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In computing, solid compression refers to a method for data compression of multiple files, wherein all the compressed files are concatenated and treated as a single data block. It is used in the 7z and RAR formats, as well as in tar-based formats such as .tar.gz and .tar.bz2.

Solid compression allows for much better compression rates when all the files are similar, which is often the case if they are of the same file format. It is also very efficient when archiving a large number of rather small files. On the other hand, getting a single file out of a solid archive requires processing all the files before it, so modifying solid archives can be slow and inconvenient. Additionally, if the archive becomes even slightly damaged, some of the data (sometimes even all data) after the damaged part can be unusable (depending on the compression and archiving format), whereas in a non-solid archive format, usually only one file is unusable and the subsequent files can usually still be extracted.

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 In [[computing]], '''solid compression''' refers to a method for [[data compression]] of multiple files, wherein all the compressed files are concatenated and treated as a single data block. It is used in the [[7z]] and [[RAR]] formats, as well as in [[Tar (file format)|tar]]-based formats such as .tar.[[gzip|gz]] and .tar.[[bzip2|bz2]].
-Solid compression allows for much better compression rates when all the files are similar, which is often the case if they are of the same [[file format]]. It is also very efficient when archiving a large number of rather small files. On the other hand, getting a single file out of a solid archive requires processing all the files before it, so modifying solid archives can be slow and inconvenient. Additionally, if the archive becomes even slightly damaged, some of the data (sometimes even all data) after the damaged part can be unusable (depending on the compression and archiving format), whereas in a non-solid archive format, only one file is unusable and the subsequent files can still be extracted.
+Solid compression allows for much better compression rates when all the files are similar, which is often the case if they are of the same [[file format]]. It is also very efficient when archiving a large number of rather small files. On the other hand, getting a single file out of a solid archive requires processing all the files before it, so modifying solid archives can be slow and inconvenient. Additionally, if the archive becomes even slightly damaged, some of the data (sometimes even all data) after the damaged part can be unusable (depending on the compression and archiving format), whereas in a non-solid archive format, usually only one file is unusable and the subsequent files can usually still be extracted.
 [[Category:Data compression]]