How to Create Zstd Compressed Archive on Ubuntu

This article provides a step-by-step guide to creating compressed archives using Zstandard (zstd) on Ubuntu. It covers installation, basic compression commands, and how to customize compression levels for optimal performance.

Install Zstd

While newer versions of Ubuntu may include zstd by default, you can ensure it is installed by updating your package list and installing the tool via the terminal. Run the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install zstd

Create a Compressed Archive

To create a compressed archive, you typically combine tar with the zstd compression algorithm. This creates a .tar.zst file. Navigate to the directory containing the files or folders you wish to compress and execute the following command:

tar --zstd -cf archive-name.tar.zst /path/to/folder

Here is the breakdown of the flags used: * --zstd: Tells tar to use zstd compression. * -c: Creates a new archive. * -f: Specifies the filename of the archive.

Adjust Compression Levels

Zstd allows you to balance compression speed and ratio using levels ranging from 1 (fastest) to 19 (slowest, best compression). The default level is usually 3. To specify a level, add the --zstd-compress-level option:

tar --zstd --zstd-compress-level=10 -cf archive-name.tar.zst /path/to/folder

Using a higher level is useful for long-term storage, while lower levels are better for quick backups.

Verify and Extract

To verify the contents of your archive without extracting them, use the -t flag:

tar --zstd -tf archive-name.tar.zst

To extract the files later, use the -x flag:

tar --zstd -xf archive-name.tar.zst