Zlib
 |
|
| Initial release | 1 May 1995 |
|---|---|
| Stable release |
1.2.11 / 15 January 2017
|
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Data compression |
| License | zlib license |
| Website | zlib |
zlib is a software library used for data compression. zlib was written by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler and is an abstraction of the DEFLATE compression algorithm used in their gzip file compression program. zlib is also a crucial component of many software platforms including Linux, Mac OS X, and iOS. It has also been used in gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Wii, Xbox One and Xbox 360.
The first public version of zlib, 0.9, was released on 1 May 1995 and was originally intended for use with the libpng image library. It is free software, distributed under the zlib license.
zlib compressed data are typically written with a gzip or a zlib wrapper. The wrapper encapsulates the raw DEFLATE data by adding a header and trailer. This provides stream identification and error detection that are not provided by the raw DEFLATE data.
The gzip header, used in the ubiquitous gzip file format, is larger than the zlib header, as it stores a file name and other file system information.
As of February 2010[update], zlib only supports one algorithm called DEFLATE, that is a variation of LZ77 (Lempel–Ziv 1977). This algorithm provides good compression on a wide variety of data with minimal use of system resources. This is also the algorithm used in the ZIP archive format.
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