Zstandard Algorithm#

Zstandard (zstd) is a fast real-time compression algorithm developed by Facebook. It provides a wide range of compression levels and supports custom dictionaries for improved compression.

Variants#

Standard Compression#

Different compression levels trading off speed vs compression ratio:

• zstd-4: Fast compression
• zstd-7: Balanced speed/compression
• zstd-10: Better compression
• zstd-13: High compression
• zstd-16: Very high compression
• zstd-19: Ultra high compression
• zstd-22: Maximum compression

Advanced Variants#

Delta Encoding (zstd-22-delta)#

Stores differences between consecutive values. Effective for sequences where adjacent values are similar, like time series data.

Markov Prediction (zstd-22-markov)#

Uses a Markov model to predict values based on previous samples. The prediction residuals are then compressed using zstd. This can significantly improve compression for data with temporal correlations.

Markov with Zero RLE (zstd-22-markov-zrle)#

Combines Markov prediction with zero run-length encoding. Particularly effective for sparse data where many values are zero, as it efficiently encodes runs of zeros while using Markov prediction for the non-zero regions.