pixz
A parallel, indexing xz compressor that allows random access into compressed tar.xz archives.
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1 more ways to get pixz
Package managers
- Homebrew
brew install pixz
About pixz
Pixz (pronounced pixie) is a parallel, indexing version of xz. The standard XZ Utils write one large block of compressed data. Pixz instead writes a collection of smaller blocks, so it can compress on several processor cores at once and later reach the original data inside the archive without decompressing everything before it.
It suits people on Unix-like systems who work with large tar.xz archives and want faster compression or the ability to pull single files out quickly. It is built from source with autotools, and release downloads are published on GitHub.
Strengths
- Compresses in parallel across processor cores
- Indexed blocks allow random access into tar.xz archives
- Output stays in the standard .xz format
Limitations
- Command line only, with no graphical interface
- Usually built from source
- Infrequent releases
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source.
- License
- Open source, license not stated
- Developer
- The pixz contributors
- Platforms
- macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Compressing large tar archives quickly on multi-core Unix 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 pixz
Compare allSoftware that can replace pixz 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 is the standard .xz tool shipped on nearly every Linux and BSD system and also runs on Windows, but it lacks pixz's indexed random access into tar.xz.
Zstandard
Meta's compression tool that hits near-zlib ratios at far higher speed, now used across Linux and modern filesystems.
Zstandard uses the .zst format with much faster compression and decompression, a lower maximum ratio than xz, and builds for Windows, macOS and Linux.
pigz
A parallel implementation of gzip that uses multiple CPU cores to compress data faster.
pigz compresses in parallel across cores but writes gzip format, which is read almost everywhere though with a lower ratio than xz.
Lzip
A command-line lossless compressor using a simplified LZMA, designed for long-term archiving and data safety.
Lzip uses the .lz format with integrity checks and recovery options for long-term archives, but it is single-threaded and needs plzip for multi-core speed.
LZ4
A lossless compression format and command-line tool built for very high compression and decompression speed.
LZ4 favours very high speed over ratio, scales across CPU cores, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, but compresses less than xz.
crabz
A cross-platform command-line tool for fast parallel compression and decompression, similar to pigz but written in Rust.
crabz is a Rust multi-threaded compressor for gzip-family formats rather than xz, installable through Homebrew or Debian packages, and described by its author as a proof of concept.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
GNU Tar
The GNU command-line tool for creating, extracting, updating and listing tar archives.
ratarmount
A command-line tool that mounts TAR, ZIP, RAR and compressed archives as a read-only filesystem.
bsdtar (libarchive)
Command-line archivers built on libarchive that read and write tar, zip, cpio, ISO and more.
7-Zip
The small, free archiver that opens practically every archive format and compresses better than ZIP.
