What Is an RVZ File? GameCube RVZ vs ISO, Explained

A GameCube disc image is about 1.4 GB, every time, whatever is on the disc. That's because a raw image copies the whole disc, including large stretches that hold nothing the game uses. Multiply by a shelf of games and it adds up fast, especially on a phone.

RVZ is the fix. It's a format the Dolphin emulator introduced in 2020 for GameCube and Wii discs, and it has become the usual way to store them. Here's what it is and how to work with it.

What an RVZ file actually is

An .rvz is a compressed disc image. It contains the same game as the .iso it was made from, but stored efficiently: the real game data is compressed, and the padding that fills out the rest of the disc is recorded as a recipe rather than copied byte for byte. The result is usually far smaller than 1.4 GB. How much smaller depends on the game; a disc with a lot of empty space shrinks a lot.

Crucially, it's lossless. Dolphin can rebuild the original .iso from an .rvz exactly, so converting costs you nothing.

The GameCube file formats, side by side

Format	What it is	Size	Real console
.iso	Raw copy of the whole disc	About 1.4 GB, always	Yes, with a loader
.gcm	Also a raw copy, under a GameCube-only extension	About 1.4 GB, always	Yes, with a loader
.gcz	Dolphin's older compressed format	Smaller	No
.rvz	Dolphin's current compressed format	Smallest, usually	No

You'll also see .wia, RVZ's predecessor, and .wbfs, but those are Wii formats.

RVZ or ISO: which should you keep?

For any emulator, RVZ. It's smaller and loses nothing. Dolphin on PC and Mac reads it, and so do the iPhone and Android emulators built on Dolphin.
For a real GameCube or Wii, ISO. Loaders that run backups on original hardware, such as Nintendont and Swiss, expect full disc images. This is the main reason people convert RVZ back.
For an emulator that doesn't list RVZ, ISO. Check its supported formats.

How to convert ISO to RVZ

You need Dolphin, which is free and open source, on a Mac or a PC.

Install Dolphin from its official site, dolphin-emu.org.
Add your games folder. Open Config, then Paths, and add the folder holding your .iso files. They appear in the game list.
Right-click a game and choose Convert File… To do several at once, select them all first.
Set the format to RVZ. The compression settings Dolphin suggests are fine; there's no need to tune them.
Leave Remove Junk Data unticked if you want to be able to get the exact original back. RVZ already stores that padding efficiently.
Click Convert and choose where to save. A single game takes a minute or so on a recent computer.

How to convert RVZ to ISO

Exactly the same steps, with ISO chosen as the format. You'll get the full-size image back, about 1.4 GB per GameCube game.

About online converters

Searching for this turns up websites that convert RVZ to ISO in the browser. They work by uploading your disc image, which can be well over a gigabyte, to someone else's server. Dolphin does the same job on your own computer, for free, without the file leaving it.

Playing RVZ files on iPhone

On iPhone, RVZ is not just the tidy choice but the practical one. Haptic Emulator, which added GameCube in version 1.0.14, plays GameCube games from .rvz, .gcz and .gcm files. It doesn't recognise plain .iso files as GameCube yet, because PlayStation, PSP, Saturn and DOS games use .iso too. Converting to RVZ solves that and saves space on your phone at the same time.

Copy the .rvz to your iPhone through Files, AirDrop or iCloud Drive, tap import in Haptic and pick it. Import the .rvz itself rather than a .zip around it. There's no BIOS to add and no JIT to enable. Two limits to know: Haptic plays GameCube games only, not Wii, and GameCube is one of the most demanding systems in the app, so newer iPhones run it best. The full GameCube guide covers the rest.

For the curious (optional)

GameCube and Wii discs are full of what Dolphin's developers call junk data: filler generated by a known formula and written into unused space. It doesn't compress, because it looks random, which is why older formats like GCZ couldn't shrink some games much. WIA, and then RVZ, solved it by storing the formula's starting values instead of the filler itself, and regenerating it on the fly. RVZ added modern compression, Zstandard among the options, on top. That is how an RVZ can be far smaller than an ISO and still turn back into it bit for bit.

Frequently asked questions

What is an RVZ file?

An RVZ file is a compressed GameCube or Wii disc image, a format created by the Dolphin emulator in 2020. It holds the same game as an .iso, usually in much less space, and Dolphin can turn it back into the original .iso. Emulators read it; a real GameCube or Wii can't.

Is RVZ better than ISO?

For emulators, usually yes: an RVZ is smaller and loses nothing, so it saves storage, which matters on a phone. ISO is better only where RVZ isn't supported, mainly loaders on a real console such as Nintendont or Swiss, and older or limited emulators.

How do I convert an ISO to RVZ?

Install Dolphin on a Mac or PC and add the folder with your games. Right-click a game, choose Convert File, set the format to RVZ, keep the suggested compression settings and convert. You can select several games and convert them in one go.

How do I convert RVZ back to ISO?

The same way: in Dolphin, right-click the RVZ, choose Convert File and pick ISO as the format. The result is the full-size disc image, about 1.4 GB for a GameCube game.

Is RVZ lossless?

Yes. RVZ stores the disc in a way Dolphin can rebuild exactly. The only setting that throws data away is Remove Junk Data, which Dolphin labels irreversible, and you don't need it for RVZ.

Can I play RVZ files on iPhone?

Yes. Haptic Emulator imports GameCube .rvz files directly from version 1.0.14, along with .gcz and .gcm, free from the App Store and without JIT or a BIOS. It plays GameCube games only, not Wii, and doesn't recognise plain .iso files yet, which is one more reason to convert to RVZ.

Your RVZ files, on your iPhone.

Haptic Emulator plays GameCube games from .rvz, .gcz and .gcm files, and 25 more retro systems besides — free to play, and it ships no games: it plays the ones you already have.

Free to play · all 26 systems · iPhone & iPad