The LZX Page

The most powerful archiver available for the Amiga.

Authors : Jonathan Forbes and Tomi Poutanen

Copyright : Data Compression Technologies

Last version : 1.21 (1995)

How does it work?
LZX uses a compact way of encoding large match offsets. The Amiga implementation includes file merging, where data are grouped into large blocks, instead of being individually compressed.

Read the original LZX v1.21r Documentation (1995) in html format.

Download the LX executable (for Amiga) here : you'll be able to unpack all the downloadable files.


File	Size	Information
*Main Programs*
LZX 1.21R1 Y2K bug fixed	199K	fixed by Dr.Titus
LZX 1.21R1 Y2K bug fixed	199K	fixed by Mikolaj Calusinski
LZX 1.21R1	199K	lzx121r1.readme
LZX 1.21R	198K	read or download the manual
LZX 1.21	166K	LZX121.TXT
LZX 1.20R	173K	LZX120.TXT
LZX 1.20	142K	LZX120.TXT
LZX 1.01	146K	LZX101.TXT
LZX 1.00	134K	LZX100.TXT
LZX keyfile	1K	lzxkeyfile.readme
*Patches*
LZX_Y2Kfix.lha	4K	LZX_Y2Kfix.readme
LZX121r_pch.lha	13K	LZX121r_pch.readme
SPATCH.LHA	10K	for LZX_Y2Kfix.lha
*Utilities*
UnLZX2.lha	95K	UnLZX2.readme
lzx_netfix.lha	4K	lzx_netfix.readme
AMINET LZX Utilities	Search for LZX utilities

OTHER PLATFORMS / CPU
Platform / CPU	File	Size	Documentation
68K PPC i486	UnLZX2.lha	95K	UnLZX2.readme
Windows95	W95unlzx.lha	41K	W95unlzx.readme
PPC (Power-Up)	unlzx.lha	27K	unlzx.readme
PPC	PPCunlzx.lha	57K	PPCunlzx.readme
PPC WarpOS	UnLzxWOS.lha	41K	UnLzxWOS.readme
UNIX	unlzx.c.gz	9K	unlzx.c.gz.readme
UNIX	unlzx.c.Z	15K	unlzx.c.Z.readme

Questions about LZX? This is the FAQ area.

1 - I have corrupted datas during an extraction operation.
The versions for 68020 and 68040 are not so reliable when you want to archive a lot of small files: you may have corrupted datas in the archive. But LZX won't report the bug during the archiving operation. It will report the bug in the test, or on an extraction operation.
Solution : use the 68000 version to archive your files if the 020 or 040 don't work.

2 - I have the message "LZX: Error writing to disk; disk full?"
It's because empty directories have been archived (sometimes, you may need to do this). This message is not important, just ignore it, because at the end, the extraction will be successfull..."All files ok." and the empty directories will have been created successfully.

3 - I see a problem in the date attributes in the extracted files.
LZX original version doesn't support dates after 2000.
Solution : download and use the 1.21 Y2K fixed version.

4 - I can't use the "-9" option (maximum compression) with the 68000 version.
It's normal, this feature is not implemented in this version (read this page from the original documentation).

5 - 2 patches have fixed the Y2K bug. Which one should I use?
It depends on your way to use LZX. I've done the test and click here to read the results.

6 - Is there a link between UnLZX2 and LZX-2?
No. UnLZX2 is just a new unarchiver for the first LZX.

7 - Where can I find technical informations about LZX?
Go to the Microsoft's page about the .CAB format. Then download the file "cab-sdk.exe" (it's a self-extracting program for PC). If you have an Amiga, use the XAD system on this file: it will unpack it. Place the file in RAM: and type in a CLI window:
xadunfile ram:cab-sdk.exe ram:
After the extraction, you'll see a "DOCS" directory, then read the file "LZXFMT.DOC" (.RTF format). You'll have almost all the secrets of the LZX compression.

8 - Is there any source code of the old LZX software which is now freeware available?
No, sorry, the source to LZX was never released. But you can get the specs for the LZX-2 file format from the Microsoft CAB SDK from Microsoft's web site. There is also a Java implementation of LZX-2 in the class com.ms.util.cab in the Microsoft AFC (Application Foundation Classes for Java).

LZX-2 (.cab) © Microsoft
LZX 2 (.cab)	Informations and download
kyz.uklinux.net	Informative page

Other programs made by Jonathan Forbes for the
File	Size	Documentation
LX 1.03	35K	LX103.TXT
LX 1.00	34K	LX100.TXT
LZ 1.92	45K	LZ192.TXT
LZ 1.01	35K	LZ101.TXT
LhWarp 1.40	33K	LHWRP140.TXT
LhWarp 1.21	33K	LHWRP121.TXT
LhWarp 1.20	33K	LHWRP120.TXT
LhWarp 1.03	29K	LHWRP103.TXT
LhUnArc 0.96	16K	LHUNA096.TXT

Links
AMINET	Biggest source of Amiga software
Funet	Source of old Amiga software
amiga-stuff.com	Full of nice utilities (archivers, packers,...)
uk.amigasoc.org	Downloads and informations about archivers
XAD-Master	Unarchive all types of archives
Amiga In A Box	Amiga Emulation Site
Mira Software	Author of WizArc
Shred website	Author of GuideML

Thanks to
Jonathan Forbes and Tomi Poutanen	the authors of LZX, now freeware
Bruce Goodman	the uploader of the freeware keyfile
Andrey Titov (dr.Titus)	author of the Y2K patch
Mikolaj Calusinski	author of the patch LZX121r_pch.lha
Dirk Stöcker	author of XAD-Master
Oliver Gantert	author of UnLZX2
Jean-François Fabre	author of the LZX Netscape fix
Massimo 'Perfidus' Perfini	author of WizArc
Richard Körber	author of GuideML