Lzip
A command-line lossless compressor using a simplified LZMA, designed for long-term archiving and data safety.
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1 more ways to get Lzip
Package managers
- Homebrew
brew install lzip
About Lzip
Lzip is a lossless data compressor with a command-line interface similar to gzip and bzip2. It uses a simplified form of LZMA and has a maximum dictionary size of 512 MiB, so any lzip file can be decompressed on 32-bit machines. Integrity checking is thorough, and data recovery is built in.
At its lowest setting it compresses about as fast as gzip. At its highest it compresses most files more tightly than bzip2. Related tools include plzip for multi-core compression and tarlz for tar archives.
Strengths
- Accurate three-factor integrity checking
- Designed for interoperability and long-term archiving
- Built-in data recovery options
- Familiar gzip-style command line
Limitations
- Single-threaded; plzip is needed for multi-core speed
- Decompresses more slowly than gzip
- Less widely used than xz or zstd
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree software with no paid tier.
- License
- GPL-2.0-or-later
- Platforms
- Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Compressing files you need to keep and verify for many years
- Categories
- Compression, CLI tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to Lzip
Compare allSoftware that can replace Lzip for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
XZ Utils
The standard command-line tool for creating and reading .xz files.
XZ Utils also uses LZMA-family compression, ships on nearly every Linux and BSD system, and runs on Windows and macOS, but lacks lzip's recovery options.
Zstandard
Meta's compression tool that hits near-zlib ratios at far higher speed, now used across Linux and modern filesystems.
Zstandard trades some maximum ratio for much faster compression and decompression, runs on Windows and macOS too, and its .zst files may not open on older systems.
bzip2
A long-established command-line block-sorting compressor and library for .bz2 files.
bzip2 uses block-sorting compression with limited recovery from damaged media, is widely supported, and runs slower than modern compressors such as zstd.
GNU Gzip
The GNU command-line compression program that creates and decompresses .gz files.
GNU Gzip produces the almost universally readable .gz format with a similar command line, but gives a lower compression ratio than lzip.
bzip3
A command-line compressor and library intended as a stronger successor to bzip2.
bzip3 aims for better compression than bzip2 on large text and source archives, but its .bz3 format is less widely supported than gzip or bzip2.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
GNU Tar
The GNU command-line tool for creating, extracting, updating and listing tar archives.
zpaqfranz
Keep compressed, versioned archives of changing files.
7-Zip
The small, free archiver that opens practically every archive format and compresses better than ZIP.
bsdtar (libarchive)
Command-line archivers built on libarchive that read and write tar, zip, cpio, ISO and more.
ouch
Command-line tool that compresses and extracts archives without format-specific flags.
