File Extension .Bz2

Files with a BZ2 file extension can be more commonly found in a UNIX-based operating system computer. BZ2 files are compressed files and are commonly associated with an open source lossless compression algorithm called BZIP2. Like other UNIX-based data compression algorithms, BZIP2 doesn’t support multiple file compression and so it is also used to compress single files and the product of which is a file with a BZ2 file extension.

BZ2 files however are considered to have a higher compression level than other comparable compressed file formats like GZIP and the like. Thus, it can be archived using numerous compression techniques that may even be used in compressing data in JPEG or MP3 files. Because of BZ2 files’ high compression level, the files itself are relatively small but can take time to generate. The decompression of these files though is fairly quick and so BZ2 files are ideal for distribution especially over networks.

Files with a BZ2 file extension can store any type of data and like other compressed files it won’t be possible to know the contents of such files without extracting it. Files and applications in a UNIX and Linux platform are usually compressed in this file format before they are distributed online. Users however must take precautions it extracting contents of these files as they might contain malwares that will be derogatory to the system once extracted.

Below are the programs that can open or extract the contents of a BZ2 file: