# Install clzip with Homebrew, apt, Nix, zypper

C language version of lzip. Version 1.16 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install clzip.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:clzip
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install clzip
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install clzip
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: clzip from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#clzip
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/cl/clzip/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

- zypper (92%):

```sh
sudo zypper install clzip
```

  Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: clzip from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:clzip
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.16
- **Source summary:** C language version of lzip
- **Homepage:** <https://www.nongnu.org/lzip/clzip.html>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- clzip (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.16
## Project history and usage

Clzip is the C implementation of lzip, a lossless data compressor using the .lz format and a gzip- or bzip2-like command-line interface.

### Project history

The official clzip page describes it as a C language version of lzip intended for systems lacking a C++ compiler. That places it inside Antonio Diaz Diaz's lzip family as the low-compiler-requirement implementation rather than the primary reference compressor.

The Savannah release directory shows public clzip releases beginning with version 1.5 in September 2013 and continuing through version 1.16 in March 2026. The clzip page ties the implementation to lzip's larger goals: interoperable .lz files, simple decoders, integrity checking, and archive recovery through related tools.

### Adoption history

Clzip is a niche member of the lzip ecosystem, but it is packaged across Unix-like systems because a C-only implementation is useful in bootstrap environments, small systems, and distributions that want lzip-format compatibility without requiring a C++ compiler for this tool.

### How it is used

Clzip is used as a compressor and decompressor for .lz files. The official page shows the common archive pipeline, extracting a tar.lz archive with clzip -cd piped into tar, while the manual documents invocation, file-format behavior, trailing-data handling, and the reference decompressor used to explain the format.

### Why package nerds care

Package nerds care about clzip because it is a small, source-portable route into an archive format designed for long-term preservation. It also inherits lzip's emphasis on well-defined exit statuses, decoder availability, and recovery tooling, which matter when compressors are used behind tar, zutils, package archives, or backup scripts.

### Timeline

- 2013: clzip 1.5 appears in the official Savannah release directory.
- 2018: clzip 1.10 is released.
- 2024: clzip 1.14 is released.
- 2025: clzip 1.15 is released.
- 2026: clzip 1.16 is released on 2026-03-15.

### Related projects

- Clzip sits beside lzip, plzip, tarlz, lziprecover, and zutils in the lzip ecosystem.
- plzip is the parallel compressor named by the clzip page for multiprocessor compression, while tarlz is the related tool for tar archive workflows.

### Sources

- <https://download.savannah.nongnu.org/releases/lzip/clzip/>
- <https://www.nongnu.org/lzip/clzip.html>
- <https://www.nongnu.org/lzip/manual/clzip_manual.html>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - clzip - 1.15-3: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: clzip from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | C, lossless data compressor based on the LZMA algorithm | http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/clzip.html
- Nix - clzip: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/cl/clzip/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - clzip - 1.14-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: clzip from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | C, lossless data compressor based on the LZMA algorithm | http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/clzip.html
- zypper - clzip - 1.16-1.4: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: clzip from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/50b07339cb64c8ed4091bdbabddadc1ff5737b090e478818a195b40d8a3292861a879139b4a3987c31109699fde9fbf4a716367ddf4eef77da75f96e3193d6ed-primary.xml.zst | Lossless Data Compressor based on LZMA | http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/clzip.html


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/clzip.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/clzip.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph