lz4 man page

lz4 supports a command line syntax similar but not identical to gzip(1). Differences are :

• lz4 preserves original files
• lz4 compresses a single file by default (see -m for multiple files)
• lz4 file1 file2 means : compress file1 into file2
• lz4 shows real-time notification statistics during compression or decompression of a single file (use -q to silent them)
• If no destination name is provided, result is sent to stdout except if stdout is the console.
• If no destination name is provided, and if stdout is the console, file is compressed into file.lz4.
• As a consequence of previous rules, note the following example : lz4 file | consumer sends compressed data to consumer through stdout, hence it does not create any file.lz4.

Default behaviors can be modified by opt-in commands, detailed below.

• lz4 -m makes it possible to provide multiple input filenames, which will be compressed into files using suffix .lz4. Progress notifications are also disabled by default. This mode has a behavior which more closely mimics gzip command line, with the main difference being that source files are preserved by default.
• It´s possible to opt-in to erase source files on successful compression or decompression, using --rm command.
• Consequently, lz4 -m --rm behaves the same as gzip.

It is possible to concatenate .lz4 files as is. lz4 will decompress such files as if they were a single .lz4 file. For example: lz4 file1 > foo.lz4 lz4 file2 >> foo.lz4

then lz4cat foo.lz4

is equivalent to : cat file1 file2

In some cases, some options can be expressed using short command -x or long command --long-word. Short commands can be concatenated together. For example, -d -c is equivalent to -dc. Long commands cannot be concatenated. They must be clearly separated by a space.

When multiple contradictory commands are issued on a same command line, only the latest one will be applied.

-z --compress

Compress. This is the default operation mode when no operation mode option is specified, no other operation mode is implied from the command name (for example, unlz4 implies --decompress), nor from the input file name (for example, a file extension .lz4 implies --decompress by default). -z can also be used to force compression of an already compressed .lz4 file.

-d --decompress --uncompress

Decompress. --decompress is also the default operation when the input filename has an .lz4 extension.

-t --test

Test the integrity of compressed .lz4 files. The decompressed data is discarded. No files are created nor removed.

-b#

Benchmark mode, using # compression level.

-#

Compression level, with # being any value from 1 to 16. Higher values trade compression speed for compression ratio. Values above 16 are considered the same as 16. Recommended values are 1 for fast compression (default), and 9 for high compression. Speed/compression trade-off will vary depending on data to compress. Decompression speed remains fast at all settings.

-f --[no-]force

This option has several effects:

If the target file already exists, overwrite it without prompting.

When used with --decompress and lz4 cannot recognize the type of the source file, copy the source file as is to standard output. This allows lz4cat --force to be used like cat (1) for files that have not been compressed with lz4.

-c --stdout --to-stdout

Force write to standard output, even if it is the console.

-m --multiple

Multiple input files. Compressed file names will be appended a .lz4 suffix. This mode also reduces notification level. lz4 -m has a behavior equivalent to gzip -k (it preserves source files by default).

-r

operate recursively on directories. This mode also sets -m (multiple input files).

-B#

Block size [4-7](default : 7)
-B4= 64KB ; -B5= 256KB ; -B6= 1MB ; -B7= 4MB

-BD

Block Dependency (improves compression ratio on small blocks)

--[no-]frame-crc

Select frame checksum (default:enabled)

--[no-]content-size

Header includes original size (default:not present)
Note : this option can only be activated when the original size can be determined, hence for a file. It won´t work with unknown source size, such as stdin or pipe.

--[no-]sparse

Sparse mode support (default:enabled on file, disabled on stdout)

-l

Use Legacy format (typically for Linux Kernel compression)
Note : -l is not compatible with -m (--multiple) nor -r

-v --verbose

Verbose mode

-q --quiet

Suppress warnings and real-time statistics; specify twice to suppress errors too

-h -H --help

Display help/long help and exit

-V --version

Display Version number and exit

-k --keep

Preserve source files (default behavior)

--rm

Delete source files on successful compression or decompression

-b#

Benchmark file(s), using # compression level

-e#

Benchmark multiple compression levels, from b# to e# (included)

-i#

Minimum evaluation in seconds [1-9] (default : 3)

-r

Operate recursively on directories