv-Huffman algorithm. This archive format was developed in Japan by Haruyuki Okamura in the early 1980s and became popular due to its high compression ratio and speed. This format has static and dynamic Huffman encoding.
LZH supports block compression, which allows you to extract part of the data without decompressing the entire archive. The format supports the ability to store file information such as name, size, date and attributes.
It is also supported by many data compression and archiving utilities, including WinRAR, 7-Zip and others. Capable of working with multiple files and directories, supporting multiple compression methods in one archive.
LZH was very popular during the heyday of the BBS (Bulletin Board System) and was often used to distribute software. Over time, the LZH format has become less popular, giving way to more modern archive formats such as RAR and ZIP, which offer better compression rates and additional security features. |
