LZIP Decompress

What is LZIP decompression?

LZIP decompression reverses the compression performed by LZIP Compress. It reads a Base64 or hex encoded LZIP stream and produces the original text.

LZIP is a container format built around LZMA, designed for long-term archiving and data recovery. The decoder needs roughly half the memory of an equivalent XZ stream, which is why lzip is preferred on low-memory systems.

How to use

Paste the Base64 or hex LZIP data, choose the matching input format, and press Decompress. The output is shown as text if it decodes to valid UTF-8, otherwise as hex so you can inspect the bytes.

The library detects the format from the magic bytes, so a Base64-encoded XZ or LZMA-Alone stream will also decompress correctly here. Only the input encoding needs to be set.

Why does decompression fail?

Four common reasons:

Wrong input format. Base64 and hex are different. If the data was produced as Base64 and you select hex, the parser produces the wrong byte sequence and the LZIP magic is missing.

Truncated data. LZIP has a member trailer with a CRC32 and size fields. Cutting off any part of the stream (usually during copy-paste) makes it unreadable.

Corrupted data. Each LZIP member carries a CRC32. If the checksum fails, the library reports an error. LZIP's format allows a decoder to skip a damaged member and recover the rest, but this tool surfaces the error rather than silently discarding members.

Not a compressed format at all. Gzip, bzip2, zstd, and 7-zip use different magic bytes. If your data starts with 1F 8B it is gzip, not LZIP. Use the matching tool.

FAQ

How do I know if data is LZIP?

The first four bytes of an LZIP member are the ASCII characters "LZIP" (hex 4C 5A 49 50). In Base64 that appears as the prefix TFpJUA. In hex it appears as 4c5a4950. A fifth byte follows the magic to identify the format version - 0 for lzip 1.3 and older, 1 for current lzip.

Can this tool decrypt encrypted LZIP?

LZIP does not encrypt. It only compresses. If your data is both compressed and encrypted, decrypt it first (AES, ChaCha20), then decompress.

Do I need to know the dictionary size?

No. LZIP stores the dictionary size in the LZMA stream's own header, and the decoder reads it automatically. You do not need to configure anything.

Is the decompressed output binary or text?

LZIP can compress anything. If the original was text, you get text. If the original was a file (image, PDF, executable), you get bytes that look like garbage as text. Switch the output format to hex or Base64 to see them.

Can this tool decompress XZ or LZMA-Alone too?

Yes. The underlying library detects the format from magic bytes, so any LZMA-family stream - LZIP, XZ, or LZMA-Alone - is decompressed correctly. The tool is named LZIP because that is what it is designed for, but it is not restricted to it.