# madler/pigz

A parallel implementation of gzip for modern multi-processor, multi-core machines.

Repository: https://github.com/madler/pigz
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pigz
Homepage: http://zlib.net/pigz/
Language: C
License Family: other
Last push: 2025-08-16T19:33:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 49/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 37, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5990, "days_push": 382, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2960, forks 191 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:32.317084+00:00)

## What it is
pigz is a parallel implementation of gzip that fully exploits multiple processors and cores when compressing data. It is a drop-in replacement for gzip built on zlib and pthreads, portable across Unix-style operating systems.

## Use cases
- compress large files faster using all CPU cores
- drop-in gzip replacement for multicore machines
- speed up backup and archive compression
- parallel decompression of gzip files
- compress data pipelines in shell scripts faster

## When to choose
- you need gzip-compatible output with maximum compression speed on multicore hardware
- you want a simple, mature, dependency-light CLI tool
- you compress large files or backups regularly

## When to avoid
- you need a compression format other than gzip
- you are on a single-core machine where parallelism gives no benefit
- you need a library API rather than a command-line tool

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: compression, cli, concurrency
- domain: developer-tools, files
- platform: bsd, cli, cross-platform
- tags: gzip, parallel-compression, zlib, multicore, c, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- madler/pigz (main) score 49

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:32.317084+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 2026-08-30T07:32:10.343144+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/madler/pigz (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:32.317084+00:00, sha 328634933a65)
  - homepage: http://zlib.net/pigz/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:47:25.500085+00:00, sha f4180772cc4b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.