.EMZ File Extension

Windows Compressed Enhanced Metafile

Developer Microsoft
Popularity
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What is an EMZ file?

An EMZ file is an Enhanced Metafile (.EMF file) compressed with the .GZIP compression algorithm. It is compressed to reduce storage space and be more easily transferred between applications. EMZ files typically store vector graphics but may also store raster images.

More Information

Screenshot of a .emz file in Microsoft PowerPoint 365
EMZ file open in Microsoft PowerPoint 365

Microsoft originally developed the Windows Metafile (.WMF) format in the 1990s to store vector graphics and bitmap data. Microsoft then replaced the WMF format with the Enhanced Windows Metafile (EMF) format, which is a 32-bit format that is device-independent.

Microsoft developed the EMZ compression format to reduce the size of EMF files to save storage space and more easily transfer EMF graphics between applications, particularly Microsoft Visio and the Office suite, which includes Word and PowerPoint. While EMF files are common and various image editors may export them, EMZ files are much less common.

How to open an EMZ file

You can open EMZ files in Microsoft Visio, Word, and PowerPoint in Windows by selecting the Insert tab, then clicking Pictures. You can also simply drag and drop the EMZ file into a document or presentation opened in the application.

If you do not have access to the aforementioned Office applications, you can open EMZ files by decompressing them with a GZIP decompression utility such as GNU zip (gzip.exe), WinGZip, or PeaZip. You may need to rename the .emz file extension to .emf.gz to extract the EMF file with PeaZip. After decompressing the EMZ file, you can extract the EMF file contained in the EMZ file and open it with a program that supports the EMF format, such as XnViewMP (multiplatform), Adobe Illustrator, and OpenOffice Draw (multiplatform).

How to convert an EMZ file

Several applications, including Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, can convert EMZ files to other formats.

For example, Microsoft PowerPoint can convert EMZ files to one of the following formats:

  • .PDF - Portable Document Format
  • .ODP - OpenDocument Presentation
  • .XPS - XML Paper Specification (Windows only)
  • .JPEG - JPEG Image
  • .PNG - Portable Network Graphic
  • .GIF - Graphical Interchange Format (Animated)
  • .TIF - Tagged Image File Format
  • .SVG - Scalable Vector Graphics
  • .PPTX - Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
  • .PPT - Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation (Legacy)
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Programs that open EMZ files

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