A .WRZ file is normally a gzip-compressed VRML world, effectively a .WRL text-based 3D environment—holding geometry, textures, lighting, cameras, and sometimes interactive features—that has been compressed for easier distribution, which is why formats like .WRZ or `.wrl.gz` became common, and the practical way to view it is to unpack it with 7-Zip or `gzip` to obtain a .WRL file readable by VRML-compatible viewers, making sure related texture files stay in the expected folders.
One fast way to confirm gzip compression is checking for the gzip signature 1F 8B at the beginning, which strongly aligns with WRZ’s role as a gzipped WRL, and many users confuse this with RWZ, a file type used for Microsoft Outlook rule backups, so files tied to email management may actually be RWZ, while those from modeling or CAD tools are likely legitimate WRZ files.
The phrase “Compressed VRML World” for a .WRZ indicates that it’s a VRML scene file—typically a .WRL, with “WRL” meaning *world*—that has been gzipped to reduce its footprint, because VRML uses structured text to define entire 3D scenes including geometry, materials, textures, lights, and interactive elements, and this text compresses very efficiently, so the VRML ecosystem commonly labels gzipped VRML as .wrl.gz or .wrz.
In simple terms, describing it as a “compressed VRML world” means the file should be processed 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.
Exploring a VRML “world” (the .WRL you get from unpacking a .WRZ) shows a scene graph of typed nodes describing visuals and user movement, with Transform/Group constructs managing transform hierarchies, Shape nodes merging geometry such as Sphere with Material/ImageTexture appearance, and standard world components including Viewpoint cameras, NavigationInfo behavior settings, and bindable environment nodes like Background, optional Fog, and Sound.
A VRML world handles interaction through Sensor nodes such as other event sensors that fire events, while animations rely on TimeSensor plus the various interpolators (Position/Orientation/Color/Scalar) to produce timed value changes, all linked together via ROUTE connections, and advanced logic is added through Script nodes using VRMLScript/JavaScript or, in some cases, Java, with Anchor nodes enabling hyperlink-style navigation, and VRML distinguishes spatial nodes in the transform tree from non-spatial nodes like interpolators, NavigationInfo, TimeSensor, and Script, giving the world an interactive program-like feel.
The phrase “Compressed VRML World” for .WRZ indicates that WRZ isn’t a separate 3D type but a normal VRML .WRL scene that’s been compressed using gzip to make distribution smaller, preserving the VRML text that defines meshes, textures, lights, cameras, navigation, and basic interactivity, wrapped in gzip with typical extensions .wrz or .wrl.gz, a convention cited by the Library of Congress; that’s why tools like 7-Zip/gzip open it, and why checking for gzip’s magic bytes the header 1F 8B is a good sanity check.