lrzip

What lrzip is

lrzip is a free command-line compression utility aimed at large files, usually those over 10–50 MB. It first applies an extended version of rzip to reduce redundancy between distant parts of a file, then uses a compression backend. Choices include LZMA, ZPAQ, LZO, GZIP, BZIP2, or leaving data uncompressed after the first pass. Users can favor compression speed or a smaller result, but not both at once. Compression and decompression use multiple threads, with lrzip detecting the number of CPUs to use. It uses available RAM for compression windows; sliding mmap mode can make windows larger than RAM, though it can be extremely slow. Encryption is available, and the default option uses AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512 and HKDF. A forgotten encryption password cannot be recovered. The main program handles individual files, while the lrztar wrapper can package directories. lrzip targets 64-bit Unix-like systems and macOS; the FAQ says version 0.43 and later should build on Mac OS X 10.5 or later. The project is GPL-2.0 licensed and provides stable source tarballs and source-build instructions through GitHub.

Who it suits

lrzip suits command-line users working with large files on Linux, POSIX-like systems, or macOS who want choices of compression backends and optional encryption. It is also relevant to users packaging directories through its lrztar wrapper, provided they can account for its memory and processor demands.

Limits

lrzip has no free-plan quota listed. Its documented trade-off is that users can optimize for compression speed or output size, but not both at once; compression also needs substantial memory and a modern processor for best performance.

Getting started

1. Visit https://github.com/ckolivas/lrzip and open the project's build instructions.
2. Check that your system is a supported 64-bit Unix-like platform or macOS.
3. Get a stable source tarball from the GitHub releases.
4. Build from source using the documented configure and make steps.
5. Use lrztar when you need to package directories for compression.

Verdict

Choose lrzip if you need a free, GPL-2.0 command-line tool for compressing large files and can work within its CPU and RAM demands. Look elsewhere if you need to optimize compression speed and output size at the same time, or need the main program to handle directories directly.