Squashfs

File Format
Name	Squashfs
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Filesystem Squashfs
Extension(s)	.sfs
Released	2002

Squashfs is a compressed read-only filesystem for Linux. Typically used as a "live image" for booting Linux off a removable storage (e.g. USB, CD/DVD), minus components like the bootloader, kernel and initramfs. It is also used in modern AppImages, as a way of distributing portable software on Linux, or Snap Squashfs can also be used to store other data, such as disk images. Under Windows, Squashfs contents can be opened/extracted via 7-Zip.

See also cramfs.

Examples

Create a Squashfs (file system) image from current/present directory and output it into its parent directory:

 $ mksquashfs . ../example.squashfs -b 1048576 -comp xz -Xdict-size 100%

Open a Squashfs image (as root) from present directory and have its contents visible in /mnt:

 # mount example.squashfs /mnt

Open a Squashfs image (as user) from present directory and have its contents visible in /mnt/temp:

 $ squashfuse example.squashfs /mnt/temp

Software

• 7-Zip
• Squashfuse (Unix-like only)

Sample files

• dexvert samples — archive/squashFS

Links

• Wikipedia: SquashFS
• Squashfs website
• SourceForge project page
• GitHub project page
• squashfs.txt