0 WINS / 0 LOSSES

Best ELF / Binary Compression Tool

Up to 0% smaller than LZMA. 0 wins, 0 losses across real-world ELF / Binary files. Lossless, verified, free to try.

Compress ELF / Binary Free Full Benchmarks
0%
Best Saving vs LZMA
0%
Median Saving
0W / 0T
Win / Tie Record
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Losses

How PZIP Compresses ELF / Binary

ELF files have structured sections with different entropy profiles. PZIP separates ELF headers, section tables, string tables, symbol tables, and code/data sections, then compresses each optimally. String tables get dictionary compression, symbol tables get column compression, and code sections benefit from instruction-aware analysis.

Codec: Section separation
Lossless
Byte-exact round-trip verified on every file
Never-Worse
Falls back to LZMA if it can't beat it
Automatic
Type detection + codec selection is automatic

History of ELF / Binary

Est. 1983Created by AT&T / UNIX System Labs

ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) was developed by AT&T for UNIX System V in 1983. It became the standard binary format for Linux, FreeBSD, and most UNIX-like systems. ELF files contain structured sections: .text (code), .data, .rodata, .symtab, .strtab, and more.

Compression Timeline

1983

ELF format created for UNIX System V

1995

Linux adopts ELF as standard binary format

2003

x86-64 ELF extension for 64-bit systems

2026

PZIP section-aware compression beats LZMA on ELF

Real-World Benchmark Results

Every file tested with LZMA-9 (maximum compression) as baseline. Round-trip correctness verified on every file.

FileSizePZIP vs LZMAResultDownload
lib_libc_so_6.elf2.1 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libcrypto_so_3.elf4.2 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libffi_so_8_1_0.elf46.6 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libfontconfig_so_1_12_0.elf291.1 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libfreetype_so_6_18_1.elf794.1 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libglib-2_0_so_0_7200_4.elf1.2 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libgnutls_so_30_31_0.elf1.9 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libicuio_so_70_1.elf62.4 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libicutest_so_70_1.elf79.7 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libicutu_so_70_1.elf215.2 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libjpegxr_so_1_2.elf218.4 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_liblzma_so_5_2_5.elf166.5 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libm_so_6.elf918.5 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libncurses_so_6_3.elf154.1 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libpcre2-16_so_0_10_4.elf546.7 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libpcre2-32_so_0_10_4.elf526.7 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libpcre2-8_so_0_10_4.elf598.7 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libpcre_so_3_13_3.elf466.1 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libpng16_so_16_37_0.elf230.1 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libpthread_so_0.elf20.9 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libpython3_10_so_1_0.elf5.6 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libreadline_so_8_1.elf328.1 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libsqlite3_so_0_8_6.elf1.3 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libssh_so_4_8_7.elf435.6 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libssl_so_3.elf652.2 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libstdc___so_6_0_30.elf2.2 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libtiff_so_5_7_0.elf542.2 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libxml2_so_2_9_13.elf1.9 MBTIEERROR Source
lib_libz_so_1_2_11.elf106.4 KBTIEERROR Source
lib_libzstd_so_1_4_8.elf822.1 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libQt5Core_so_5_15_3.elf5.4 MBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libQt5EglFSDeviceIntegration_so_5_15_3.elf746.6 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libVkLayer_MESA_overlay_so.elf831.3 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libabsl_synchronization_so_20210324_0_0.elf58.4 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libatomic_so_1_2_0.elf30.2 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libatspi_so_0_0_1.elf226.4 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libavcodec_so_58_134_100.elf14.2 MBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libayatana-indicator3_so_7_0_0.elf90.2 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libcc1_so_0_0_0.elf131.7 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libcrack_so_2_9_0.elf42.1 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libcupsfilters_so_1_0_0.elf250.3 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libedata-cal-2_0_so_1_0_0.elf470.1 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libfontenc_so_1_0_0.elf34.0 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libgnome-autoar-0_so_0_1_2.elf98.1 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libgstadaptivedemux-1_0_so_0_2003_0.elf111.9 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libgstnet-1_0_so_0_2003_0.elf103.8 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libgstphotography-1_0_so_0_2003_0.elf38.3 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libgudev-1_0_so_0_3_0.elf50.1 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libhwloc_so_15_5_2.elf367.3 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libisc-9_18_39-0ubuntu0_22_04_2-Ubuntu_so.elf591.1 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libjsoncpp_so_1_9_5.elf210.7 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_liblqr-1_so_0_3_2.elf54.0 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libmca_common_ofi_so_10_0_2.elf22.6 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libnm_so_0_1_0.elf1.3 MBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libnvidia-encode_so_580_95_05.elf278.8 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libnvidia-ml_so_580_95_05.elf2.2 MBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libperl_so_5_34_0.elf3.5 MBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libpgm-5_3_so_0_0_128.elf303.0 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libpsl_so_5_3_2.elf74.0 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libresolv_so_2.elf66.9 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_librygel-core-2_6_so_2_0_4.elf326.2 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libsoxr_so_0_1_2.elf195.1 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libtbbmalloc_so_2_5.elf121.6 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libtirpc_so_3_0_0.elf178.6 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libunistring_so_2_2_0.elf1.7 MBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libvtkFiltersAMR-9_1_so_9_1_0.elf156.5 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libvtkFiltersModeling-9_1_so_9_1_0.elf1.0 MBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libvtkIOAsynchronous-9_1_so_9_1_0.elf43.2 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libvtkIOEnSight-9_1_so_9_1_0.elf412.8 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libvtkRenderingFreeType-9_1_so_9_1_0.elf663.8 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libvtkViewsCore-9_1_so_9_1_0.elf139.7 KBTIEERROR Source
shlib_libxcb-dri3_so_0_0_0.elf22.2 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_JxrDecApp.elf30.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_JxrEncApp.elf31.8 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_Xephyr.elf2.3 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_Xwayland.elf2.1 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_[.elf50.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_aa-enabled.elf34.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_aa-exec.elf34.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_aa-features-abi.elf30.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_aconnect.elf22.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_airscan-discover.elf146.9 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_as.elf456.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_awk.elf154.8 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_base64.elf34.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_basename.elf34.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_bc.elf90.8 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_bzip2.elf38.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_chmod.elf54.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_chown.elf58.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_cp.elf138.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_curl.elf254.2 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_df.elf83.1 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_diff.elf130.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_dirname.elf30.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_du.elf146.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_env.elf42.9 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_file.elf26.6 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_find.elf275.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_git.elf3.5 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_gpg.elf1.0 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_gzip.elf91.2 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_head.elf42.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_hexdump.elf50.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_kill.elf30.2 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_ld.elf1.7 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_less.elf194.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_libcurl_so_4.elf661.8 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_libgcc_s_so_1.elf122.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_ln.elf58.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_make.elf249.7 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_md5sum.elf42.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_mkdir.elf66.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_more.elf42.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_mount.elf46.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_mv.elf134.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_nano.elf276.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_nm.elf43.6 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_objdump.elf365.1 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_od.elf66.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_openssl.elf977.8 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_patch.elf186.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_perl.elf3.6 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_ps.elf138.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_python3.elf5.7 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_readelf.elf758.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_realpath.elf38.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_rmdir.elf42.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_rsync.elf506.1 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_sed.elf110.6 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_sha256sum.elf50.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_sort.elf98.8 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_ssh-keygen.elf446.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_ssh.elf827.0 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_stat.elf78.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_strace.elf1.9 MBTIEERROR Source
sys_strings.elf30.6 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_strip.elf162.6 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_tail.elf66.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_tar.elf505.8 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_tee.elf34.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_top.elf130.1 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_touch.elf90.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_uniq.elf42.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_unzip.elf170.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_wc.elf42.4 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_wget.elf459.0 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_xz.elf82.5 KBTIEERROR Source
sys_zip.elf199.0 KBTIEERROR Source
system_lsof.elf163.6 KBTIEERROR Source
usrbin_scsynth.elf26.5 KBTIEERROR Source
usrlib_libgdiplus_so_0_0_0.elf522.4 KBTIEERROR Source
usrsbin_dcb.elf80.5 KBTIEERROR Source

Frequently Asked Questions

Does PZIP preserve executable functionality?

+

Yes. 100% lossless — every byte is preserved exactly. The decompressed binary runs identically to the original.

Can PZIP compress .so shared libraries?

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Yes. Shared libraries, kernel modules (.ko), and object files (.o) all benefit from section-aware compression.

PZIP vs Other Compressors for ELF / Binary

FeaturePZIPLZMA / xzgzipzstd
Type-AwareYesNoNoNo
LosslessYesYesYesYes
Never-Worse GuaranteeYesN/AN/AN/A
Best ELF / Binary Saving0%BaselineWorse~Similar
Round-Trip VerifiedEvery fileManualManualManual

Try PZIP on Your ELF / Binary Files

Upload any ELF / Binary file up to 30 MB. Free during beta — no signup required. See how much smaller PZIP makes it.

Compress ELF / Binary Now All File Types
Baseline:     LZMA-9 (maximum compression)
Competitors:  gzip-9, bz2-9, brotli-11, zstd-19, PPMd 2-24
Verification: Byte-exact round-trip on every file
Guarantee:    Never-worse (PZIP <= LZMA, always)
Test files:   153 real-world ELF / Binary files
Updated:      2026-02-15