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pigz vs Zstandard: catalog facts
pigz	Zstandard
Free Free and open source with no paid tier.	Free Free and open source, dual licensed BSD or GPLv2.
Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Uses all CPU cores when compressing Output is standard gzip format	Compression close to zlib's ratio at several times the speed, and much faster decompression The format is standardised in RFC 8878 with multiple independent implementations
Decompression gains little from multiple cores Distributed as source code; you may need to compile it	A command-line tool with no graphical interface of its own Maximum ratio is below xz or 7z at their slowest settings, which is the trade it makes on…
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Zlib	License: BSD-3-Clause
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 21, 2026

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