LZIP Compress
Compress text with LZIP. Output is Base64 or hex.
Compress text with LZIP (LZMA) in your browser. Free, offline, runs entirely client-side. Read more Show less
What is LZIP compression?
LZIP is a compression format built around the same LZMA algorithm as XZ and LZMA-Alone. It is designed for long-term archiving and data recovery, and the format spec is deliberately simple so a damaged member can be identified and skipped without losing the rest of the archive.
The selling point over XZ is memory. LZIP caps the dictionary size at 512 MiB, so any lzip file can be decompressed on a 32-bit machine or a low-memory device, where a large XZ file with a 1 GiB dictionary would fail. Compression ratio is essentially identical to XZ - both use LZMA - but LZIP's decoder needs roughly half the RAM.
LZIP is used in software distribution where the archive has to survive decades of storage, and in GNU Guix, GNU lzip, and a small set of archival tools that prefer the simpler format.
How to use
Type or paste text and press Compress. The tool produces a Base64 or hex representation of the compressed bytes. Copy that string to reuse it elsewhere, or paste it into the LZIP Decompress tool to recover the original.
All compression happens in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Compression levels
LZIP supports preset levels from 0 (fastest, larger output) to 9 (slowest, smallest output). This tool exposes a subset:
Level 0-3 - fast. Good for real-time compression where CPU is the bottleneck.
Level 4-6 - balanced. Default is 6.
Level 7-9 - maximum compression. Slow, useful for archival.
FAQ
LZIP vs XZ
Both use LZMA. XZ is more widely supported and more configurable - it can carry CRC32, CRC64, or SHA-256 checksums, and its dictionary can exceed 512 MiB. LZIP uses CRC32 only and caps the dictionary at 512 MiB, which is why it decompresses on smaller machines. For archives that must remain readable for decades, LZIP's simpler format and its tolerance for damaged data make it the safer choice.
Why does my compressed output look longer than the input?
For very small inputs the LZIP member header (about 6 bytes for magic and version, plus 20 bytes for CRC and size fields at the end) plus the compressed stream can exceed the original size. This is normal. For inputs under about 30 bytes, no LZMA container provides a benefit.
Can I decompress LZIP with XZ or 7-zip?
Not with the standard xz tool. GNU lzip produces files that xz does not recognize as a valid stream. 7-zip 21.07 and later can open LZIP files via the "lzip" plugin, but support is not universal. Use lzip or a library that implements the format.
What is the maximum input size?
No hard limit, but the WebAssembly module needs memory for the dictionary plus the data. Practical limit in a browser is a few hundred megabytes. For very large files, use the lzip command-line tool.
Command line equivalent
# Compress
lzip -k9 input.txt # keeps original, level 9
echo "hello" | lzip | base64
# Decompress
lzip -dk input.txt.lz
# Test integrity without decompressing
lzip -t input.txt.lz
# Show member info
lzip -l input.txt.lz
# Levels: -0 (fastest) to -9 (best)
# LZIP uses CRC32 and caps the dictionary at 512 MiB.