Can gzip be a language model? by Nathan Barry
"Turns out gzip can generate text that somewhat *resembles* Shakespeare."
nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm/
"Turns out gzip can generate text that somewhat *resembles* Shakespeare."
nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm/
June 17, 2026 at 6:27 AM
Can gzip be a language model? by Nathan Barry
"Turns out gzip can generate text that somewhat *resembles* Shakespeare."
nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm/
"Turns out gzip can generate text that somewhat *resembles* Shakespeare."
nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm/
Gzip 1.15 Released With Many Bug Fixes For Issues Present Since Its Inception - https://www.phoronix.com/news/Gzip-1.15-Released
Gzip 1.15 Released With Many Bug Fixes For Issues Present Since Its Inception
Gzip 1.15 is out today for succeeding the Gzip 1.14 release from April 2025. With this release comes a number of fixes for bugs present since the beginning of Gzip...
www.phoronix.com
September 20, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Gzip 1.15 Released With Many Bug Fixes For Issues Present Since Its Inception - https://www.phoronix.com/news/Gzip-1.15-Released
🗜️⚡ If you use gzip/gunzip a lot in your pipelines, switch to the faster"libdeflate" versions instead! They use modern CPU capabilities to achieve a 2-3x speedup.
libdeflate is in conda, and "libdeflate-gzip" and "libdeflate-gunzip" are drop-in replacements. #unix
github.com/ebiggers/lib...
libdeflate is in conda, and "libdeflate-gzip" and "libdeflate-gunzip" are drop-in replacements. #unix
github.com/ebiggers/lib...
GitHub - ebiggers/libdeflate: Heavily optimized library for DEFLATE/zlib/gzip compression and decompression
Heavily optimized library for DEFLATE/zlib/gzip compression and decompression - ebiggers/libdeflate
github.com
January 20, 2026 at 1:37 AM
🗜️⚡ If you use gzip/gunzip a lot in your pipelines, switch to the faster"libdeflate" versions instead! They use modern CPU capabilities to achieve a 2-3x speedup.
libdeflate is in conda, and "libdeflate-gzip" and "libdeflate-gunzip" are drop-in replacements. #unix
github.com/ebiggers/lib...
libdeflate is in conda, and "libdeflate-gzip" and "libdeflate-gunzip" are drop-in replacements. #unix
github.com/ebiggers/lib...
Ran a simulation overnight and now I have to download a gzip file for the output that's bigger than Elden Ring 😱😱😱😱😱
December 6, 2024 at 1:45 PM
Ran a simulation overnight and now I have to download a gzip file for the output that's bigger than Elden Ring 😱😱😱😱😱
GZIP is all you need?
Fresh off the presses:
In "Learning on compressed molecular representations" Jan Weinreich and I looked into whether GZIP performed better than Neural Networks in chemical machine learning tasks. Yes, you've read that right.
TL;DR: Yes, GZIP can perform better than baseline GNNs and MLPs. It can ..
In "Learning on compressed molecular representations" Jan Weinreich and I looked into whether GZIP performed better than Neural Networks in chemical machine learning tasks. Yes, you've read that right.
TL;DR: Yes, GZIP can perform better than baseline GNNs and MLPs. It can ..
Learning on compressed molecular representations
Last year, a preprint gained notoriety, proposing that a k-nearest neighbour classifier is able to outperform large-language models using compressed text as input and normalised compression distance (...
pubs.rsc.org
November 21, 2024 at 2:17 PM
GZIP is all you need?
absolutely brilliant!
"Can gzip be a language model?"
https://nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm
#programming #computerscience #gzip #llm
"Can gzip be a language model?"
https://nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm
#programming #computerscience #gzip #llm
Can gzip be a language model?
A while back I wrote about language modeling without neural networks, where I generated Shakespeare with an unbounded n-gram model: no weights, no training, …
nathan.rs
September 22, 2026 at 9:23 AM
absolutely brilliant!
"Can gzip be a language model?"
https://nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm
#programming #computerscience #gzip #llm
"Can gzip be a language model?"
https://nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm
#programming #computerscience #gzip #llm
got bored and checked and it's technically got a slightly higher data compression ratio than gzip (~50%)
July 15, 2026 at 2:50 AM
got bored and checked and it's technically got a slightly higher data compression ratio than gzip (~50%)
ok. time to go from gzip -7 to gzip -9
August 30, 2024 at 8:34 PM
ok. time to go from gzip -7 to gzip -9
if the term "gzipped" is commonly used for data compressed with gzip then i propose referring to data compressed with zstd as "zestied"
May 19, 2025 at 7:34 PM
if the term "gzipped" is commonly used for data compressed with gzip then i propose referring to data compressed with zstd as "zestied"
That paper about how gzip is a language model makes the point really well
November 17, 2025 at 8:17 AM
That paper about how gzip is a language model makes the point really well
Compress and decompress data in the browser natively 📦
The Compression Streams API brings gzip and deflate to the web, no libraries needed.
⋅ Works with ReadableStream and WritableStream
⋅ Compresses arbitrary data client-side
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
The Compression Streams API brings gzip and deflate to the web, no libraries needed.
⋅ Works with ReadableStream and WritableStream
⋅ Compresses arbitrary data client-side
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
March 25, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Compress and decompress data in the browser natively 📦
The Compression Streams API brings gzip and deflate to the web, no libraries needed.
⋅ Works with ReadableStream and WritableStream
⋅ Compresses arbitrary data client-side
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
The Compression Streams API brings gzip and deflate to the web, no libraries needed.
⋅ Works with ReadableStream and WritableStream
⋅ Compresses arbitrary data client-side
Learn more 👇
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/...
but also,,,
gzip, all of y’all?
it’s 2026, Accept zstd already!
(lightrail included oops)
gzip, all of y’all?
it’s 2026, Accept zstd already!
(lightrail included oops)
ever wonder who's doing sync1.1 backfill retries on repos that haven't been available to export? (but now areeeeee muah ha ha)
July 29, 2026 at 2:54 AM
but also,,,
gzip, all of y’all?
it’s 2026, Accept zstd already!
(lightrail included oops)
gzip, all of y’all?
it’s 2026, Accept zstd already!
(lightrail included oops)
gzip stands for girl zip
September 17, 2023 at 5:41 AM
gzip stands for girl zip
September 23, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Zstandard's --long range mode works wonders for assemblies, but needs uninterrupted single line sequences.
*AllTheBacteria 661k, multiline fasta*
gzip (pigz): 751GB
zstandard --long: 641GB (30% original size)
*Single line fasta*
gzip (pigz): 700GB
zstandard --long: 232GB (10% original size)
*AllTheBacteria 661k, multiline fasta*
gzip (pigz): 751GB
zstandard --long: 641GB (30% original size)
*Single line fasta*
gzip (pigz): 700GB
zstandard --long: 232GB (10% original size)
September 9, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Zstandard's --long range mode works wonders for assemblies, but needs uninterrupted single line sequences.
*AllTheBacteria 661k, multiline fasta*
gzip (pigz): 751GB
zstandard --long: 641GB (30% original size)
*Single line fasta*
gzip (pigz): 700GB
zstandard --long: 232GB (10% original size)
*AllTheBacteria 661k, multiline fasta*
gzip (pigz): 751GB
zstandard --long: 641GB (30% original size)
*Single line fasta*
gzip (pigz): 700GB
zstandard --long: 232GB (10% original size)
I remember seeing some paper about how someone manged to do an LLM-like thing with just gzip
September 18, 2026 at 3:18 AM
I remember seeing some paper about how someone manged to do an LLM-like thing with just gzip
I'm looking into Svelte Vite SPA + TanStack Query (because at work SvelteKit is out of reach yet 🧘♂️) and I'm surprised that at least for a simple example, bundle size overhead is decent.
Top: async Svelte + simple fetch + pending snippet
Bottom: same fetch with TanStack + query.isLoading snippet
Top: async Svelte + simple fetch + pending snippet
Bottom: same fetch with TanStack + query.isLoading snippet
January 25, 2026 at 11:29 AM
I'm looking into Svelte Vite SPA + TanStack Query (because at work SvelteKit is out of reach yet 🧘♂️) and I'm surprised that at least for a simple example, bundle size overhead is decent.
Top: async Svelte + simple fetch + pending snippet
Bottom: same fetch with TanStack + query.isLoading snippet
Top: async Svelte + simple fetch + pending snippet
Bottom: same fetch with TanStack + query.isLoading snippet
Actual Answers (SPOILERS):
GZIP
H4sIAAAAAAAAA02OMZJCMQxD+z2Fum3gINtzAZOvn2RIbCbOH+bfHmdpKCU/ybriD07CjgnbMQuh5oTohvugLOPrlkrVC047kET/g8st1uioGmJln00S/eca1b3mMtHlEY0olA37kE64BSsziNWTGYwNfohh1iNcJ3ayOVqNdP3tSKY+RWc7UY6cuQXlr9h4QtY8C32LOTxjjURd1cmRimim3Ft8nTU9OPwNaioYVPUAAAA=
GZIP
H4sIAAAAAAAAA02OMZJCMQxD+z2Fum3gINtzAZOvn2RIbCbOH+bfHmdpKCU/ybriD07CjgnbMQuh5oTohvugLOPrlkrVC047kET/g8st1uioGmJln00S/eca1b3mMtHlEY0olA37kE64BSsziNWTGYwNfohh1iNcJ3ayOVqNdP3tSKY+RWc7UY6cuQXlr9h4QtY8C32LOTxjjURd1cmRimim3Ft8nTU9OPwNaioYVPUAAAA=
September 20, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Actual Answers (SPOILERS):
GZIP
H4sIAAAAAAAAA02OMZJCMQxD+z2Fum3gINtzAZOvn2RIbCbOH+bfHmdpKCU/ybriD07CjgnbMQuh5oTohvugLOPrlkrVC047kET/g8st1uioGmJln00S/eca1b3mMtHlEY0olA37kE64BSsziNWTGYwNfohh1iNcJ3ayOVqNdP3tSKY+RWc7UY6cuQXlr9h4QtY8C32LOTxjjURd1cmRimim3Ft8nTU9OPwNaioYVPUAAAA=
GZIP
H4sIAAAAAAAAA02OMZJCMQxD+z2Fum3gINtzAZOvn2RIbCbOH+bfHmdpKCU/ybriD07CjgnbMQuh5oTohvugLOPrlkrVC047kET/g8st1uioGmJln00S/eca1b3mMtHlEY0olA37kE64BSsziNWTGYwNfohh1iNcJ3ayOVqNdP3tSKY+RWc7UY6cuQXlr9h4QtY8C32LOTxjjURd1cmRimim3Ft8nTU9OPwNaioYVPUAAAA=
he was impressed that I documented how GZIP compression works in pipelined https request flows
April 2, 2026 at 9:14 PM
he was impressed that I documented how GZIP compression works in pipelined https request flows
TIL Deacon decompresses fastq.gz 3x faster than GNU coreutils gzip/zcat.
You can decompress, dehost and recompress fastq.gz using Deacon in less time than only decompressing using coreutils gzip/zcat or pigz.
You can decompress, dehost and recompress fastq.gz using Deacon in less time than only decompressing using coreutils gzip/zcat or pigz.
December 7, 2025 at 10:58 PM
TIL Deacon decompresses fastq.gz 3x faster than GNU coreutils gzip/zcat.
You can decompress, dehost and recompress fastq.gz using Deacon in less time than only decompressing using coreutils gzip/zcat or pigz.
You can decompress, dehost and recompress fastq.gz using Deacon in less time than only decompressing using coreutils gzip/zcat or pigz.
being compressed with gzip would fix me
October 16, 2024 at 9:45 PM
being compressed with gzip would fix me