How to Decompress LZ4 Files on iPhone

LZ4 is a fast compression format. Fileso recognizes LZ4 frame files; a standalone .lz4 usually expands to one file. Some tools also use LZ4 around a TAR archive, in which case Fileso can show the TAR members after decoding.

Extract .lz4 in Fileso

1. Save the compressed file in Fileso with its full filename and extension.
2. Tap it and choose Extract. Use Extract to Folder if you need a different destination; View prepares a temporary extracted copy for inspection.
3. Wait for decoding to finish. A simple compressed stream may produce one file, while an inner TAR or CPIO produces multiple entries.
4. Open a resulting file and check its size and type before discarding the compressed source.

Check the original basename before extracting: backup.tar.lz4 suggests an inner TAR, while database.bin.lz4 suggests one binary file. Use a separate destination for large outputs and verify the extracted type instead of trusting only the filename.

If extraction fails

An LZ4 frame is different from a raw LZ4 block, and not every producer writes the same framing. If Fileso cannot recognize the stream, request a standard LZ4 frame or a more common archive format. Truncated downloads also fail frame validation.

Common question

Can LZ4 hold several files on its own? Not as an ordinary LZ4 stream. Several files are usually placed in TAR first and then compressed.

Read: How to Open ZST and TAR.ZST Files on iPhone.