A .WRZ file is typically 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. If you have any inquiries about wherever and how to use
WRZ file reader, you can call us at our web page. gz`, and the usual method of opening them is to extract 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 simple check is seeing whether the file begins with the hex code 1F 8B, which is typical of gzip-compressed data and supports the idea that WRZ is a gzipped WRL, and people often mix it up with RWZ, a format associated with email rule exports, so a file from an email setup is probably RWZ, while one from a 3D workflow is almost certainly WRZ.
A .WRZ being called a "Compressed VRML World" means the file is just a VRML world—commonly stored as .WRL, where the extension means *world*—that’s been shrunk using gzip for easier storage or earlier web transfer, as VRML’s text-based scene description (objects, textures, lighting, cameras, and sometimes animations) compresses extremely well, resulting in conventions like naming such files .wrl.gz or .wrz.
In simple terms, describing it as a "compressed VRML world" means the file should be handled 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 worlds use Sensor nodes like TouchSensor to produce events, and animations are driven by TimeSensor along with Position/Orientation/Color/Scalar interpolators that output time-based values, all routed together via ROUTE event links, while advanced behavior relies on script nodes (VRMLscript/Javascript and sometimes Java) and navigation jumps come from Anchor nodes, and the spec draws a line between transform hierarchy nodes and non-spatial nodes like interpolators, NavigationInfo, TimeSensor, and script, which is why a VRML world feels like an interactive program instead of just geometry.
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 gzip-compressed 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.