snappy

What is snappy?

The 'snappy' npm package is a Node.js binding for Google's Snappy compression library. It provides fast and efficient compression and decompression functionalities, making it suitable for applications that require high-speed data processing.

What are snappy's main functionalities?

Compression

This feature allows you to compress a given input buffer using Snappy's compression algorithm. The code sample demonstrates how to compress a simple 'Hello, world!' string.

const snappy = require('snappy');
const input = Buffer.from('Hello, world!');
snappy.compress(input, (err, compressed) => {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log('Compressed:', compressed);
});

Decompression

This feature allows you to decompress a previously compressed buffer. The code sample shows how to uncompress data and convert it back to its original form.

const snappy = require('snappy');
const compressed = Buffer.from('compressed data here');
snappy.uncompress(compressed, { asBuffer: true }, (err, original) => {
  if (err) throw err;
  console.log('Decompressed:', original.toString());
});

Stream Compression

This feature provides stream-based compression, which is useful for handling large files or data streams. The code sample demonstrates how to compress a file using streams.

const snappy = require('snappy');
const fs = require('fs');
const input = fs.createReadStream('input.txt');
const output = fs.createWriteStream('output.snappy');
input.pipe(snappy.compressStream()).pipe(output);

Stream Decompression

This feature provides stream-based decompression. The code sample shows how to decompress a file using streams.

const snappy = require('snappy');
const fs = require('fs');
const input = fs.createReadStream('output.snappy');
const output = fs.createWriteStream('decompressed.txt');
input.pipe(snappy.uncompressStream()).pipe(output);

Other packages similar to snappy

lz4

The 'lz4' package provides bindings for the LZ4 compression algorithm, which is known for its high-speed compression and decompression. Compared to Snappy, LZ4 often offers better compression ratios but may be slightly slower in some scenarios.

zlib

The 'zlib' package is a core Node.js module that provides compression and decompression functionalities using the Deflate algorithm. While zlib offers good compression ratios, it is generally slower than Snappy and LZ4.

brotli

The 'brotli' package provides bindings for the Brotli compression algorithm, which is known for its high compression ratios and efficiency. Brotli is often used for web content compression but may be slower than Snappy in terms of speed.

README

About

Node module/wrapper for Google's fast compressor/decompressor: http://code.google.com/p/snappy/

Snappy is a compression/decompression library. It does not aim for maximum compression, or compatibility with any other compression library; instead, it aims for very high speeds and reasonable compression. For instance, compared to the fastest mode of zlib, Snappy is an order of magnitude faster for most inputs, but the resulting compressed files are anywhere from 20% to 100% bigger. On a single core of a Core i7 processor in 64-bit mode, Snappy compresses at about 250 MB/sec or more and decompresses at about 500 MB/sec or more.

Snappy is widely used inside Google, in everything from BigTable and MapReduce to our internal RPC systems. (Snappy has previously been referred to as “Zippy” in some presentations and the likes.)

Installation

• "npm install snappy"

Examples

String

snappy = require('./snappy');
// Use synchronous version
snappy.compressSync('string to compress', function(err, compressed){
  // result will be string instead of Buffer
  snappy.decompress(compressed, snappy.parsers.string, function(err, result){
    console.log(result);
  }
}

JSON

snappy = require('./snappy');
// Snappy automatically convert json to a string
snappy.compress({"foo": "bar"}, function(err, compressed){
  // result will be json instead of Buffer
  snappy.decompress(compressed, snappy.parsers.json, function(err, result){
    console.log(result["foo"]);
  }
}

For more examples of the api, see test.coffee

Version history

• v1.1.1

  • Remove coffeescript and have files as plain javascript.
  • Refactor folder stucture.

• v1.1.0

  • Include snappy-library in the module (needed for nodester etc)

• v1.0.0

  • First version!

License

Copyright (c) 2011 David Björklund

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.