View source for Zoo (file format)

{{Redirect|.zoo|Zoo Tycoon files|Zoo Tycoon}}
{{one source |date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox file format
| name = zoo
| extension = {{mono|.zoo}}
| mime = 
| owner = 
| creatorcode = 
| genre = [[data compression]]
| containerfor = 
| containedby = 
| extendedfrom = 
| extendedto = 
}}

'''zoo''' is a [[data compression]] program and format developed by Rahul Dhesi in the mid-1980s. The format is based on the [[LZW]] compression algorithm and compressed files are identified by the .zoo file extension. It is no longer widely used. Program source code was originally published on the comp.sources.misc [[Usenet]] newsgroup, and was compatible with a variety of [[Unix-like]] operating systems. Binaries were also published for the [[MS-DOS]] and [[AmigaOS]] user communities.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last= |first= |date=July 1994 |title=Unraveling the mystery behind file extensions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7MtVAAAAMAAJ |magazine=CAEN Newsletter |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] Computer Aided Engineering Network |pages=12 |language=en |publication-date= |volume=11 |issue=5}}</ref>

== Zoo features ==
Zoo archives can store multiple "generations" of a file; if files are added to an archive with the same pathname yet more recent date, if generations are enabled for the archive the older version(s) will be retained (with a semicolon and version number, similar to version numbers in the VMS and RT-11 operating systems) as the new file is added. This allows files that are frequently modified to be backed up in such a way as to allow access to previous versions (up to the '''version limit''' chosen) from one archive.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/utils/compress/zoo-2.10-3.src.rpm zoo 2.10 source]
* [http://archives.math.utk.edu/software/multi-platform/gap/util/ unzoo] - zoo archive extractor, source included

{{Archive formats}}

[[Category:Data compression]]
[[Category:Archive formats]]


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