lzop is a command-line file compressor built on the LZO compression library. Its primary aim is to provide fast compression and decompression while maintaining an interface familiar to users of gzip.
The utility generally sacrifices some compression density in exchange for shorter processing times. This makes it appropriate for temporary files, data transfers and other tasks where speed matters more than obtaining the smallest possible output.
lzop handles individual files rather than providing a general-purpose archive format for directories. It can also operate on streams, making it useful in shell pipelines. Unlike gzip’s usual behaviour, it retains the original input files unless explicitly instructed to remove them.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Fast lossless compression using the LZO1X algorithm.
- Produces compressed files with the .lzo suffix.
- Supports adjustable compression levels, with higher settings favouring smaller output.
- Maintains fast decompression across the available compression settings.
- Processes standard input and standard output for shell pipelines.
- Includes a test mode for checking compressed file integrity.
- Lists compressed file sizes, original sizes and compression ratios.
- Stores original filenames and file metadata in compressed headers.
- Preserves file permissions and timestamps where supported.
- Retains original files by default, with an option to delete them after successful processing.
- Supports alternative file suffixes and configurable output destinations.
- Provides options for managing stored paths and filenames.
- Supports checksums based on Adler-32 or CRC32.
- Recognises .tzo files as a convenient form of compressed tar archive.
Website: www.lzop.org
Support:
Developer: Markus F. X. J. Oberhumer
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
lzop is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Compression Tools | |
|---|---|
| LZ4 | Focused on compression and decompression speed |
| Zstandard | Fast compression algorithm, providing high compression ratios |
| brotli | Generic-purpose lossless compression algorithm |
| lzop | File compressor favoring speed over compression ratio |
| pigz | Parallel implementation of gzip |
| ouch | CLI tool for compressing and decompressing for various formats |
| pixz | Parallel, indexed xz compressor |
| gzip | Provides the standard GNU file compression utilities |
| BZip3 | Spiritual successor to BZip2 |
| bzip2 | Freely available, patent free, high-quality data compressor |
| PBZIP2 | Parallel implementation of bzip2 |
| lrzip | Achieve very high compression ratios and speed when used with large files |
| lbzip2 | Multi-threaded implementation of bzip2, suited for serial and parallel processing |
| ZXC | High-performance lossless compression library and command-line tool |
| plzip | Massively parallel lossless data compressor |
| p7zip-zstd | p7zip fork with additional codecs and improvements |
| 7-Zip | File archiver with a high compression ratio |
| ncompress | Fast, simple LZW file compressor |
| PXZ | Runs LZMA compression on multiple cores and processors |
| crabz | Like pigz but written in Rust |
| Lzip | Lossless data compressor aimed at Unix-like systems |
| cmix | Optimize compression ratio at the cost of high CPU/memory usage |
| bsc | High-performance block-sorting compressor for large files |
| rapidgzip | Parallelized decompression of gzip files |
| Kanzi | Modular lossless compressor with multithreaded processing |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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