How Does gzip file compression in 100 Seconds Work?

Gzip takes a big file and makes it smaller by finding patterns and shortening them, like making a long story shorter by replacing repeated words with shortcuts.

Imagine you have a big book full of the same sentence over and over, like “The cat sat on the mat.” Gzip looks at that and goes, “Hey, I can say ‘the cat’ once and just point to it when it comes up again!”

It does this using two tricks:

1. Finding Repeats

Like when you have a long sentence with the same word multiple times, gzip finds those repeats and replaces them with shorter codes, like a secret message.

1. Packing It Tighter

After finding repeats, it uses another trick to squish everything together, kind of like folding up a blanket so it takes less space in your backpack.

This whole process happens really fast, just like how you can quickly fold your clothes before going on a trip!

So gzip makes files smaller by finding repeats and packing them tighter, and it does it super quick, like magic, but with real rules!