Compare software

pixz vs LZ4: catalog facts
pixz	LZ4
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source.
macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Compresses in parallel across processor cores Indexed blocks allow random access into tar.xz archives	Very fast compression and decompression Scales across CPU cores
Command line only, with no graphical interface Usually built from source	Lower compression ratio than zstd or xz Compresses single files or streams, not a full archiver
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: BSD-2-Clause (library), GPL-2.0 (command-line tool)
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

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