GZipStream Class
.NET Framework Class Library
GZipStream Class

Updated: August 2009

Provides methods and properties used to compress and decompress streams.

Namespace:  System.IO.Compression
Assembly:  System (in System.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Class GZipStream _
    Inherits Stream
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim instance As GZipStream
C#
public class GZipStream : Stream
Visual C++
public ref class GZipStream : public Stream
JScript
public class GZipStream extends Stream

This class represents the gzip data format, which uses an industry standard algorithm for lossless file compression and decompression. The format includes a cyclic redundancy check value for detecting data corruption. The gzip data format uses the same algorithm as the DeflateStream class, but can be extended to use other compression formats. The format can be readily implemented in a manner not covered by patents. This class cannot be used to compress files larger than 4 GB.

Compressed GZipStream objects written to a file with an extension of .gz can be decompressed using many common compression tools; however, this class does not inherently provide functionality for adding files to or extracting files from .zip archives.

The compression functionality in DeflateStream and GZipStream is exposed as a stream. Data is read in on a byte-by-byte basis, so it is not possible to perform multiple passes to determine the best method for compressing entire files or large blocks of data. The DeflateStream and GZipStream classes are best used on uncompressed sources of data. If the source data is already compressed, using these classes may actually increase the size of the stream.

Notes to Inheritors:

When you inherit from GZipStream, you must override the following members: CanSeek, CanWrite, and CanRead.

The following example shows how to use the GZipStream class to compress and decompress a directory of files.

Visual Basic
Imports System.IO
Imports System.IO.Compression
Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        ' Path to directory of files to compress.
        Dim dirpath As String = "c:\users\public\reports"

        Dim di As DirectoryInfo = New DirectoryInfo(dirpath)


        ' Compress the directory's files.
        For Each fi As FileInfo In di.GetFiles()
            Compress(fi)
        Next

        ' Decompress all *.gz files in the directory.
        For Each fi As FileInfo In di.GetFiles("*.gz")
            Decompress(fi)
        Next

    End Sub

    ' Method to compress.
    Private Sub Compress(ByVal fi As FileInfo)
        ' Get the stream of the source file.
        Using inFile As FileStream = fi.OpenRead()
            ' Compressing:
            ' Prevent compressing hidden and already compressed files.

            If (File.GetAttributes(fi.FullName) And FileAttributes.Hidden) _
                <> FileAttributes.Hidden And fi.Extension <> ".gz" Then
                ' Create the compressed file.
                Using outFile As FileStream = File.Create(fi.FullName + ".gz")
                    Using Compress As GZipStream = New GZipStream(outFile, CompressionMode.Compress)
                        ' Copy the source file into the compression stream.
                        Dim buffer As Byte() = New Byte(4096) {}
                        Dim numRead As Integer
                        numRead = inFile.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
                        Do While numRead <> 0
                            Compress.Write(buffer, 0, numRead)
                            numRead = inFile.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
                        Loop

                        Console.WriteLine("Compressed {0} from {1} to {2} bytes.", _
                                          fi.Name, fi.Length.ToString(), outFile.Length.ToString())

                    End Using
                End Using
            End If
        End Using
    End Sub

    ' Method to decompress.
    Private Sub Decompress(ByVal fi As FileInfo)
        ' Get the stream of the source file.
        Using inFile As FileStream = fi.OpenRead()
            ' Get orignial file extension, for example "doc" from report.doc.gz.
            Dim curFile As String = fi.FullName
            Dim origName = curFile.Remove(curFile.Length - fi.Extension.Length)

            ' Create the decompressed file.
            Using outFile As FileStream = File.Create(origName)
                Using Decompress As GZipStream = New GZipStream(inFile, CompressionMode.Decompress)
                    ' Copy the compressed file into the decompression stream.
                    Dim buffer As Byte() = New Byte(4096) {}
                    Dim numRead As Integer
                    numRead = Decompress.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
                    Do While numRead <> 0
                        outFile.Write(buffer, 0, numRead)
                        numRead = Decompress.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
                    Loop
                    Console.WriteLine("Decompressed: {0}", fi.Name)

                End Using
            End Using
        End Using
    End Sub
End Module
C#
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Compression;

namespace zip
{

    public class Program
    {

        public static void Main()
        {
            // Path to directory of files to compress and decompress.
            string dirpath = @"c:\users\public\reports";

            DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(dirpath);

            // Compress the directory's files.
            foreach (FileInfo fi in di.GetFiles())
            {
                Compress(fi);

            }

            // Decompress all *.gz files in the directory.
            foreach (FileInfo fi in di.GetFiles("*.gz"))
            {
                Decompress(fi);

            }


        }

        public static void Compress(FileInfo fi)
        {
            // Get the stream of the source file.
            using (FileStream inFile = fi.OpenRead())
            {
                // Prevent compressing hidden and already compressed files.
                if ((File.GetAttributes(fi.FullName) & FileAttributes.Hidden)
                        != FileAttributes.Hidden & fi.Extension != ".gz")
                {
                    // Create the compressed file.
                    using (FileStream outFile = File.Create(fi.FullName + ".gz"))
                    {
                        using (GZipStream Compress = new GZipStream(outFile,
                                CompressionMode.Compress))
                        {
                            // Copy the source file into the compression stream.
                            byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
                            int numRead;
                            while ((numRead = inFile.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
                            {
                                Compress.Write(buffer, 0, numRead);
                            }
                            Console.WriteLine("Compressed {0} from {1} to {2} bytes.",
                                fi.Name, fi.Length.ToString(), outFile.Length.ToString());
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        public static void Decompress(FileInfo fi)
        {
            // Get the stream of the source file.
            using (FileStream inFile = fi.OpenRead())
            {
                // Get original file extension, for example "doc" from report.doc.gz.
                string curFile = fi.FullName;
                string origName = curFile.Remove(curFile.Length - fi.Extension.Length);

                //Create the decompressed file.
                using (FileStream outFile = File.Create(origName))
                {
                    using (GZipStream Decompress = new GZipStream(inFile,
                            CompressionMode.Decompress))
                    {
                        //Copy the decompression stream into the output file.
                        byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
                        int numRead;
                        while ((numRead = Decompress.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
                        {
                            outFile.Write(buffer, 0, numRead);
                        }
                        Console.WriteLine("Decompressed: {0}", fi.Name);

                    }
                }
            }
        }

    }
}
System..::.Object
  System..::.MarshalByRefObject
    System.IO..::.Stream
      System.IO.Compression..::.GZipStream
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0

Date

History

Reason

August 2009

Improved code example.

Information enhancement.

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one of the worst/unintuitive example code i've read...      Mythz   |   Edit   |   Show History
You really should put this through some kind of QA process.
The API is also badly designed, why aren't there two different classes GZipStream/GUnzipStream??

Anyways after having gone through the examples on the web and using them to work out exactly how to use this thing, i've come up with this:

public class GZipTest
{
public static byte[] Compress(byte[] uncompressedBuffer)
{
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
using (GZipStream gzip = new GZipStream(ms, CompressionMode.Compress, true))
{
gzip.Write(uncompressedBuffer, 0, uncompressedBuffer.Length);
}
byte[] compressedBuffer = ms.ToArray();
return compressedBuffer;
}
}

public static byte[] Decompress(byte[] compressedBuffer)
{
using (GZipStream gzip = new GZipStream(new MemoryStream(compressedBuffer), CompressionMode.Decompress))
{
byte[] uncompressedBuffer = ReadAllBytes(gzip);
return uncompressedBuffer;
}
}

private static byte[] ReadAllBytes(Stream stream)
{
byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
int bytesRead = 0;
do
{
bytesRead = stream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
if (bytesRead > 0)
{
ms.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
}
} while (bytesRead > 0);

return ms.ToArray();
}
}
}

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Nice...a slight suggestion      G1   |   Edit   |   Show History

Sweet!

I would leave optimization to the compiler, myself, and not bother with buffering the ReadAllBytes method...laziness. (and create a ToArray() or ToMemoryStream() extension method on Stream, itself. Extension methods really help plug some huge holes!

const int EndOfStream = -1;
private static byte[] ReadAllBytes(Stream stream)
{
using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
{
for (int b = stream.ReadByte(); b != EndOfStream; b = stream.ReadByte())
ms.WriteByte((byte) b);
return ms.ToArray();
}
}

How to zip a directory      JDC South Carolina   |   Edit   |   Show History
Any suggestions on how to zip an entire directory using GZipStream?
I'm currently using java.util.zip classes in the vjslib.dll. It works well but I'd rather avoid using an outside library if I can avoid it.

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creating or manipulating Zip files      cheeso   |   Edit   |   Show History
There are 2 problems with this class.
  1. It does not handle ZIP files.
  2. It is dysfunctional, can actually inflate data in "compression". There's something wrong with the logic. It's a known problem but as yet unfixed.
On the first item, the Deflate compression algorithm is what is used in .zip files. A GZIP stream is just a DEFLATEd stream with a header and trailer surrounding it. A zip file is a set of DEFLATEd streams with metadata surrounding all of them. This class helps you read or write a GZIP stream, but it will not help you read or write a zip file. A GZIP file (sometimes with the extension .gz) is not the same thing as a ZIP file. Similar ideas but not the same thing.

The java.util.zip classes do handle .zip files. These classes are available through the VJ# runtime. But, there are a few problems with them: (1) the java classes are unwieldy to use in .NET. There are no progress events, for example. The enumeration is all Java-esque. etc.; (2) there are a bunch of bugs in those classes that have not been and will not be fixed in the VJ# runtime; (3) the VJ# runtime is huge; (4) The VJ# runtime is no longer supported! (not shipped with VS2008).

There is a good 3rd party library, though, that solves all these problems: DotNetZip. It provides a GZipStream that NEVER inflates your data, and actually deflates it substantially better than the built-in class. Also, DotNetZip can read and write .zip files.

Find it at:
http://www.codeplex.com/DotNetZip

It's free to use. It is written in C#, but you can use it from any language. It works in Winforms apps, console apps, ASP.NET apps, Powershell, anything you write in .NET. Fast, good compression (better than the built-in GZipStream). Easy to use. You'll find lots of examples on that site.
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ZLIB Compression      cheeso   |   Edit   |   Show History
One more thing - if you are looking to handle Zlib Compression (IETF RFC 1950), that is in DotNetZip, too. There is a ZlibStream class to handle it nicely. Works very similarly to the GZipStream class.
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Re: Nice...a slight suggestion      A.Clarke   |   Edit   |   Show History
>I would leave optimization to the compiler, myself, and not bother with buffering the ReadAllBytes method

Doing it that way without a buffer will be much much slower.
I timed both the code you provide and original posters code - and without a buffer of at least 1024bytes - the code ran 3 times slower for a sample 25mb file.

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what a poor example      schbraier ... cheeso   |   Edit   |   Show History
byte[] decompressedBuffer = new byte[buffer.Length + buffer_size];

wtf is that? the buffer for the unpacked data is generated with information that should not be available to the decompression method and a random constant.

Make sure you read these two posts      Matthew Rowan   |   Edit   |   Show History

Using GZipStream for Compression in .NET [Brian Grunkemeyer] http://blogs.msdn.com/bclteam/archive/2005/06/15/429542.aspx

Gives the nice clean code for Compress and Decompress methods

Using a MemoryStream with GZipStream [Lakshan Fernando] http://blogs.msdn.com/bclteam/archive/2006/05/10/592551.aspx

To explain the very unintuitive aspect of this stream

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Reading a Gzip (.gz) file      grazam   |   Edit   |   Show History

If you just want to read a gzip-compressed file stream, you can use stream composition:


  
using (var reader = new System.IO.StreamReader
(new System.IO.Compression.GZipStream
(new System.IO.FileStream(path, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read),
System.IO.Compression.CompressionMode.Decompress))) {
string line;
while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null) {
System.Console.WriteLine(line);
}
}
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objCompressedStream.Length not supported      oops.uvj   |   Edit   |   Show History

Hi,
I am doing like this:
GZipStream objCompressedStream = new GZipStream(objmod, CompressionMode.Compress, true);
objCompressedStream.Write(btReadArray, 0, aiNo_of_bytes_read);

Now when I am trying to get length of objCompressedStream using objCompressedStream.Length property it throws exception that operation is not supported.

Can anyone suggest the alternatives or some way to get the length of compressed stream

Thanks

Using GZipStream to read compressed XML      HexWizard   |   Edit   |   Show History
The example from the help really confuses things. I had a simple requirement to use XElement.Load to load an XMLdocument from a compressed file rather than from a regular file. Against a regular XML file this is easy:

Dim doc as XElement
doc = XElement.Load("testdata.xml")

In the end I found that doing this with a GZipStream was easy, but not until after I had wasted a load of time using the ReadAllBytes function to read the output from the GZipStream to a MemoryStream and then feeding that MemoryStream as a StreamReader to XElement.Load. This was bugging me- why not put the uncompressed output from the GZipStream straight into the StreamReader for XElement.Load. It works and this is the code I used:

Dim infile as FileStream' infile is the testdata.xml.gz file
Dim Decompressed as GZipStream' The output byte stream of uncompressed data
Dim charsDecompressed as StreamReader' The TextReader character input required by XElement.Load()
' A TextReader cannot be used as it is an abstract base class

Try
infile = New FileStream("testdata.xml.gz", FileMode.Open)
Decompressed = New GZipStream(infile, CompressionMode.Decompress)
charsDecompressed = New StreamReader(Decompressed)
SRD = XElement.Load(charsDecompressed)
charsDecompressed.Dispose()
infile.Close()
Catch ex As XmlException
' The XML itself was not properly formed
MessageBox.Show("The file appears to be corrupt.", "Fatal error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
Return False

Catch ex As InvalidDataException
' The decompression process failed somehow
MessageBox.Show("Extraction error while loading data file.", "Fatal error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
Return False

Catch ex As FileNotFoundException
' File could not be found
MessageBox.Show("The testdata.xml.gz file could not be found, "Fatal error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
Return False

Catch ex As Exception
' Catch everything else
MessageBox.Show("An unexpected error occurred: " & ex.Message, "Unknown error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
Return False

End Try






Big files will throw a System.OutOfMemory exception      Dave3182   |   Edit   |   Show History
Here was my solution:

FileStream

sourceStream = File.OpenRead(file.FullName);

FileInfo destFile = newFileInfo(ArchiveLocation + nsyskey.ToString() + ".gz");

FileStream destStream = File.Create(destFile.FullName);

GZipStream compressedzipStream =

new GZipStream(destStream, CompressionMode.Compress, true);

bool isError = false;

byte[] buffer = newbyte[0];

FileStream infile;

try

{

constint MAX_BUFFER_SIZE = 100000;

// Read the file to ensure it is readable.

int start = 0;

int last = System.Convert.ToInt32(infile.Length);

int bufferSize = MAX_BUFFER_SIZE;

while (start < last)

{

if (start + MAX_BUFFER_SIZE > last)

{

bufferSize = last - start;

}

buffer =

newbyte[bufferSize];

int count = infile.Read(buffer, 0, bufferSize);

if (count != bufferSize)

{

infile.Close();

compressedzipStream.Close();

Console.WriteLine("Test Failed: Unable to read data from file");

return;

}

compressedzipStream.Write(buffer, 0, bufferSize);

start += bufferSize;

}

}

finally

{

infile.Close();

compressedzipStream.Close();

}

Decompression was very similar expect you convert the last 4 bytes to be your last and read from the gzipstream and write to the filestream

ZipStorer: A Pure C# Class to Store Files in Zip      jaime_olivares   |   Edit   |   Show History

Notice DeflateStream cannot read/write a .zip file directly (neither GZipStream)
ZipStorer library provides support for Zip files for .net and .net compact frameworks in a simple and monolithic class: http://zipstorer.codeplex.com
Also non-compressed storage support for Silverlight.

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