# golang/snappy

The Snappy compression format in the Go programming language.

Repository: https://github.com/golang/snappy
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/golang-snappy
Language: Go
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-07-16T11:44:14+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 64/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 92, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4131, "days_push": 48, "days_rel": 544, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1568, forks 168 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:05.062560+00:00)

## What it is
A Go implementation of the Snappy compression format, providing fast compression and decompression with output byte-for-byte identical to the C++ Snappy reference implementation. It also ships a command-line tool (snappytool) for encoding and decoding streams.

## Use cases
- compress data in Go with the Snappy format
- decompress Snappy-encoded files or streams
- encode and decode data from the command line
- achieve high-throughput compression for performance-sensitive applications
- interoperate with systems expecting C++ Snappy-compatible output

## When to choose
- you need very fast compression/decompression in Go rather than maximum compression ratio
- you need byte-compatible output with the C++ Snappy implementation
- you want a simple CLI for Snappy encoding/decoding

## When to avoid
- you need high compression ratios rather than speed (use zstd, gzip, or brotli)
- your project is not in Go and you don't need the CLI tool

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: compression
- domain: developer-tools, files, performance
- platform: go, cross-platform, cli
- tags: snappy, compression-format, go-library, cli-tool

## Member repositories
- golang/snappy (main) score 64

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:05.062560+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 2026-08-30T03:58:57.337366+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/golang/snappy (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:05.062560+00:00, sha e0e02900f89b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.