There is no need to be complete rude, nor is there a need to reply three times in a row, one will suffice.

In addition there is nothing wrong with the built-in $compress/$decompress() functions, if they arent working for you then obviously your doing something wrong.

In address to 'mIRCs limitations', simply dont use it if you want gzip streaming support, or, since i have 'no idea what i'm talking about', you can see a thread here about creating send/recieve functionality with Sockets, and create your own wonderful gzip steam with it.

Furthermore, XP, or certainly not mine anyway (XP-SP2) doesnt support .gzip format files, however does support zip.

Eamonn.