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

snappy

!!! For snappy@6.x and below, please go to node-snappy.

More background about the 6-7 changes, please read this, Thanks @kesla .

🚀 Help me to become a full-time open-source developer by sponsoring me on Github

Fastest Snappy compression library in Node.js, powered by napi-rs and rust-snappy.

For small size data, snappyjs is faster, and it support browser. But it doesn't have async API, which is important for Node.js program.

Install this package

yarn add snappy

Support matrix

	node12	node14	node16
Windows x64	✓	✓	✓
Windows x32	✓	✓	✓
Windows arm64	✓	✓	✓
macOS x64	✓	✓	✓
macOS arm64	✓	✓	✓
Linux x64 gnu	✓	✓	✓
Linux x64 musl	✓	✓	✓
Linux arm gnu	✓	✓	✓
Linux arm64 gnu	✓	✓	✓
Linux arm64 musl	✓	✓	✓
Android arm64	✓	✓	✓
FreeBSD x64	✓	✓	✓

API

export function compressSync(input: Buffer | string | ArrayBuffer | Uint8Array): Buffer
export function compress(input: Buffer | string | ArrayBuffer | Uint8Array): Promise<Buffer>
export function uncompressSync(compressed: Buffer): Buffer
export function uncompress(compressed: Buffer): Promise<Buffer>

Performance

Hardware

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro15,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 6
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 12 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 16 GB

Result

Running "Compress" suite...
Progress: 25%

  snappy:
    1 426 ops/s, ±2.26%

  gzip:
    152 ops/s, ±1.54%

  deflate:
    155 ops/s, ±2.14%

  brotli:
    3 ops/s, ±3.43%       | slowest, 99.79% slower

Finished 4 cases!
  Fastest: snappy
  Slowest: brotli

Running "Decompress" suite...
Progress: 25%

  snappy:
    2 771 ops/s, ±1.13%

  gzip:
    854 ops/s, ±6.99%

  deflate:
    877 ops/s, ±3.19%

  brotli:
    638 ops/s, ±2.31%     | slowest, 76.98% slower

Finished 4 cases!
  Fastest: snappy
  Slowest: brotli