On the fly conversion for compressed raster images

[Vincent J. Troisi]

I have raster images in zip, gzip, and/or tar format. I want to render 
these files via an html
application and provide WMS services using MapServer 4.6, having the 
application
automatically unzip, untar, uncompress the raster on the fly and either 
convert
to a geotiff or use some other utility to present a png, jpg, or other 
standard format
to the WMS client or the MapServer browse application. Any ideas you have
on an approach that will allow me to maintain the storage of the raster 
images
in their current packaging (zip, gzip, tar, etc.)?

Thanks,
Vince
.