To restore compressed backup files you can do the following: gunzip < [backupfile.sql.gz] | mysql -u [uname] -p[pass] [dbname] If you need to restore a database that already exists, you’ll need to use mysqlimport command. The syntax for mysqlimport is as follows: mysqlimport -u [uname] -p[pass] [dbname] [backupfile.sql]