.lzma File — LZMA Compressed File

LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain Algorithm) is a high-ratio compression algorithm developed by Igor Pavlov for the 7-Zip archiver. LZMA files contain data compressed using a dictionary-based algorithm that provides excellent compression ratios, typically superior to gzip and bzip2 while requiring more memory for compression. LZMA uses a combination of dictionary compression (LZ77 variant with large dictionary sizes up to 4 GB), range coding (more efficient than Huffman coding), and statistical modeling for optimal bit-level encoding. The algorithm was originally introduced as part of the 7z archive format and later standardized as a standalone compressed stream format. LZMA2, an improved version with better multithreading support and handling of incompressible data, is used by the XZ format. Raw LZMA streams (.lzma) are less common than their XZ container counterpart, which adds checksums and other metadata. LZMA compression is used internally by many applications and formats including Android APK (for resource compression), SquashFS (Linux compressed filesystem), and various firmware update packages. The LZMA SDK is placed in the public domain, enabling unrestricted use in both open-source and proprietary software.