Compare software

bzip2 vs bzip3: catalog facts
bzip2	bzip3
Free Free and open source under a BSD-style licence.	Free Free to use, with source code published on GitHub.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Better compression than gzip on many inputs Limited recovery from damaged media	Aims for better compression than bzip2 Includes cat, grep and less style helper commands
Slower than modern compressors such as zstd Releases are rare	The .bz3 format is less widely supported than gzip or bzip2 Command line only
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: bzip2-1.0.6	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.