Yaz0

Yaz0 is a compression format designed by Nintendo for use in game development. It is found in many Nintendo titles from the 2000s (ie. Mario Kart Wii, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, etc...) and is often used to compress an archive (like RARC) containing model and texture files. It is a form of RLE, or run-length encoding (A lossless data compression method) and usually shows up in .szs files. Compressed files can be easily identified in a hex editor, as the first 4 bytes of the header read "Yaz0", in ASCII.

Tools that handle Yaz0 compressed files

• Szs tools by thakis (Encoder by shevious/daegunlee)
• Wiimms SZS Tools, by Wiimm
• Wexos's Toolbox
• A python library for Yaz0 Dec/Enc by AboodXD
• The "Yer Another Gamecube Guide" decompression routine

Further Reading

• Yaz0 format documentation written by thakis
• A more in-depth data layout on the custom Mario Kart Wiki