pako vs fflate
JavaScript Compression Libraries Comparison
1 Year
pakofflateSimilar Packages:
What's JavaScript Compression Libraries?

JavaScript compression libraries are essential tools for optimizing data size during transmission and storage. They provide functionalities to compress and decompress data efficiently, which can significantly improve performance in web applications, especially when dealing with large datasets or files. These libraries are particularly useful in scenarios where bandwidth is limited or when reducing load times is critical for user experience. Both fflate and pako are popular choices, each with its own strengths and use cases in the realm of data compression.

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pako28,975,3475,7201.64 MB262 years ago(MIT AND Zlib)
fflate7,929,3502,405773 kB13a year agoMIT
Feature Comparison: pako vs fflate

Performance

  • pako:

    pako provides good performance but may not match the speed of fflate in all scenarios. It is optimized for compatibility with zlib, which can introduce some overhead. However, it is still efficient for most use cases and offers a balance between speed and feature richness.

  • fflate:

    fflate is designed for high performance, offering faster compression and decompression speeds compared to many alternatives. Its implementation focuses on minimizing overhead, making it ideal for applications where speed is crucial, such as real-time data processing.

Compression Formats

  • pako:

    pako supports multiple compression formats, including DEFLATE and GZIP. This versatility makes it suitable for a broader range of applications, especially when working with legacy systems or needing to handle various data formats.

  • fflate:

    fflate primarily supports the DEFLATE compression format, which is widely used and efficient for general-purpose compression tasks. It does not support as many formats as pako but excels in its specific use case.

API Simplicity

  • pako:

    pako offers a more complex API with additional features and options. While this provides greater flexibility, it may require a steeper learning curve for developers who need to leverage its full capabilities.

  • fflate:

    fflate has a simpler API, making it easier to integrate into projects. Its minimalistic design allows developers to quickly implement compression and decompression without extensive configuration or setup.

Library Size

  • pako:

    pako is larger than fflate, which may impact the overall size of your application bundle. While it provides more features, developers should consider whether those features justify the additional size.

  • fflate:

    fflate is very lightweight, making it an excellent choice for performance-sensitive applications where minimizing bundle size is important. Its small footprint allows for faster loading times and reduced resource usage.

Community and Support

  • pako:

    pako has a larger community and more extensive documentation due to its longer presence in the ecosystem. This can be beneficial for developers seeking support, examples, and best practices when using the library.

  • fflate:

    fflate has a growing community and is actively maintained, but it may not have as extensive resources or documentation as more established libraries. However, its simplicity can make it easier to adopt without extensive support.

How to Choose: pako vs fflate
  • pako:

    Choose pako if you require a more feature-rich library that supports a wider range of compression formats and has a more extensive API. Pako is suitable for applications that need robust handling of various compression scenarios and compatibility with existing zlib-based tools.

  • fflate:

    Choose fflate if you need a lightweight and fast compression library that is optimized for performance and has a smaller footprint. It is particularly beneficial for projects where speed is a priority and you want to minimize the size of the library itself.

README for pako

pako

CI NPM version

zlib port to javascript, very fast!

Why pako is cool:

  • Results are binary equal to well known zlib (now contains ported zlib v1.2.8).
  • Almost as fast in modern JS engines as C implementation (see benchmarks).
  • Works in browsers, you can browserify any separate component.

This project was done to understand how fast JS can be and is it necessary to develop native C modules for CPU-intensive tasks. Enjoy the result!

Benchmarks:

node v12.16.3 (zlib 1.2.9), 1mb input sample:

deflate-imaya x 4.75 ops/sec ±4.93% (15 runs sampled)
deflate-pako x 10.38 ops/sec ±0.37% (29 runs sampled)
deflate-zlib x 17.74 ops/sec ±0.77% (46 runs sampled)
gzip-pako x 8.86 ops/sec ±1.41% (29 runs sampled)
inflate-imaya x 107 ops/sec ±0.69% (77 runs sampled)
inflate-pako x 131 ops/sec ±1.74% (82 runs sampled)
inflate-zlib x 258 ops/sec ±0.66% (88 runs sampled)
ungzip-pako x 115 ops/sec ±1.92% (80 runs sampled)

node v14.15.0 (google's zlib), 1mb output sample:

deflate-imaya x 4.93 ops/sec ±3.09% (16 runs sampled)
deflate-pako x 10.22 ops/sec ±0.33% (29 runs sampled)
deflate-zlib x 18.48 ops/sec ±0.24% (48 runs sampled)
gzip-pako x 10.16 ops/sec ±0.25% (28 runs sampled)
inflate-imaya x 110 ops/sec ±0.41% (77 runs sampled)
inflate-pako x 134 ops/sec ±0.66% (83 runs sampled)
inflate-zlib x 402 ops/sec ±0.74% (87 runs sampled)
ungzip-pako x 113 ops/sec ±0.62% (80 runs sampled)

zlib's test is partially affected by marshalling (that make sense for inflate only). You can change deflate level to 0 in benchmark source, to investigate details. For deflate level 6 results can be considered as correct.

Install:

npm install pako

Examples / API

Full docs - http://nodeca.github.io/pako/

const pako = require('pako');

// Deflate
//
const input = new Uint8Array();
//... fill input data here
const output = pako.deflate(input);

// Inflate (simple wrapper can throw exception on broken stream)
//
const compressed = new Uint8Array();
//... fill data to uncompress here
try {
  const result = pako.inflate(compressed);
  // ... continue processing
} catch (err) {
  console.log(err);
}

//
// Alternate interface for chunking & without exceptions
//

const deflator = new pako.Deflate();

deflator.push(chunk1, false);
deflator.push(chunk2); // second param is false by default.
...
deflator.push(chunk_last, true); // `true` says this chunk is last

if (deflator.err) {
  console.log(deflator.msg);
}

const output = deflator.result;


const inflator = new pako.Inflate();

inflator.push(chunk1);
inflator.push(chunk2);
...
inflator.push(chunk_last); // no second param because end is auto-detected

if (inflator.err) {
  console.log(inflator.msg);
}

const output = inflator.result;

Sometime you can wish to work with strings. For example, to send stringified objects to server. Pako's deflate detects input data type, and automatically recode strings to utf-8 prior to compress. Inflate has special option, to say compressed data has utf-8 encoding and should be recoded to javascript's utf-16.

const pako = require('pako');

const test = { my: 'super', puper: [456, 567], awesome: 'pako' };

const compressed = pako.deflate(JSON.stringify(test));

const restored = JSON.parse(pako.inflate(compressed, { to: 'string' }));

Notes

Pako does not contain some specific zlib functions:

  • deflate - methods deflateCopy, deflateBound, deflateParams, deflatePending, deflatePrime, deflateTune.
  • inflate - methods inflateCopy, inflateMark, inflatePrime, inflateGetDictionary, inflateSync, inflateSyncPoint, inflateUndermine.
  • High level inflate/deflate wrappers (classes) may not support some flush modes.

pako for enterprise

Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription

The maintainers of pako and thousands of other packages are working with Tidelift to deliver commercial support and maintenance for the open source dependencies you use to build your applications. Save time, reduce risk, and improve code health, while paying the maintainers of the exact dependencies you use. Learn more.

Authors

Personal thanks to:

  • Vyacheslav Egorov (@mraleph) for his awesome tutorials about optimising JS code for v8, IRHydra tool and his advices.
  • David Duponchel (@dduponchel) for help with testing.

Original implementation (in C):

  • zlib by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.

License

  • MIT - all files, except /lib/zlib folder
  • ZLIB - /lib/zlib content