Alternatives to pigz

A parallel implementation of gzip that uses multiple CPU cores to compress data faster. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as pigz.

  • crabz

    A cross-platform command-line tool for fast parallel compression and decompression, similar to pigz but written in Rust.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    crabz is a Rust tool in the style of pigz with multi-threaded gzip-family compression and package installs, but its author describes it as a proof of concept.

  • GNU Gzip

    The GNU command-line compression program that creates and decompresses .gz files.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    GNU Gzip produces the same .gz format and is available on nearly every Unix-like system, but it is single-threaded.

  • Zstandard

    Meta's compression tool that hits near-zlib ratios at far higher speed, now used across Linux and modern filesystems.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    Zstandard compresses at several times zlib's speed with faster decompression and runs on Windows and macOS, but .zst output differs from standard gzip.

  • LZ4

    A lossless compression format and command-line tool built for very high compression and decompression speed.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    LZ4 favours very fast compression and decompression across CPU cores and runs on all major platforms, with a lower ratio and a different format than gzip.

Also worth comparing

These listings name pigz as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • pixz

    A parallel, indexing xz compressor that allows random access into compressed tar.xz archives.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    pigz compresses in parallel across cores but writes gzip format, which is read almost everywhere though with a lower ratio than xz.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.