Zlib

Zlib is a general purpose data compression library compatible with the GZIP format that can provide in-memory compression and decompression functions, including integrity checks of the uncompressed data.

Unlike the LZW compression method specific to Linux, GZIP never expands the data and it is independent across platforms, meaning that its footprint can be reduced when required at the cost of compression. According to the developer, the library is designed to be compact and fast especially when used in communication and memory channels.

The library also supports reading and writing files in gzip(.gz) for mat with an interface similar to that of stdio. The library does not install any signal handler. The decoder checks the consistency of the compressed data, so the library should never crash even in the case of corrupted input.

It is worth mentioning that the tool can work with files larger than 4GB and that both inflate and deflate functions are going to work correctly, but under certain conditions. While it is true that they are set a maximum value to the input and output chunks that can be stored in the compiler, there is no limitation regarding the total number of chunks. Then again, there is a chance that the strm functions' counters are limited to 4GB at times, even though the inflate and deflate set their own counter and can easily go beyond the aforementioned value.