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Zstandard vs crabz: catalog facts
Zstandard	crabz
Free Free and open source, dual licensed BSD or GPLv2.	Free Free and open source, dual-licensed under MIT and the Unlicense.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	macOS, Linux, Command line
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	Multi-threaded compression in the style of pigz Supports Gzip, Zlib, BGZF, Mgzip, raw Deflate and Snap
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…	Described by its author as a proof of concept Handles single streams, not archive formats like ZIP or 7z
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License: MIT OR Unlicense
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

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