Multi-algorithm compression library for C

Question

I want my program to be able to use zlib, lzma, lzo and bzip2 compression algorithms.

Is there any compression library for C which simlifies working with multiple algorithms (like libmcrypt supporting multiple encryption modes and algorithms)?

Expecting something like this:

struct compressor c;
universal_compressor_init(&c, "lzma", 7 /* compression level */);
universal_compressor_compress(&c, inputbuf, inputsize, outputbuf, &outputsize);
universal_compressor_save_state(&c, statebuf, &statesize);

Note: It is not about zip/rar/7z/tar/cpio and other archive formats, it's about compression of raw buffers. Think of compressed networking protocol or about random access to compressed block device (like cloop).

Stefano Sanfilippo · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-05 00:23:34Z

3

LibArchive fulfills your requirements.

From the introduction:

The libarchive library features:

Support for a variety of archive and compression formats.

Robust automatic format detection, including archive/compression combinations such as tar.gz. ...

EDIT: for handling raw streams (at least until they split libfilter from libarchive), consider using Boost::iostreams or libbu++ (just found on GitHub)

edited May 5, 2013 at 0:23

answered May 4, 2013 at 21:24

Stefano Sanfilippo

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8 Comments

Vi. Over a year ago

Is it suitable for many little independent headerless compressed buffers?

Vi. Over a year ago

Looks like primary goal of libarchive is working with archives as bundles of files, not as compression embedded in some protocol.

Vi. Over a year ago

Can I use libarchive filters (without the rest libarchive) with libarchive's public API?

Stefano Sanfilippo Over a year ago

Unfortunately, not: that feature is planned for a future release. Updated answer.

Stefano Sanfilippo Over a year ago

If I understood what you are about to do, you might find squashfs very interesting with respect to block compression.

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Scott Jones · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-04 22:23:53Z

0

I recommend 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org/sdk.html). I haven't found anything to beat it for both compression speed and size.

answered May 4, 2013 at 22:23

Scott Jones

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5 Comments

Vi. Over a year ago

I want to compress big file preserving random access inside it. So I want to compress little blocks and store index. Does 7-zip provide an API to do it efficiently?

Scott Jones Over a year ago

Yes, that was one of the needs I had (fast single file extraction from large archives). You might post on the 7-zip forum for more info: sourceforge.net/p/sevenzip/discussion/45797

Vi. Over a year ago

Will it really handle 13107200 little files of 4096 bytes each well?

Scott Jones Over a year ago

Good question - I'm sure it would only take a few lines of code to find out.

Vi. Over a year ago

7-zip's primary algorithm (lzma) is in fact listed in question. The purpose of the library in question is to be able to switch algorithms easily.

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