Archive & Compression Formats — Technical Comparison Reference

Type

A Archive — stores files C Compression — data only B Both

Yes supported · No unsupported · Part limited / conditional · — n/a

Composition Examples

TAR + GZIP = .tar.gz
TAR + XZ = .tar.xz
TAR + ZSTD = .tar.zst
7-Zip = .7z ZIP = .zip

Generations

Modern actively developed, current default

Active widely used, mature

Legacy compatibility only

#	Format	Type	Algorithmtechniques	Ratiotyp / best	Compressvs zstd-3 ¹	Decompressvs zstd-3 ¹	Solid	Stream	Seek	Recovery	Multi-thread	Windowtyp / max	Typical Use

Pipeline — Layered View

TAR carries no compression of its own; it is the archive layer that bundles files and metadata, then a separate codec compresses the resulting stream. This separation is why .tar.* combinations exist at all — pick the archive once, swap the compressor to taste.

Compression Ratio vs Speed

Higher = better ratio. Right = faster compression. Normalized to zstd level 3 (1.00x). Upper-left is the slow-but-dense corner; lower-right is the fast-but-loose corner.

Window / Dictionary Range

Quick Selection Guide

Error Recovery

Benchmark Notes

Ratios & speeds aggregated from public corpora (Calgary, Silesia, enwik8/9), large text/JSON logs, and OS image sets, 2023–2024. Reference system: Ryzen 9 7950X (16C/32T), 64 GB DDR5, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Tools: zstd 1.5.6, 7-Zip 24.07, xz 5.6.2, gzip 1.13, brotli 1.1.0, lz4 1.9.4, zlib-ng 2.1.6. Single-core unless noted. Real numbers vary with data, level, and hardware.