blazezip

A very fast, parallel, standards-compliant ZIP archiver for Windows, plus a benchmark suite that pits it against 7-Zip, NanaZip, PeaZip, Bandizip, WinRAR, WinZip, Info-ZIP, pzip, zstd, pigz, LZ4 and LZFSE and awards medals. On the test machine it wins more gold medals than any other tool in both suites; see Performance.

blazezip is Windows-only: it uses Windows file APIs directly for its speed.

Installing

Download blazezip-<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip from Releases, unzip it and put blazezip.exe on your PATH. Each release has a .sha256 checksum next to it.

To build from source you need Rust 1.85 or later (MSVC toolchain). LLVM's clang-cl is optional but recommended: with it, libdeflate gets its fastest (BMI2) decoder.

cargo build --release        # target/release/blazezip.exe
cargo test --release

Using blazezip

blazezip c out.zip folder [more inputs...]   # create (Deflate, level 6)
blazezip c out.zip folder -1                 # fastest   (-12 = smallest)
blazezip c out.zip folder --zstd             # Zstandard inside ZIP (method 93)
blazezip a out.zip more-files                # add (replacing same-named entries)
blazezip d out.zip folder/old.txt            # delete entries (or whole directories)
blazezip x out.zip -o dest                   # extract
blazezip x out.zip folder/a.txt -o dest      # extract only the named entries
blazezip t out.zip                           # verify CRCs without writing
blazezip l out.zip                           # list

Options: -t N threads (default: 8 when creating Deflate archives, up to 12 for small inputs at -7 and above; otherwise all logical CPUs), --chunk MiB, --no-store, -q, -V/--version. The thread count never changes the archive: the same inputs and options give the same bytes.

Exit codes: 0 on success, 1 on any error. 1 is also returned when the job finished but not cleanly: input files that could not be read were left out of the archive (and named on stderr), or a damaged archive was only partly recovered.

Why it's fast

• Everything is parallel. Files compress concurrently (runs of small files are batched into one job); a single large file is split into 1 MiB chunks that compress on all cores. The input tree is walked in parallel. A bounded in-flight window (in jobs and bytes) keeps memory proportional to the thread count rather than the input size, and output buffers are recycled.
• libdeflate does all Deflate work. It is vendored in third_party/libdeflate with one small addition, libdeflate_deflate_compress_sync(), which ends a chunk with a sync flush instead of a final block. The chunks concatenate into one ordinary Deflate stream that every unzip tool reads. With LLVM installed, libdeflate is built with clang-cl, which (unlike MSVC) can build its BMI2 decompressor and fastest CRC-32; blazezip uses that CRC-32 too.
• Parallel decompression of single large files. blazezip records each chunk's compressed size in a private extra field (0x7a42) that other tools ignore. On extraction, every chunk is decoded independently, straight into a memory-mapped output file.
• Incompressible data is detected and stored. Samples are test-compressed first, so photos, video and existing archives skip pointless work.
• Only the threads that help. Storing incompressible data is I/O-bound, so creation uses two threads plus one per MiB that actually needs compressing. Extraction stops adding threads once the largest file, not the thread count, sets the finishing time.
• Windows-aware I/O. Directories are created up front (a level at a time, in parallel), files are created from many threads (NTFS file creation parallelises well; for many small files, twice as many threads as cores), handles are closed on separate threads because closing a freshly written file is where antivirus scanning blocks, and large stored entries are streamed with ReadFile and WriteFile instead of page-faulting a mapping. The process opts out of Windows power throttling so it isn't parked on efficiency cores.

Archives are plain ZIP (Zip64 when needed), verified with 7z t and Info-ZIP unzip -t. They record Windows attributes (read-only, hidden, system) and NTFS timestamps (100 ns), which blazezip and 7-Zip restore on extraction. A file that cannot be read (locked by another process, say) is skipped with a warning and a non-zero exit code; everything else is archived. An interrupted or failed run never leaves a partial archive behind. Adding and deleting copy the other entries' compressed data unchanged, and if an archive's central directory is missing (a truncated download, say), extraction recovers what the local headers still describe and exits with an error.

Performance

Measured on 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700H (14 cores, 20 threads), 31.7 GB RAM, NVMe KXG70ZNV512G NVMe KIOXIA 512GB, Windows 11 (10.0.26300), with Windows Defender real-time protection on. Every test runs 10 times under a Windows Job Object; the median of the fastest five runs is reported. Competitors keep their best result across recent runs, blazezip shows its latest. Tool versions are listed below. Generated by python bench/readme_perf.py on 2026-10-14.

Main suite: medal table

Every benchmark awards gold, silver and bronze for each metric: wall time, CPU time, peak memory and (when creating) archive size.

Where blazezip wins

Gold medals won by blazezip, by metric: Speed (wall) 34/42, CPU time 16/42, Peak memory 4/42, Size 3/27.

Each cell is blazezip's result and its place; where it is not in the top three, the best tool's result is shown for comparison. Sizes are the archive as a share of the input.

Every tool, every benchmark (full main-suite results)

Create a ZIP · canterbury · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.024 s	🥇 0.125 s	🥈 11.2 MiB	32.2%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	🥈 0.138 s	🥈 0.141 s	🥇 1.4 MiB	35.3%
WinRAR	🥉 0.168 s	🥉 0.25 s	🥉 16.2 MiB	31.0%
WinZip	0.185 s	0.703 s	218.7 MiB	30.6%
7-Zip	0.191 s	0.312 s	268.6 MiB	🥇 30.4%
PeaZip	0.197 s	0.312 s	268.9 MiB	🥉 30.4%
NanaZip	0.271 s	0.344 s	269.0 MiB	🥈 30.4%

Create a ZIP · canterbury · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
pzip / punzip	🥇 0.0516 s	🥇 0.109 s	25.0 MiB	30.3%
blazezip	🥈 0.0743 s	🥈 0.469 s	🥉 15.0 MiB	28.5%
WinRAR	🥉 0.225 s	0.781 s	16.2 MiB	29.2%
WinZip	0.387 s	3.67 s	222.6 MiB	27.9%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	0.648 s	🥉 0.641 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	29.2%
7-Zip	0.938 s	1.78 s	268.9 MiB	🥇 27.3%
PeaZip	0.968 s	1.83 s	269.2 MiB	🥉 27.3%
Windows built-in (tar)	1.02 s	1.02 s	🥈 1.9 MiB	29.2%
NanaZip	1.08 s	1.83 s	269.4 MiB	🥈 27.3%

Create a ZIP · canterbury · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.248 s	🥈 2.67 s	🥉 22.3 MiB	28.1%
WinRAR	🥈 0.27 s	🥇 1.55 s	🥈 16.2 MiB	28.8%
WinZip	🥉 0.696 s	9.08 s	260.3 MiB	27.6%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	2.82 s	🥉 2.77 s	🥇 1.4 MiB	28.7%
PeaZip	4.53 s	9.62 s	273.0 MiB	🥉 27.3%
7-Zip	4.66 s	9.86 s	272.7 MiB	🥇 27.3%
NanaZip	4.75 s	10 s	273.1 MiB	🥈 27.3%

Create a ZIP · silesia · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.21 s	🥇 1.56 s	🥉 26.6 MiB	34.7%
WinZip	🥈 0.775 s	8.78 s	985.8 MiB	33.2%
7-Zip	🥉 1.05 s	5.23 s	865.7 MiB	🥇 33.1%
PeaZip	1.06 s	5.17 s	866.0 MiB	🥉 33.1%
NanaZip	1.18 s	5.3 s	866.3 MiB	🥈 33.1%
WinRAR	1.66 s	🥉 3.52 s	🥈 16.2 MiB	33.6%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	2.37 s	🥈 2.34 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	36.5%

Create a ZIP · silesia · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.461 s	🥇 3.53 s	30.7 MiB	31.9%
pzip / punzip	🥈 0.888 s	🥈 3.72 s	55.2 MiB	33.7%
WinRAR	🥉 2.2 s	9.7 s	🥉 16.2 MiB	31.9%
WinZip	2.56 s	42.3 s	995.2 MiB	31.1%
Windows built-in (tar)	5.57 s	🥉 5.52 s	🥈 1.9 MiB	32.2%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	5.81 s	5.72 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	32.2%
PeaZip	5.88 s	26.5 s	867.5 MiB	🥉 31.0%
7-Zip	5.89 s	26.8 s	867.2 MiB	🥇 31.0%
NanaZip	6.19 s	27.9 s	867.8 MiB	🥈 31.0%

Create a ZIP · silesia · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 1.3 s	🥇 10 s	🥉 31.6 MiB	31.6%
WinRAR	🥈 2.24 s	🥈 11.1 s	🥈 16.2 MiB	31.8%
WinZip	🥉 6.83 s	120 s	1276.2 MiB	30.7%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	13.8 s	🥉 13.6 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	31.9%
7-Zip	37.9 s	172 s	882.2 MiB	🥇 30.5%
PeaZip	38.2 s	174 s	882.6 MiB	🥉 30.5%
NanaZip	39.4 s	181 s	882.9 MiB	🥈 30.5%

Create a ZIP · enwik8 · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.132 s	🥇 0.922 s	🥉 24.6 MiB	39.2%
WinZip	🥈 0.498 s	5.02 s	352.4 MiB	37.9%
WinRAR	🥉 0.917 s	2.09 s	🥈 16.2 MiB	38.2%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	1.24 s	🥈 1.23 s	🥇 1.4 MiB	42.3%
PeaZip	2.03 s	🥉 2 s	136.1 MiB	🥉 37.9%
7-Zip	2.04 s	2.03 s	135.9 MiB	🥇 37.9%
NanaZip	2.22 s	2.11 s	136.3 MiB	🥈 37.9%

Create a ZIP · enwik8 · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.304 s	🥈 2.22 s	28.2 MiB	36.7%
WinRAR	🥈 1.22 s	4.83 s	🥉 16.2 MiB	36.3%
WinZip	🥉 1.39 s	21.8 s	354.9 MiB	35.2%
pzip / punzip	1.5 s	🥇 1.44 s	19.9 MiB	37.8%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	3.58 s	🥉 3.55 s	🥇 1.4 MiB	36.5%
Windows built-in (tar)	3.75 s	3.7 s	🥈 1.9 MiB	36.5%
7-Zip	9.5 s	9.36 s	136.0 MiB	🥇 35.2%
PeaZip	9.52 s	9.42 s	136.3 MiB	🥉 35.2%
NanaZip	9.88 s	9.59 s	136.4 MiB	🥈 35.2%

Create a ZIP · enwik8 · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.528 s	🥇 4.06 s	🥉 28.2 MiB	36.3%
WinRAR	🥈 1.25 s	🥉 5.77 s	🥈 16.2 MiB	36.2%
WinZip	🥉 3.53 s	60.4 s	380.0 MiB	35.1%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	4.54 s	🥈 4.48 s	🥇 1.4 MiB	36.4%
7-Zip	58 s	57.2 s	137.3 MiB	🥇 35.1%
PeaZip	58 s	57.3 s	137.5 MiB	🥉 35.1%
NanaZip	59.4 s	58.3 s	137.7 MiB	🥈 35.1%

Create a ZIP · linux · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.507 s	🥇 3.69 s	🥉 37.6 MiB	32.4%
7-Zip	🥈 1.27 s	🥈 7.11 s	1352.4 MiB	🥇 31.0%
PeaZip	🥉 1.28 s	🥉 7.22 s	1352.7 MiB	🥉 31.0%
NanaZip	1.48 s	7.5 s	1352.4 MiB	🥈 31.0%
WinRAR	6.53 s	8.61 s	🥈 27.8 MiB	31.6%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	7.48 s	7.42 s	🥇 25.0 MiB	35.8%

Create a ZIP · linux · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.692 s	🥇 5.28 s	42.6 MiB	30.1%
pzip / punzip	🥈 1.11 s	🥉 8.52 s	290.0 MiB	31.1%
7-Zip	🥉 2.44 s	33.7 s	1354.8 MiB	🥇 29.5%
PeaZip	2.45 s	34.1 s	1355.3 MiB	🥉 29.5%
NanaZip	2.62 s	34.5 s	1354.9 MiB	🥈 29.5%
Windows built-in (tar)	5.89 s	🥈 5.83 s	🥇 4.6 MiB	30.5%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	9.39 s	9.33 s	🥈 25.1 MiB	31.3%
WinRAR	9.44 s	15.5 s	🥉 27.8 MiB	29.9%

Create a ZIP · linux · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 1.28 s	🥇 9.61 s	🥉 49.7 MiB	29.9%
PeaZip	🥈 11.1 s	202 s	1380.2 MiB	🥉 29.1%
7-Zip	🥉 11.2 s	205 s	1379.9 MiB	🥇 29.1%
NanaZip	12.2 s	223 s	1379.4 MiB	🥈 29.1%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	12.6 s	🥈 12.4 s	🥇 25.0 MiB	31.2%
WinRAR	16.7 s	🥉 22.7 s	🥈 27.9 MiB	29.8%

Create a ZIP · binaries · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.544 s	🥇 4.08 s	🥉 34.0 MiB	33.4%
WinZip	🥈 1.47 s	14.4 s	1512.6 MiB	31.8%
7-Zip	🥉 3.02 s	7.98 s	1332.4 MiB	🥇 31.6%
PeaZip	3.04 s	8.11 s	1332.8 MiB	🥉 31.6%
NanaZip	3.26 s	8.36 s	1333.2 MiB	🥈 31.6%
WinRAR	3.38 s	🥉 7.77 s	🥈 16.2 MiB	32.0%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	4.75 s	🥈 4.67 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	34.9%

Create a ZIP · binaries · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.998 s	🥈 7.67 s	36.5 MiB	30.7%
pzip / punzip	🥈 2.72 s	🥇 6.44 s	108.0 MiB	32.7%
WinRAR	🥉 4.3 s	19.9 s	🥉 16.2 MiB	30.6%
WinZip	4.38 s	69.4 s	1584.5 MiB	30.1%
Windows built-in (tar)	9.75 s	🥉 9.66 s	🥈 1.9 MiB	30.8%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	11.5 s	11.3 s	🥇 1.6 MiB	30.8%
7-Zip	15.4 s	42.9 s	1334.8 MiB	🥇 29.9%
PeaZip	15.8 s	43.2 s	1335.2 MiB	🥉 29.9%
NanaZip	16 s	44.1 s	1335.7 MiB	🥈 29.9%

Create a ZIP · binaries · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 2.54 s	🥇 19.1 s	🥉 37.1 MiB	30.5%
WinRAR	🥈 5.16 s	🥈 24.2 s	🥈 16.2 MiB	30.6%
WinZip	🥉 10.8 s	186 s	1901.6 MiB	29.8%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	34.9 s	🥉 34.6 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	30.7%
PeaZip	96.2 s	267 s	1360.3 MiB	🥉 29.5%
NanaZip	101 s	287 s	1360.7 MiB	🥈 29.5%
7-Zip	101 s	272 s	1359.9 MiB	🥇 29.5%

Create a ZIP · media · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.187 s	🥇 0.453 s	🥈 9.6 MiB	🥇 100.0%
7-Zip	🥈 0.883 s	12.5 s	1334.9 MiB	🥈 100.0%
PeaZip	🥉 0.89 s	12.7 s	1335.3 MiB	100.0%
NanaZip	1.02 s	13.6 s	1335.7 MiB	🥉 100.0%
WinZip	1.57 s	17.5 s	1991.6 MiB	100.0%
WinRAR	2.59 s	🥉 9 s	🥉 16.2 MiB	100.0%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	6.42 s	🥈 6.3 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	100.0%

Create a ZIP · media · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.179 s	🥇 0.359 s	🥉 9.8 MiB	🥇 100.0%
pzip / punzip	🥈 0.341 s	🥈 0.875 s	101.2 MiB	100.0%
7-Zip	🥉 1.07 s	15.6 s	1337.4 MiB	🥈 100.0%
PeaZip	1.15 s	16.7 s	1337.8 MiB	100.0%
NanaZip	1.26 s	17.1 s	1338.2 MiB	🥉 100.0%
WinZip	1.88 s	21.4 s	2067.8 MiB	100.0%
WinRAR	3.47 s	19.4 s	16.2 MiB	100.0%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	6.57 s	🥉 6.5 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	100.0%
Windows built-in (tar)	6.94 s	6.81 s	🥈 1.9 MiB	100.0%

Create a ZIP · media · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.18 s	🥇 0.391 s	🥈 9.7 MiB	🥇 100.0%
WinZip	🥈 3.16 s	45.8 s	2821.8 MiB	100.0%
WinRAR	🥉 3.46 s	🥉 20.2 s	🥉 16.2 MiB	100.0%
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	6.59 s	🥈 6.52 s	🥇 1.5 MiB	100.0%
7-Zip	10.8 s	170 s	1362.4 MiB	🥈 100.0%
PeaZip	11.7 s	183 s	1362.8 MiB	100.0%
NanaZip	12.9 s	201 s	1363.2 MiB	🥉 100.0%

Extract a ZIP · canterbury

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.019 s	🥈 0.0312 s	11.4 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.0306 s	🥇 0.0156 s	🥇 1.4 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 0.0323 s	0.0781 s	13.3 MiB
7-Zip	0.0601 s	🥉 0.0469 s	🥈 2.4 MiB
PeaZip	0.064 s	0.0625 s	🥉 2.7 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	0.0847 s	0.0781 s	6.7 MiB
NanaZip	0.0997 s	0.0469 s	2.8 MiB
WinRAR	0.129 s	0.125 s	8.2 MiB
WinZip	0.146 s	0.0781 s	36.6 MiB

Extract a ZIP · silesia

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.14 s	🥈 0.516 s	20.4 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.422 s	🥇 0.406 s	🥇 1.4 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 0.439 s	1.69 s	16.7 MiB
WinZip	0.817 s	1.34 s	127.5 MiB
PeaZip	0.93 s	0.922 s	🥉 2.7 MiB
7-Zip	0.935 s	0.906 s	🥈 2.5 MiB
WinRAR	0.938 s	0.938 s	8.2 MiB
NanaZip	0.97 s	🥉 0.844 s	2.8 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	1.25 s	1.23 s	6.7 MiB

Extract a ZIP · enwik8

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.198 s	🥇 0.188 s	🥇 0.9 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.225 s	🥈 0.219 s	🥈 1.4 MiB
7-Zip	🥉 0.512 s	🥉 0.5 s	🥉 2.4 MiB
PeaZip	0.518 s	0.516 s	2.7 MiB
pzip / punzip	0.543 s	0.547 s	12.6 MiB
WinRAR	0.551 s	0.531 s	8.2 MiB
NanaZip	0.574 s	0.5 s	2.8 MiB
WinZip	0.61 s	0.609 s	16.2 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	0.658 s	0.656 s	6.7 MiB

Extract a ZIP · linux

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
Windows built-in (tar)	🥇 7.93 s	🥇 7.5 s	🥇 5.5 MiB
blazezip	🥈 20.6 s	🥈 22.1 s	26.5 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 22.4 s	30.7 s	39.1 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	23.6 s	🥉 22.7 s	🥈 7.7 MiB
WinRAR	25.6 s	23.8 s	🥉 8.2 MiB

Extract a ZIP · binaries

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.62 s	🥈 1.23 s	19.6 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.843 s	🥇 0.797 s	🥇 1.5 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 1.21 s	2.88 s	22.6 MiB
WinZip	1.67 s	3.53 s	410.8 MiB
7-Zip	1.74 s	1.7 s	🥈 2.5 MiB
NanaZip	1.75 s	🥉 1.64 s	2.8 MiB
PeaZip	1.8 s	1.77 s	🥉 2.8 MiB
WinRAR	1.82 s	1.77 s	8.2 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	2.54 s	2.48 s	6.7 MiB

Extract a ZIP · media

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.125 s	0.281 s	22.2 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.206 s	🥇 0.188 s	🥇 1.1 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 0.219 s	0.469 s	17.5 MiB
7-Zip	0.236 s	🥈 0.234 s	🥈 1.5 MiB
PeaZip	0.245 s	0.234 s	🥉 1.8 MiB
NanaZip	0.285 s	🥉 0.234 s	1.9 MiB
WinRAR	1.06 s	1.03 s	8.2 MiB
WinZip	1.2 s	1.56 s	167.2 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	1.34 s	1.3 s	6.7 MiB

Extract the tool's own ZIP · canterbury

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.0176 s	🥇 0.0156 s	6.7 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.0339 s	🥈 0.0312 s	🥇 1.4 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 0.0353 s	0.0781 s	13.3 MiB
7-Zip	0.0627 s	🥉 0.0469 s	🥈 2.4 MiB
PeaZip	0.0627 s	0.0469 s	🥉 2.7 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	0.0846 s	0.0781 s	6.7 MiB
NanaZip	0.104 s	0.0625 s	2.8 MiB
WinRAR	0.139 s	0.141 s	8.2 MiB
WinZip	0.146 s	0.0938 s	36.7 MiB

Extract the tool's own ZIP · silesia

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.0895 s	0.984 s	24.3 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.416 s	🥇 0.391 s	🥇 1.4 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 0.437 s	1.64 s	17.2 MiB
WinZip	0.821 s	1.34 s	127.3 MiB
7-Zip	0.912 s	🥉 0.906 s	🥈 2.5 MiB
WinRAR	0.934 s	0.906 s	8.2 MiB
PeaZip	0.939 s	0.906 s	🥉 2.7 MiB
NanaZip	0.946 s	🥈 0.844 s	2.8 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	1.21 s	1.2 s	6.7 MiB

Extract the tool's own ZIP · enwik8

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.046 s	🥈 0.5 s	18.8 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.239 s	🥇 0.234 s	🥇 1.4 MiB
PeaZip	🥉 0.516 s	0.5 s	🥉 2.7 MiB
7-Zip	0.521 s	🥉 0.5 s	🥈 2.4 MiB
NanaZip	0.575 s	0.5 s	2.8 MiB
WinRAR	0.576 s	0.562 s	8.2 MiB
pzip / punzip	0.588 s	0.578 s	12.7 MiB
WinZip	0.603 s	0.609 s	16.2 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	0.663 s	0.672 s	6.7 MiB

Extract the tool's own ZIP · linux

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
Windows built-in (tar)	🥇 8.14 s	🥇 7.7 s	🥇 5.5 MiB
blazezip	🥈 20.1 s	🥈 22.5 s	26.5 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 22.8 s	30.8 s	37.6 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	24.1 s	🥉 23.2 s	🥈 7.7 MiB
WinRAR	25.8 s	23.7 s	🥉 8.2 MiB

Extract the tool's own ZIP · binaries

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.207 s	1.92 s	24.8 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.805 s	🥇 0.781 s	🥇 1.5 MiB
pzip / punzip	🥉 1.22 s	2.91 s	22.7 MiB
WinZip	1.66 s	3.53 s	410.8 MiB
7-Zip	1.76 s	🥉 1.69 s	🥈 2.5 MiB
NanaZip	1.76 s	🥈 1.66 s	2.8 MiB
WinRAR	1.81 s	1.73 s	8.2 MiB
PeaZip	1.81 s	1.78 s	🥉 2.8 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	2.48 s	2.45 s	6.7 MiB

Extract the tool's own ZIP · media

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.137 s	0.281 s	22.2 MiB
Windows built-in (tar)	🥈 0.224 s	🥇 0.203 s	🥇 1.4 MiB
7-Zip	🥉 0.244 s	🥈 0.234 s	🥈 1.5 MiB
pzip / punzip	0.254 s	0.609 s	20.0 MiB
PeaZip	0.255 s	0.25 s	🥉 1.8 MiB
NanaZip	0.287 s	🥉 0.234 s	1.9 MiB
WinZip	0.977 s	2.25 s	328.4 MiB
WinRAR	1.09 s	1.05 s	8.2 MiB
Info-ZIP zip/unzip	1.27 s	1.25 s	6.7 MiB

Compress, native format · silesia · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.103 s	🥉 1.27 s	158.9 MiB	34.6%
zstd	🥈 0.128 s	🥈 1.08 s	🥉 79.1 MiB	34.6%
LZ4	🥉 0.234 s	🥇 0.594 s	🥈 53.4 MiB	51.5%
pigz	0.367 s	4.8 s	🥇 25.1 MiB	36.4%
PeaZip	1.14 s	18.2 s	98.3 MiB	🥉 27.9%
7-Zip	1.18 s	18.3 s	97.9 MiB	🥇 27.9%
NanaZip	1.25 s	20.4 s	247.9 MiB	🥈 27.9%
WinRAR	1.3 s	11.8 s	305.3 MiB	31.5%

Compress, native format · silesia · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.185 s	2.47 s	🥉 165.5 MiB	31.4%
zstd	🥈 0.214 s	🥈 1.61 s	295.5 MiB	31.2%
LZ4	🥉 0.231 s	🥇 0.656 s	🥈 53.4 MiB	47.6%
pigz	0.822 s	14.4 s	🥇 25.3 MiB	32.2%
LZFSE	2.37 s	🥉 2.33 s	506.5 MiB	31.9%
WinRAR	3.74 s	44.5 s	305.4 MiB	25.6%
NanaZip	24.5 s	63.3 s	1167.5 MiB	🥈 23.4%
7-Zip	24.5 s	64 s	1167.0 MiB	🥇 23.4%
PeaZip	24.6 s	64.2 s	1167.3 MiB	🥉 23.4%

Compress, native format · silesia · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
pigz	🥇 1.76 s	🥇 31.7 s	🥇 25.1 MiB	31.9%
LZ4	🥈 2.46 s	🥈 33.2 s	🥈 219.4 MiB	36.5%
WinRAR	🥉 5.56 s	70.4 s	🥉 574.9 MiB	25.1%
blazezip	7.97 s	127 s	1124.5 MiB	26.2%
zstd	22.4 s	114 s	1345.2 MiB	24.9%
PeaZip	47.1 s	68 s	2189.9 MiB	🥉 23.0%
NanaZip	47.2 s	🥉 67.7 s	2190.0 MiB	🥈 23.0%
7-Zip	47.3 s	68.6 s	2189.6 MiB	🥇 23.0%

Compress, native format · enwik8 · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.0724 s	🥉 0.812 s	87.8 MiB	40.8%
zstd	🥈 0.0846 s	🥈 0.703 s	🥉 77.1 MiB	40.7%
LZ4	🥉 0.136 s	🥇 0.344 s	🥈 53.4 MiB	66.5%
pigz	0.177 s	2.52 s	🥇 25.1 MiB	42.3%
7-Zip	0.695 s	11.7 s	97.9 MiB	🥇 33.4%
PeaZip	0.698 s	11.7 s	98.3 MiB	🥉 33.4%
WinRAR	0.716 s	6.47 s	304.8 MiB	35.3%
NanaZip	0.793 s	12.5 s	171.2 MiB	🥈 33.4%

Compress, native format · enwik8 · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
blazezip	🥇 0.112 s	1.53 s	🥉 99.2 MiB	35.9%
zstd	🥈 0.15 s	🥈 1.12 s	252.8 MiB	35.4%
LZ4	🥉 0.295 s	🥇 0.391 s	🥈 57.4 MiB	57.3%
pigz	0.517 s	8.67 s	🥇 25.1 MiB	36.6%
LZFSE	1.42 s	🥉 1.41 s	287.9 MiB	36.2%
WinRAR	2.94 s	41.1 s	305.6 MiB	28.6%
7-Zip	48 s	60.8 s	377.8 MiB	🥇 25.4%
NanaZip	48 s	59.9 s	378.2 MiB	🥈 25.4%
PeaZip	48.1 s	60.5 s	378.1 MiB	🥉 25.4%

Compress, native format · enwik8 · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
pigz	🥇 0.613 s	🥈 11 s	🥇 24.9 MiB	36.5%
LZ4	🥈 0.917 s	🥇 10.7 s	🥈 155.3 MiB	42.0%
WinRAR	🥉 3.58 s	🥉 50.8 s	🥉 574.7 MiB	27.4%
blazezip	4.35 s	62.5 s	738.5 MiB	30.6%
zstd	23.7 s	66.7 s	890.8 MiB	26.9%
7-Zip	54 s	68.1 s	1045.0 MiB	🥇 24.8%
PeaZip	54.4 s	68.2 s	1045.3 MiB	🥉 24.8%
NanaZip	54.6 s	68.5 s	1045.4 MiB	🥈 24.8%

Compress, native format · linux · fast

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
zstd	🥇 0.123 s	🥈 1.14 s	🥉 77.1 MiB	24.9%
blazezip	🥈 0.14 s	🥉 1.73 s	149.9 MiB	24.9%
LZ4	🥉 0.225 s	🥇 0.672 s	🥈 53.4 MiB	40.8%
pigz	0.348 s	3.86 s	🥇 25.1 MiB	27.6%
PeaZip	0.856 s	14.8 s	98.3 MiB	🥉 20.0%
7-Zip	0.867 s	14.7 s	97.9 MiB	🥇 20.0%
NanaZip	0.973 s	15.7 s	213.4 MiB	🥈 20.0%
WinRAR	1.2 s	11.8 s	305.7 MiB	21.9%

Compress, native format · linux · default

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
zstd	🥇 0.188 s	🥈 1.64 s	287.5 MiB	22.2%
blazezip	🥈 0.207 s	3 s	🥉 160.9 MiB	22.4%
LZ4	🥉 0.214 s	🥇 0.703 s	🥈 53.4 MiB	35.9%
pigz	0.686 s	11.7 s	🥇 25.1 MiB	22.3%
LZFSE	2.31 s	🥉 2.25 s	515.7 MiB	22.1%
WinRAR	3.89 s	49.6 s	305.3 MiB	17.5%
NanaZip	34.7 s	77.9 s	1167.5 MiB	🥈 16.0%
PeaZip	35.6 s	80.2 s	1167.3 MiB	🥉 16.0%
7-Zip	35.7 s	80.2 s	1167.0 MiB	🥇 16.0%

Compress, native format · linux · max

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory	Size
pigz	🥇 1.25 s	🥇 20.6 s	🥇 25.1 MiB	22.1%
LZ4	🥈 1.57 s	🥈 23.2 s	🥈 195.0 MiB	25.9%
WinRAR	🥉 5.55 s	🥉 71.4 s	🥉 574.7 MiB	17.0%
blazezip	7.73 s	126 s	1117.3 MiB	17.5%
zstd	21 s	126 s	1345.2 MiB	16.4%
7-Zip	75 s	98.6 s	2233.1 MiB	🥇 15.3%
PeaZip	75.1 s	98.3 s	2233.4 MiB	🥉 15.3%
NanaZip	75.4 s	98.1 s	2233.6 MiB	🥈 15.3%

Decompress, native format · silesia

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.0884 s	0.891 s	🥇 3.8 MiB
zstd	🥈 0.222 s	🥈 0.281 s	🥉 7.0 MiB
LZ4	🥉 0.31 s	🥇 0.188 s	36.9 MiB
LZFSE	0.497 s	🥉 0.406 s	388.4 MiB
WinRAR	0.622 s	1.23 s	46.5 MiB
pigz	0.74 s	1.02 s	🥈 6.1 MiB
PeaZip	1.11 s	1.78 s	253.0 MiB
7-Zip	1.14 s	1.81 s	252.7 MiB
NanaZip	1.18 s	1.78 s	253.7 MiB

Decompress, native format · enwik8

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.0569 s	0.531 s	🥇 3.6 MiB
LZFSE	🥈 0.262 s	🥉 0.219 s	207.9 MiB
zstd	🥉 0.274 s	🥈 0.172 s	🥉 7.0 MiB
LZ4	0.291 s	🥇 0.0938 s	36.9 MiB
WinRAR	0.325 s	0.547 s	46.2 MiB
pigz	0.437 s	0.516 s	🥈 6.1 MiB
PeaZip	0.803 s	0.781 s	121.8 MiB
7-Zip	0.823 s	0.812 s	121.6 MiB
NanaZip	0.866 s	0.766 s	122.2 MiB

Decompress, native format · linux

Tool	Speed (wall)	CPU time	Peak memory
blazezip	🥇 0.0887 s	0.859 s	🥇 3.8 MiB
zstd	🥈 0.207 s	🥈 0.281 s	🥉 7.0 MiB
LZ4	🥉 0.296 s	🥇 0.172 s	36.9 MiB
WinRAR	0.483 s	0.953 s	46.2 MiB
pigz	0.625 s	0.906 s	🥈 6.1 MiB
LZFSE	0.738 s	🥉 0.625 s	642.1 MiB
PeaZip	0.824 s	1.25 s	242.8 MiB
7-Zip	0.841 s	1.3 s	242.6 MiB
NanaZip	0.887 s	1.23 s	243.4 MiB

Charts

blazezip is highlighted in orange.

Extended suite

The extended suite covers behaviour as well as speed: scaling, start-up time, very large and very many files, Unicode and legacy names, metadata, corrupt and hostile archives, locked files, interruption, memory caps and more. Each (test, metric) pair awards medals; ties share a place.

blazezip places first in 55 of the 125 ranked metrics it takes part in.

Every extended-suite metric, with blazezip's place

Test	Metric	blazezip	Place	Best other tool
M03	1-CPU create silesia: wall	2.612 s	🥈	pzip / punzip 2.533 s
M04	1-CPU extract silesia: wall	0.4134 s	🥇	Windows built-in (tar) 0.4379 s
M05	create silesia at 1 CPUs: wall	2.474 s	🥈	pzip / punzip 2.448 s
M05	create silesia at 2 CPUs: wall	1.275 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 1.494 s
M05	create silesia at 20 CPUs: wall	0.5145 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.9103 s
M05	create silesia at 4 CPUs: wall	0.8335 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.9692 s
M05	create silesia at 8 CPUs: wall	0.5834 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.8923 s
M05	speed-up 20 CPUs vs 1	4.808 x	6th	Bandizip 24.56 x
M06	time to first output byte	0.5024 s	5th	Windows built-in (tar) 0.02208 s
M09	create silesia under full CPU load: wall	0.9388 s	🥇	Bandizip 1.27 s
M11	100k x 1 KiB create: CPU	11.7 s	🥇	WinRAR 12.17 s
M11	100k x 1 KiB create: peak memory	67.41 MiB	4th	Windows built-in (tar) 10.37 MiB
M11	100k x 1 KiB create: wall	1.576 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 4.303 s
M11	100k x 1 KiB extract own: CPU	118.7 s	4th	7-Zip 54.42 s
M11	100k x 1 KiB extract own: wall	107.5 s	4th	7-Zip 57.08 s
M12	4.6 GiB file create: peak memory	30.58 MiB	6th	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 1.457 MiB
M12	4.6 GiB file create: wall	17.98 s	🥇	Bandizip 22.43 s
M12	4.6 GiB file extract own: wall	3.077 s	🥇	Windows built-in (tar) 13.73 s
M13	paths > 260 chars: round-trip intact	1	🥇	pzip / punzip 1
M14	Unicode names: round-trip intact	1	🥇	pzip / punzip 1
M15	zeros + sparse 2 GiB create: CPU	6.75 s	🥈	pzip / punzip 1.359 s
M15	zeros + sparse 2 GiB create: peak memory	30.4 MiB	6th	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 1.449 MiB
M15	zeros + sparse 2 GiB create: size	0.1029 %	4th	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 0.09708 %
M15	zeros + sparse 2 GiB create: wall	0.8825 s	🥈	pzip / punzip 0.7071 s
M15	zeros + sparse 2 GiB extract own: CPU	6.578 s	7th	Windows built-in (tar) 1 s
M15	zeros + sparse 2 GiB extract own: wall	0.7565 s	🥇	Windows built-in (tar) 1.092 s
M16	mixed tree create: CPU	12.16 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 13.84 s
M16	mixed tree create: peak memory	65.94 MiB	5th	Windows built-in (tar) 2.316 MiB
M16	mixed tree create: size	38.62 %	6th	7-Zip 37.85 %
M16	mixed tree create: wall	1.575 s	🥇	Bandizip 2.928 s
M16	mixed tree extract own: CPU	7.094 s	7th	Windows built-in (tar) 2.297 s
M16	mixed tree extract own: wall	3.23 s	🥈	Windows built-in (tar) 2.425 s
M17	media (incompressible) default: size	100 %	🥇	7-Zip 100 %
M17	media (incompressible) default: wall	0.1596 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.3424 s
M18	add 1 MiB file to silesia archive: wall	0.09455 s	🥇	Bandizip 0.1073 s
M19	delete 1 entry from silesia archive: wall	0.08995 s	🥉	7-Zip 0.06934 s
M20	extract 1 file from 23k-entry zip: wall	0.02129 s	🥇	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 0.03078 s
M21	list 100k-entry zip: wall	0.06105 s	🥇	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 0.1573 s
M22	test silesia zip: CPU	0.5625 s	🥈	Windows built-in (tar) 0.3906 s
M22	test silesia zip: wall	0.1818 s	🥇	Bandizip 0.2877 s
M23	peak working set (all processes)	27.96 MiB	4th	Windows built-in (tar) 6.238 MiB
M24	bytes read	205.1 MiB	9th	7-Zip 202.1 MiB
M25	bytes written	64.53 MiB	6th	7-Zip 62.6 MiB
M27	peak handles	61	🥇	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 82
M27	peak threads	10	🥉	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 4
M29	page faults	8435	4th	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 1847
M30	create 1-file archive: wall	0.01785 s	4th	pzip / punzip 0.01247 s
M30	extract 1-file archive: wall	0.01563 s	4th	pzip / punzip 0.01167 s
M31	share of rival points beaten on both size and time	68.15 %	🥇	7-Zip 53.85 %
M32	media: fastest wall within 1% of 7-Zip default size	0.1718 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.3424 s
M33	MiB saved per CPU-second (median)	20.42 MiB/s	🥈	pzip / punzip 34.2 MiB/s
M34	7-Zip 1-CPU decode of its silesia zip: CPU	1.094 s	10th	PeaZip 0.9219 s
M35	bytes per entry (10k empty files)	158.2 B	🥉	WinZip 104.1 B
M36	identical output on repeat	1	🥇	pzip / punzip 1
M37	identical output on 1 CPU vs all	1	🥇	7-Zip 1
M38	readers passing (of 10)	8	5th	pzip / punzip 9
M39	metadata checks passed (of 6)	6	🥇	7-Zip 6
M41	UTF-8 names flagged	1	🥇	pzip / punzip 1
M42	locked input handling (0-2)	2	🥇	7-Zip 2
M43	corruptions detected	100 %	🥇	pzip / punzip 100 %
M44	files recovered from half an archive	70.1 %	🥇	7-Zip 70.1 %
M45	zip-slip entries blocked (of 4)	4	🥇	7-Zip 4
M48	1M entries create: peak memory	619.1 MiB	4th	Windows built-in (tar) 90.11 MiB
M48	1M entries create: wall	1.252 s	🥇	Windows built-in (tar) 56.21 s
M49	Ctrl-C: stops (1) and cleans up (2)	2	🥇	7-Zip 2
M50	run-to-run variation (median CV)	6.909 %	10th	PeaZip 2.831 %
M51	reserved-name entries recovered (of 7)	5	8th	Bandizip 7
M52	junction loop handled (0-2)	2	🥇	Bandizip 2
M53	links handled (of 2)	1	9th	7-Zip 2
M54	Mark of the Web passed on (% of files)	0 %	5th	NanaZip 100 %
M56	overwrite a read-only file (0-2)	2	🥇	7-Zip 2
M58	growing file: valid archive (1) + change reported (1)	1	6th	7-Zip 2
M59	folder times kept (of 2)	0	8th	7-Zip 2
M60	unusual dates kept (of 3)	3	🥇	7-Zip 3
M61	legacy-encoded names read correctly (of 3)	1	🥇	7-Zip 1
M62	macOS resource-fork clutter skipped	0	🥈	Bandizip 1
M63	Unix archive: files (1) + symlink as link or copy (1)	1	🥈	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 2
M64	compression methods extracted (of 6)	1	9th	7-Zip 6
M65	NFC/NFD names both kept	1	🥇	pzip / punzip 1
M66	comments kept through add and delete (of 2)	0	7th	7-Zip 2
M67	overlapping zip bomb blocked	0	6th	7-Zip 1
M68	size larger than declared: stopped or reported	1	🥇	pzip / punzip 1
M71	create 1,000 files, Defender-scanned folder: wall	0.0516 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.09632 s
M71	extract 1,000 files, Defender-scanned folder: wall	0.5722 s	🥈	Windows built-in (tar) 0.428 s
M72	timer lateness p99 while creating silesia	0.7112 ms	🥈	pzip / punzip 0.638 ms
M73	two creates at once: wall until both finish	0.7885 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 1.162 s
M74	completes within a 256 MiB memory cap	1	🥇	pzip / punzip 1
M74	max-preset create under a 256 MiB cap: wall	1.514 s	🥈	pzip / punzip 0.845 s
M75	extract over existing files: wall	2.107 s	9th	pzip / punzip 0.4202 s
M77	timer lateness p99 while extracting linux	122.2 ms	10th	Windows built-in (tar) 0.661 ms
M78	speed/size curve area (log time x % saved)	111.7	6th	Bandizip 141.6
M79	smallest archive within 1 s	31.76 %	🥇	Bandizip 32.2 %
M79	smallest archive within 10 s	30.61 %	🥇	WinZip 30.74 %
M79	smallest archive within 3 s	31.56 %	🥈	WinZip 31.11 %
M80	JSON logs 256 MiB create: CPU	4.609 s	4th	pzip / punzip 2.953 s
M80	JSON logs 256 MiB create: peak memory	30.55 MiB	5th	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 1.465 MiB
M80	JSON logs 256 MiB create: size	13.91 %	4th	7-Zip 13.73 %
M80	JSON logs 256 MiB create: wall	0.6296 s	🥉	pzip / punzip 0.2299 s
M80	JSON logs 256 MiB extract own: CPU	0.8281 s	6th	Windows built-in (tar) 0.3594 s
M80	JSON logs 256 MiB extract own: wall	0.1113 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.2536 s
M81	SQLite 128 MiB create: CPU	3.828 s	🥉	pzip / punzip 2.031 s
M81	SQLite 128 MiB create: peak memory	30.18 MiB	6th	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 1.453 MiB
M81	SQLite 128 MiB create: size	39.27 %	6th	7-Zip 37.86 %
M81	SQLite 128 MiB create: wall	0.5051 s	🥈	Bandizip 0.4184 s
M81	SQLite 128 MiB extract own: CPU	0.7031 s	🥉	Windows built-in (tar) 0.2969 s
M81	SQLite 128 MiB extract own: wall	0.08014 s	🥇	Windows built-in (tar) 0.3154 s
M82	git checkout + .git create: CPU	0.8906 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 1.031 s
M82	git checkout + .git create: peak memory	32.08 MiB	5th	Windows built-in (tar) 2.32 MiB
M82	git checkout + .git create: size	49.21 %	7th	WinZip 24.04 %
M82	git checkout + .git create: wall	0.1093 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.2423 s
M82	git checkout + .git extract own: CPU	4.266 s	8th	Windows built-in (tar) 1.203 s
M82	git checkout + .git extract own: wall	2.95 s	7th	Windows built-in (tar) 1.26 s
M83	docx + pdf create: CPU	0.1875 s	🥇	Bandizip 0.2344 s
M83	docx + pdf create: peak memory	11.77 MiB	4th	Windows built-in (tar) 1.582 MiB
M83	docx + pdf create: size	102.4 %	7th	WinZip 101.1 %
M83	docx + pdf create: wall	0.04239 s	🥇	pzip / punzip 0.07347 s
M83	docx + pdf extract own: CPU	1.156 s	9th	Windows built-in (tar) 0.2656 s
M83	docx + pdf extract own: wall	0.6347 s	7th	Windows built-in (tar) 0.2929 s
M84	add 1 file to a 100k-entry zip: wall	0.1388 s	🥇	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 0.5855 s
M85	update 10 changed of 1,000 files: wall	0.1074 s	🥉	PeaZip 0.07466 s
M86	list a 1M-entry zip: wall	0.4937 s	🥇	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 1.782 s
M87	extract the last entry of a 1M-entry zip: wall	0.2014 s	🥇	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 0.7003 s
M88	list a 1M-entry zip: peak memory	171.5 MiB	🥉	Info-ZIP zip/unzip 6.695 MiB
M89	files recovered with a damaged end record	100 %	🥇	7-Zip 100 %
M90	command-line tool size	1.297 MiB	6th	NanaZip 0 MiB

Corpora and tool versions

Benchmarks

python bench/bench.py                 # everything: all corpora, 10 runs per test
python bench/bench.py --quick         # fewer corpora, still 10 runs per test
python bench/bench.py --corpora silesia,linux --tools blazezip,7zip
python bench/bench.py --reps 10 --keep-best 5         # busy machine: drop the 5 slowest runs
python bench/bench.py --resume results/<run>          # continue an interrupted run
python bench/bench.py --report                        # rebuild results/latest-report.html

Each run writes results/<timestamp>/results.json and report.html, and copies the latest report to results/latest-report.html.

What is measured. Every command runs under benchrun (bench/benchrun), which launches it inside a Windows Job Object and reports wall time, total CPU time and peak committed memory for the whole process tree. Every test runs 10 times and the median is reported (with --keep-best K, the median of the K fastest runs). Benchmark builds of blazezip target the local CPU (x86-64-v3 when AVX2 is available) and compile the C libraries with clang-cl when it is installed; ordinary release builds stay portable.

Benchmarks.

Medals go to the top three per benchmark for each metric: speed, CPU time, memory and, for compression, output size. Only verified results count: created ZIPs must pass 7z t, extractions are hash-checked file by file, and native round-trips must be byte-identical.

Extended suite. python bench/extended.py measures 91 further metrics on every tool, each with medals:

• speed with one CPU, at 1/2/4/8/all CPUs, under full CPU contention, two jobs at once, under a 256 MiB memory cap, in a Defender-scanned folder, and time to first byte;
• how much a tool slows other programs (p99 lateness of a 10 ms timer while it works);
• workload shapes: 100k tiny files, a 4.6 GiB file, paths over 260 characters, Unicode names, sparse and zero files, a mixed home-folder tree, JSON logs, a SQLite database, a git checkout, Word and PDF documents, 70k and 1M entries;
• the whole speed/size curve: every compression level, the area under it, and the smallest archive within 1, 3 and 10 seconds;
• operations: add, delete, update, extract one file, list and test, also on 100k- and 1M-entry archives;
• resources: working set, bytes read and written, temp space, threads, handles, page faults, start-up cost and tool size;
• archive quality: Pareto efficiency, size per CPU-second, per-entry overhead, reproducibility, and decode cost for a neutral reader;
• Windows file-system cases: device names (aux.h), junction loops, hard links, Mark of the Web, case-only name clashes, read-only and unwritable destinations, live-growing files, folder times and dates outside 1980-2107;
• archives from elsewhere: legacy code pages, macOS clutter, Unix symlinks, Deflate64, BZip2, LZMA, PPMd, XZ and Zstandard entries, NFC/NFD names, comments, and encryption;
• safety and correctness: five independent readers, metadata, Zip64, UTF-8 flags, locked inputs, corruption detection, CRC and size mismatches, overlapping zip bombs, truncated and damaged-end recovery, zip-slip, exit codes and Ctrl-C clean-up.

A few metrics (cold cache and first run, HDD, USB and network targets, energy, disk full, power-saver) need hardware or administrator rights; the report lists them with the reason. Metrics where every tool ties award no medals. Each run goes to results/ext-<timestamp>/extended.html; results/ext-latest-report.html combines every competitor's best result with blazezip's latest. python -m pytest bench/tests tests the suite's own helpers.

Corpora. All are standard or deterministic: Silesia (the standard compression benchmark), the Canterbury large corpus, enwik8, a Linux 6.6 source subset, real Windows binaries, and synthetic incompressible media.

Getting the competitors

Most install with winget: 7zip.7zip, M2Team.NanaZip, Giorgiotani.Peazip, Bandisoft.Bandizip, RARLab.WinRAR, Corel.WinZip with Corel.WinZip.CommandLineSupportAddOn, and Meta.Zstandard. The suite also looks in tools/ for the following:

• tools/lz4/: the official Windows release
• tools/pigz/: the Cygwin pigz build with cygwin1.dll and cygz.dll
• tools/lzfse/: built from https://github.com/lzfse/lzfse with MSVC
• tools/winrar/: a portable copy unpacked from the WinRAR installer
• tools/pzip/: go install github.com/ybirader/pzip/cmd/{pzip,punzip}@latest

WinZip's command-line add-on only works after WinZip has been opened once to accept its trial or licence.

Licence

blazezip is released under the MIT licence. It includes libdeflate (MIT) and Zstandard (BSD-3-Clause); see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.