tar, gzip, xz, zstd, zip, 7z. Speed/ratio comparison and parallel compression.

tar

• Create gzip: tar czf archive.tar.gz dir/

• Create xz (best ratio): tar cJf archive.tar.xz dir/

• Create zstd (best speed/ratio): tar --zstd -cf archive.tar.zst dir/

• Create bzip2: tar cjf archive.tar.bz2 dir/

• Verbose: tar czvf archive.tar.gz dir/

• Preserve perms (backups): tar czpf archive.tar.gz dir/

• Extract (auto-detects): tar xf archive.tar.gz

• Extract to dir: tar xf archive.tar.gz -C /target/

• Extract one file: tar xf archive.tar.gz path/to/file.txt

• List contents: tar tf archive.tar.gz

• Diff against filesystem: tar df archive.tar

• Exclude patterns: tar czf archive.tar.gz --exclude='*.log' --exclude='.git' dir/

• Exclude from file: tar czf archive.tar.gz --exclude-from=exclude.txt dir/

• Append (uncompressed only): tar rf archive.tar newfile.txt

• Progress with pv: tar cf - dir/ | pv | gzip > archive.tar.gz

• Incremental backup:

  tar czf full.tar.gz --listed-incremental=snap.snar dir/
  tar czf incr.tar.gz --listed-incremental=snap.snar dir/
  

gzip

• Compress (replaces file): gzip file.txt

• Keep original: gzip -k file.txt

• Decompress: gunzip file.txt.gz / gzip -d file.txt.gz

• Level (1 fastest, 9 best): gzip -9 file.txt

• To stdout: gzip -c file.txt > file.txt.gz

• View without extracting: zcat file.txt.gz zless file.txt.gz zgrep "pattern" file.txt.gz

• Show compression ratio: gzip -l file.txt.gz

• Test integrity: gzip -t file.txt.gz

xz

• Compress: xz file.txt

• Keep original: xz -k file.txt

• Decompress: xz -d file.txt.xz / unxz file.txt.xz

• Level (0–9, default 6): xz -9 file.txt

• Extreme mode (slightly better): xz -9e file.txt

• All cores: xz -T0 file.txt

• View: xzcat file.txt.xz / xzless / xzgrep

• Info / test: xz -l file.txt.xz / xz -t file.txt.xz

zstd

Install zstd.

• Compress: zstd file.txt

• Keep original: zstd -k file.txt

• Decompress: zstd -d file.txt.zst / unzstd file.txt.zst

• Level (1–19, default 3): zstd -19 file.txt

• Ultra (up to 22): zstd --ultra -22 file.txt

• All cores: zstd -T0 file.txt

• Adaptive level (auto): zstd --adapt file.txt

• Info / test: zstd -l file.txt.zst / zstd -t file.txt.zst

• Dictionary training (many small similar files):

  zstd --train /path/to/samples/* -o dict.zstd
  zstd -D dict.zstd file.txt
  

zip / unzip

• Create: zip archive.zip file1.txt file2.txt

• Recursive: zip -r archive.zip dir/

• Password protect: zip -e archive.zip files

• Best compression: zip -9 -r archive.zip dir/

• Exclude: zip -r archive.zip dir/ -x "*.log" "*.tmp"

• Update: zip -u archive.zip newfile.txt

• Extract: unzip archive.zip

• To dir: unzip archive.zip -d /target/

• Single file: unzip archive.zip path/to/file.txt

• Overwrite without prompt: unzip -o archive.zip

• List / test: unzip -l archive.zip / unzip -t archive.zip

7z

Install p7zip.

• Create: 7z a archive.7z dir/

• Max compression: 7z a -mx=9 archive.7z dir/

• Password + encrypted filenames: 7z a -p -mhe=on archive.7z dir/

• Create as zip: 7z a -tzip archive.zip dir/

• Extract (preserve dirs): 7z x archive.7z

• To dir: 7z x archive.7z -o/target/

• Flat extract: 7z e archive.7z

• List / test: 7z l archive.7z / 7z t archive.7z

• Split into volumes: 7z a -v100m archive.7z dir/

• Multi-threaded: 7z a -mmt=on archive.7z dir/

Comparison (defaults)

• Benchmark:

  time gzip -k -9 testfile
  time xz -k -9 testfile
  time zstd -k -19 testfile
  ls -lh testfile testfile.gz testfile.xz testfile.zst
  

Parallel compression

• pigz (parallel gzip, standard .gz output): pigz file.txt pigz -p 4 file.txt unpigz file.txt.gz

• pbzip2: pbzip2 file.txt / pbzip2 -d file.txt.bz2

• With tar (pipe through): tar cf - dir/ | pigz > archive.tar.gz tar cf - dir/ | zstd -T0 > archive.tar.zst