runestubbe/Crinkler
Crinkler is an executable file compressor (or rather, a compressing linker) for compressing small 32-bit Windows demoscene executables. As of 2026, it is the most widely used tool for compressing 1k/4k/8k intros. observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
92/100
- Activity 96
- Release rhythm 83
- Longevity 100
Flags: no_license
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 75.5
- age_days: 2971
- days_rel: 34
- days_push: 28
- n_releases_24m: 3
Adoption not part of the score
1286 stars · 60 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded
Crinkler is a compressing linker for Windows that produces extremely small 32-bit executables, primarily for demoscene 1k/4k/8k intros. It combines linking and high-ratio compression in one tool and is the most widely used compressor for tiny Windows intros.
Use cases
- compress a 4k demoscene intro to a few kilobytes
- link and compress a small Windows executable in one step
- estimate compressed size of data before shipping an intro
- build tiny 1k/8k intros with Visual Studio toolchains
- integrate executable compression into a custom demoscene toolchain
When to choose
- you are making a Windows demoscene intro where every byte counts
- you need the best available executable compression for tiny PE files
- you want a linker that outputs a self-decompressing executable
When to avoid
- you need cross-platform or 64-bit-only general-purpose compression
- you are compressing ordinary application binaries where decompression stub overhead and Windows-only output are unacceptable
- you need a general-purpose archiver like zip or 7z
Facets
cli-tool · maturity active
compression build-tool cli developer-tools graphics windows cli demoscene linker executable-compression intros sizecoding command-line
2 sources
- readme: https://github.com/runestubbe/Crinkler · fetched 2026-08-28 · 0af74ac05f46
- homepage: http://crinkler.net/ · fetched 2026-08-29 · 44136fa355b3
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| runestubbe/Crinkler | main | 92 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="runestubbe/Crinkler")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem