LZIPRECOVER(1)

NAME
lziprecover - recovers data from damaged files

SYNOPSIS
lziprecover [options] [files]

DESCRIPTION
Lziprecover is a data recovery tool and decompressor for files in the lzip compressed data format (.lz). Lziprecover also provides Forward Error Correction files (.fec) that can be used to repair any kind of file, not only lzip files. A fec file can be used as recovery record for a tar.lz archive.

Lziprecover can remove the damaged members from multimember files, for example multimember tar.lz archives.

Lziprecover provides random access to the data in multimember files; it only decompresses the members containing the desired data.

OPTIONS

-h, --help
    display this help and exit

-V, --version
    output version information and exit

-a, --trailing-error
    exit with error status if trailing data

-A, --alone-to-lz
    convert lzma-alone files to lzip format

-b, --block-size=<bytes>
    make FEC block size a multiple of <bytes>

-B, --byte-repair
    try to repair a corrupt byte in file

-c, --stdout
    write to standard output, keep input files

-d, --decompress
    decompress, test compressed file integrity

-D, --range-decompress=<n-m>
    decompress a range of bytes to stdout

-e, --reproduce
    try to reproduce a zeroed sector in file

--lzip-level=N|a|m[N]
    reproduce one level, all, or match length

--lzip-name=<name>
    name of lzip executable for --reproduce

--reference-file=<file>
    reference file for --reproduce

-f, --force
    overwrite existing output files

-F, --fec=c[N]|r|t|l
    create, repair, test, list (using) fec file

-0 .. -9
    set FEC fragmentation level [default 9]

--fec-file=<file>[/]
    read fec file from <file> or directory

-i, --ignore-errors
    ignore non-fatal errors

-k, --keep
    keep (don't delete) input files

-l, --list
    print (un)compressed file sizes

-m, --merge
    repair errors in file using several copies

-n, --threads=<n>
    set number of threads for fec create [2]

-o, --output=<file>[/]
    place the output into <file> or directory

-q, --quiet
    suppress all messages

-r, --recursive
    (fec) operate recursively on directories

-R, --dereference-recursive
    (fec) recursively follow symbolic links

-s, --split
    split multimember file in single-member files

-t, --test
    test compressed file integrity

-v, --verbose
    be verbose (a 2nd -v gives more)

--append=<file>
    append <file> as trailing data

--dump=<list>:d:e:t
    dump members, damaged, empty, tdata to stdout

--remove=<list>:d:e:t
    remove members, tdata from files in place

--strip=<list>:d:e:t
    copy files to stdout stripping members given

--loose-trailing
    allow trailing data seeming corrupt header

--nonzero-repair
    repair in place a nonzero first LZMA byte

If no file names are given, or if a file is '-', lziprecover decompresses from standard input to standard output. Numbers may contain underscore separators between groups of digits and may be followed by a SI or binary multiplier: 1_234_567kB, 4KiB. The argument to --fec=create may be a number of blocks (-Fc20), a percentage (-Fc5%), or a size in bytes (-Fc10KiB).

To extract all the files from archive 'foo.tar.lz', use the commands 'tar -xf foo.tar.lz' or 'lziprecover -cd foo.tar.lz | tar -xf -'.

EXIT STATUS
0 for a normal exit, 1 for environmental problems(file not found, invalid command-line options, I/O errors, etc), 2 to indicate a corrupt or invalid input file, 3 for an internal consistency error (e.g., bug) which caused lziprecover to panic.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to lzip-bug@nongnu.org
Lziprecover home page: http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/lziprecover.html

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2026 Antonio Diaz Diaz. License GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
The full documentation for lziprecover is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and lziprecover programs are properly installed at your site, the command

    info lziprecover

should give you access to the complete manual.