PXZ, short for Parallel XZ, is a command-line compression utility that distributes LZMA compression across multiple CPU cores. It is designed to accelerate workloads involving large files while retaining compatibility with the xz format.
The program divides input data into sections that can be compressed concurrently. This allows it to exploit processing resources that would otherwise remain unused during sequential compression.
PXZ offers controls for thread counts and compression context sizes, giving users some flexibility over CPU and memory consumption. It also integrates with ordinary shell pipelines and tar, making it suitable for scripted archive creation and data processing.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Parallel LZMA compression using multiple CPU cores.
- Produces xz-compatible compressed output.
- Automatically detects available processing resources.
- Allows a maximum number of compression threads to be specified.
- Supports adjustable compression levels.
- Provides configurable compression context sizes for individual worker threads.
- Can compress multiple named input files.
- Supports standard output for integration into shell pipelines.
- Includes an option for retaining original input files.
- Offers forced processing and overwriting where explicitly requested.
- Provides verbose output for monitoring compression progress.
- Integrates with tar to create compressed archives.
- Uses liblzma for the underlying compression operations.
- Allows memory usage to be influenced through context and compression settings.
Website: jnovy.fedorapeople.org/pxz
Support:
Developer: Jindrich Novy
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
PXZ 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.
| Multi-Core Compression Tools | |
|---|---|
| Zstandard | Fast compression algorithm, providing high compression ratios |
| pigz | Parallel implementation of gzip. It's a fully functional replacement for gzip |
| pixz | Parallel indexing XZ compression, fully compatible with XZ. LZMA and LZMA2 |
| PBZIP2 | Parallel implementation of the bzip2 block-sorting file compressor |
| lrzip | Compression utility that excels at compressing large files |
| lbzip2 | Parallel bzip2 compression utility, suited for serial and parallel processing |
| plzip | Massively parallel (multi-threaded) lossless data compressor based on lzlib |
| crabz | Like pigz but written in Rust |
| PXZ | Runs LZMA compression on multiple cores and processors |
| Kanzi | Modern lossless data compressor |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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