pigz
A parallel implementation of gzip that uses multiple CPU cores to compress data faster.
These buttons open the developer's own site, repository or store listing in a new tab. wares.gg does not host downloads.
1 more ways to get pigz
Package managers
- Homebrew
brew install pigz
About pigz
pigz, pronounced pig-zee, is a drop-in replacement for gzip that spreads compression across multiple processors and cores. It produces standard gzip output, so the files open with any gzip-compatible tool. It was written by Mark Adler, co-author of zlib and gzip, and uses the zlib and pthread libraries.
It is distributed as source code to compile, and is also packaged by most Linux distributions. Releases are infrequent; version 2.8 came out in August 2023.
Strengths
- Uses all CPU cores when compressing
- Output is standard gzip format
- Drop-in replacement for gzip on the command line
Limitations
- Decompression gains little from multiple cores
- Distributed as source code; you may need to compile it
- Releases are infrequent
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source with no paid tier.
- License
- Zlib
- Developer
- Mark Adler
- Platforms
- Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Compressing large files or backups quickly on multi-core machines
- 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 pigz
Compare allSoftware that can replace pigz for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
crabz
A cross-platform command-line tool for fast parallel compression and decompression, similar to pigz but written in Rust.
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.
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.
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.
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.
pigz as an alternative
Listings that name pigz as an alternative.
pixz
A parallel, indexing xz compressor that allows random access into compressed tar.xz archives.
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 necessarily a direct replacement.
XZ Utils
The standard command-line tool for creating and reading .xz files.
GNU Tar
The GNU command-line tool for creating, extracting, updating and listing tar archives.
bzip2
A long-established command-line block-sorting compressor and library for .bz2 files.
Lzip
A command-line lossless compressor using a simplified LZMA, designed for long-term archiving and data safety.
ouch
Command-line tool that compresses and extracts archives without format-specific flags.
