A .WRZ file serves as a compressed VRML world, meaning a .WRL 3D scene—containing text-based definitions for models, materials, textures, lighting, and even simple interactivity—has been gzip-compressed because VRML’s text nature compresses extremely well, leading many systems to label such files as .WRZ or `.wrl.gz`, and to open one you usually decompress it using a gzip-capable tool to reveal a .WRL file that VRML/X3D viewers can display, assuming texture files remain in their correct relative directories.
A quick test is to confirm whether the file opens with the byte signature 1F 8B, a strong sign that you’re dealing with a valid gzip stream matching WRZ’s gzipped WRL nature, and confusion sometimes arises with RWZ, which is used for Outlook’s Rules Wizard exports, meaning email-related files may be RWZ, whereas 3D or CAD sources typically indicate a real WRZ.
Calling a .WRZ a “Compressed VRML World” refers to a VRML scene file—typically .WRL, the extension meaning *world*—that’s been compressed with gzip to lower its size, because VRML is a text-based 3D format capable of defining objects, textures, lighting, cameras, and interactive elements, and its text nature compresses extremely well, leading to the widespread convention of labeling gzipped VRML as .wrl.gz or simply .wrz.
In simple terms, describing it as a “compressed VRML world” means the file should be treated as gzip initially, producing a .WRL that VRML/X3D tools can still open, and the quick technical giveaway is whether its first bytes match gzip’s signature 1F 8B, which indicates it’s genuinely a gzipped VRML world rather than some unrelated file type using a similar extension.
Opening the VRML “world” (the .WRL extracted from a .WRZ) reveals a scene graph made of typed nodes that define visuals and movement, built from Transform/Group hierarchies controlling transforms, beneath which Shape nodes combine geometry like IndexedFaceSet with appearance nodes such as Material and ImageTexture, along with typical environment elements including Viewpoint camera spots, NavigationInfo settings, Background coloring or sky textures, optional Fog, and even Sound.
VRML’s interactivity uses Sensor nodes like TouchSensor to send events, animations build on TimeSensor plus the Position/Orientation/Color/Scalar interpolators that provide time-based outputs, and ROUTE links connect everything, while complex behaviors rely on Script nodes with VRMLScript/JavaScript or occasional Java, and Anchor nodes allow hyperlink-like navigation, with the specification distinguishing transform-affected nodes from non-spatial ones such as interpolators, NavigationInfo, TimeSensor, and Script, giving the world the character of a small interactive program rather than a simple 3D model.
A .WRZ being a “Compressed VRML World” means WRZ is just a VRML .WRL file compressed with gzip for smaller transfers, keeping VRML’s text-based description of meshes, textures, lighting, viewpoints, navigation settings, and simple interactions intact, but delivered in gzip form and named .wrz or .wrl. For those who have any queries regarding where by and tips on how to make use of WRZ file windows, you’ll be able to e mail us at our own page. gz as noted by the Library of Congress; this is why decompression tools like 7-Zip/gzip open it easily, and why the gzip magic bytes 1F 8B help confirm it’s authentic gzipped VRML rather than an unrelated format.
