DOKK / manpages / debian 11 / gzip / znew.1.en
ZNEW(1) General Commands Manual ZNEW(1)

znew - recompress .Z files to .gz files

znew [ -ftv9PK] [ name.Z ... ]

Znew recompresses files from .Z (compress) format to .gz (gzip) format. If you want to recompress a file already in gzip format, rename the file to force a .Z extension then apply znew.

Force recompression from .Z to .gz format even if a .gz file already exists.
Tests the new files before deleting originals.
Verbose. Display the name and percentage reduction for each file compressed.
-9
Use the slowest compression method (optimal compression).
Use pipes for the conversion to reduce disk space usage.
Keep a .Z file when it is smaller than the .gz file; implies -t.

gzip(1), zmore(1), zdiff(1), zgrep(1), zforce(1), gzexe(1), compress(1)

If the -P option is used, znew does not maintain the timestamp if touch(1) does not support the -r option, and does not maintain permissions if chmod(1) does not support the --reference option.