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LZ4 vs pigz: catalog facts
LZ4	pigz
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source with no paid tier.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Linux, Command line
Very fast compression and decompression Scales across CPU cores	Uses all CPU cores when compressing Output is standard gzip format
Lower compression ratio than zstd or xz Compresses single files or streams, not a full archiver	Decompression gains little from multiple cores Distributed as source code; you may need to compile it
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-2-Clause (library), GPL-2.0 (command-line tool)	License: Zlib
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.