Compression

Compression Methods

Three compression methods are available:

• Store — no compression, just archiving (fastest, 1:1 ratio).
• Deflate — standard ZIP compression algorithm (default, best compatibility).
• Zstandard (Zstd) — modern compression with better ratios and speed than Deflate.

Compression Levels

Configurable from level 1 (fastest) to level 9 (best compression). The default is level 6, providing a good balance of speed and ratio. Lower levels are ideal for large files where speed matters; higher levels squeeze out extra bytes for archival storage.

Smart Compression Probing

Brutal Zip automatically detects already-compressed file types and stores them without re-compression, saving CPU time with no loss. Pre-configured for 44 file types including images (.png, .jpg, .webp), audio (.mp3, .flac), video (.mp4, .mkv), existing archives (.zip, .7z, .rar), and compressed documents (.pdf, .docx). Configurable per-extension in Settings.

Multi-Threaded Compression

Configurable thread count from 1 to 2× your CPU core count, with an auto-detect option for optimal threading. Multi-threading applies to both compression and extraction, significantly reducing processing time on multi-core systems.

Split Archives

Create split (multi-volume) archives with pre-defined sizes: 50 MB, 100 MB, 250 MB, 500 MB, 700 MB (CD), 1.4 GB (DVD), 2.0 GB, or a custom size. Useful for distributing large archives via removable media or email attachments.