Sample code for 30+ languages & platforms
Lianja

Compress a File to Gzip with Custom Metadata

See more Gzip Examples

This example demonstrates how to use the CompressFile method to create a Gzip (.gz) file while customizing the metadata embedded in the Gzip header.

Before compression, several properties are set:

  • Comment: Adds a descriptive comment to the Gzip file.
  • Filename: Specifies the filename to embed in the Gzip data, which may be used by extraction tools as the default output name.
  • CompressionLevel: Controls the tradeoff between compression ratio and speed (set to maximum in this example).
  • LastModStr: Sets the last-modified timestamp using an RFC 822 formatted date string.

After setting these properties, the input file is compressed and written to a .gz file. This approach allows you to embed meaningful metadata along with the compressed data.

Chilkat Lianja Downloads

Lianja
llSuccess = .F.

// This example demonstrates how to compress a file to Gzip format
// while setting custom metadata such as comment, filename,
// compression level, and last-modified date.

loGzip = createobject("CkGzip")

// Set custom Gzip properties:
loGzip.Comment = "Example Gzip file created with Chilkat"
loGzip.Filename = "custom_name.txt"
loGzip.CompressionLevel = 9
loGzip.LastModStr = "Wed, 1 Apr 2025 12:45:26 -0500"

// The file to be compressed:
lcInputFile = "example.txt"
lcOutputFile = "example.txt.gz"

// Compress the file:
llSuccess = loGzip.CompressFile(lcInputFile,lcOutputFile)
if (llSuccess = .F.) then
    ? loGzip.LastErrorText
    release loGzip
    return
endif

? "Compression successful."
? "Gzip file created: " + lcOutputFile


release loGzip