# 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.

Repository: https://github.com/runestubbe/Crinkler
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/crinkler
Homepage: http://crinkler.net/
Language: C++
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-05T16:20:05+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 92/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 96, release rhythm 83, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2971, "days_push": 28, "days_rel": 34, "gap_med": 75.5, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1286, forks 60 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:14.959742+00:00)

## What it is
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
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: compression, build-tool, cli
- domain: developer-tools, graphics
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: demoscene, linker, executable-compression, intros, sizecoding, command-line

## Member repositories
- runestubbe/Crinkler (main) score 92

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:14.959742+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:56:36.433128+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/runestubbe/Crinkler (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:14.959742+00:00, sha 0af74ac05f46)
  - homepage: http://crinkler.net/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:12:11.607638+00:00, sha 44136fa355b3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.