cmix is a lossless data compression program aimed at optimizing compression ratio at the cost of high CPU/memory usage.
The program is based on advanced context-mixing techniques similar to the PAQ family of compressors. It combines predictions from thousands of models and refines them using neural network techniques such as LSTM mixers and secondary symbol estimation.
cmix is primarily intended for research and benchmarking rather than everyday archiving tasks. It performs compression one bit at a time, using probabilistic models and arithmetic coding to maximize compression effectiveness.
At least 32GB of RAM is recommended to run cmix.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Focuses on maximum compression ratio rather than speed.
- Uses context mixing with thousands of predictive models.
- Includes LSTM neural network mixers for prediction refinement.
- Preprocessing support for text, executables, and image formats.
- Employs arithmetic coding for final compression stage.
- Cross-platform support
Website: github.com/byronknoll/cmix
Support:
Developer: Byron Knoll
License: GNU General Public License v3.0

cmix is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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| lbzip2 | Multi-threaded implementation of bzip2, suited for serial and parallel processing |
| plzip | Massively parallel lossless data compressor |
| p7zip-zstd | p7zip fork with additional codecs and improvements |
| 7-Zip | File archiver with a high compression ratio |
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| PXZ | Runs LZMA compression on multiple cores and processors |
| crabz | Like pigz but written in Rust |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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