What is the command for compressing files in Linux?

The command for compressing files in Linux that is commonly recognized is gzip. Gzip stands for GNU zip and is widely used to compress individual files. It employs the DEFLATE algorithm and is favored for its speed and compression efficiency, making it a popular choice among Linux users and system administrators.

While other commands can also be used for file compression, gzip specifically focuses on reducing the size of files rather than archiving them. For instance, tar is primarily used for archiving multiple files into a single file; it can indeed compress files when used in conjunction with gzip (e.g., using the command 'tar -czf'), but tar by itself does not compress. The compress command, while historically significant, is less common in modern usage compared to gzip and might not be installed by default on all distributions. The zip command is frequently utilized for creating zip archives, which can compress files, but it is not the standard tool for compressing files solely in the Linux environment.

In summary, gzip stands out as the go-to command for compressing single files efficiently, which is why it is considered the correct answer in this context.