A .WRZ file is basically a gzip-compressed VRML scene, where a .WRL world file—containing text-based 3D data such as shapes, materials, lights, cameras, and occasional animations—has been reduced in size because VRML compresses extremely well, leading to the convention of naming these archives .WRZ or `.wrl.gz`, and the usual method of opening them is to decompress with something like 7-Zip or `gzip` to produce a .WRL that VRML/X3D tools can read, provided any texture images remain in the correct relative paths.
A straightforward check is verifying whether the file starts with the hex prefix 1F 8B, a strong sign of gzip compression matching the WRZ format, and a common misunderstanding is mixing it up with RWZ, which belongs to
Microsoft Outlook rule configurations, so if the file came from email migration it may be RWZ, whereas anything from a 3D or CAD workflow is usually a true WRZ.
Saying a .WRZ is a "Compressed VRML World" means it’s simply a VRML scene—normally saved as .WRL, with "WRL" standing for *world*—that has been compressed via gzip to make the file smaller, as VRML uses structured text to describe full interactive 3D scenes including objects, materials, textures, lighting, and even animations, and since text compresses very efficiently, the VRML community standardized on .wrl.gz or .wrz as names for gzipped VRML files.
Practically speaking, calling it a "compressed VRML world" tells you to treat the file like a gzip stream first so it can expand into a .WRL readable by VRML/X3D-compatible tools, and one easy technical check is whether the file begins with the gzip signature the bytes 1F 8B, which strongly indicates you’re dealing with a real gzipped VRML file and not a different format that only looks similar by extension.
In the event you cherished this post as well as you wish to acquire more information concerning
easy WRZ file viewer generously check out our own site. Inside the VRML "world" (the .WRL produced after you decompress a .WRZ) you’ll find a typed scene graph covering both scene content and navigation, starting with Transform/Group nodes that define position, rotation, and scale, then Shape nodes that mix geometry—Extrusion—with appearance through Material and ImageTexture, as well as world-level nodes like Viewpoint, NavigationInfo, Background, Fog, or Sound.
Interactivity in a VRML world is handled through Sensor nodes like TouchSensor that emit events, while animation is driven by TimeSensor plus Position/Orientation/Color/Scalar interpolator nodes that output changing values over time, all connected using ROUTE links (eventOut → eventIn), and more complex behavior comes from script nodes using VRMLscript/Javascript or sometimes Java, along with Anchor nodes for hyperlink-style jumps, with the spec separating transformable nodes in the hierarchy from non-spatial nodes like interpolators, NavigationInfo, TimeSensor, and script, which is why a VRML world behaves like a small interactive program rather than a simple mesh.
Saying a .WRZ is a "Compressed VRML World" means it isn’t a different format at all but a normal VRML world (.WRL) that’s been packed using gzip to save bandwidth in VRML’s early web era, so the internal content remains VRML text defining geometry, textures, cameras, lights, navigation rules, and basic interactivity, wrapped in gzip and named .wrz or .wrl.gz—a practice documented by the Library of Congress—so decompression tools like 7-Zip/gzip work, and seeing the gzip magic bytes 1F 8B strongly suggests it’s genuine gzipped VRML.