Examples

Practical examples showing how to use zstd.zig. All 20 examples live in examples/ with _ names and are run via zig build run-<name>.

All 20 Examples

Example	File	Description	Run Command
basic_compression	examples/basic_compression.zig	Basic compress/decompress round trip	zig build run-basic_compression
custom_level	examples/custom_level.zig	Numeric compression levels 1-22 via compressWithLevel	zig build run-custom_level
advanced_params	examples/advanced_params.zig	Custom window, checksum, strategy via CompressionOptions	zig build run-advanced_params
custom_strategy	examples/custom_strategy.zig	All nine match-finding strategies compared	zig build run-custom_strategy
compression_bound	examples/compression_bound.zig	Sizing an output buffer with compressBound	zig build run-compression_bound
window_limit	examples/window_limit.zig	Bounding the declared window a decoder accepts	zig build run-window_limit
frame_iteration	examples/frame_iteration.zig	Walking frames in a buffer with FrameIterator	zig build run-frame_iteration
long_distance_matching	examples/long_distance_matching.zig	Long-distance matching, and when it does not help	zig build run-long_distance_matching
parallel_compression	examples/parallel_compression.zig	Application-managed threads, one context per worker	zig build run-parallel_compression
dictionary_compression	examples/dictionary_compression.zig	Train a dictionary, compress against it, decode with it	zig build run-dictionary_compression
dictionary_training	examples/dictionary_training.zig	Training via DictionaryBuilder.train, trainCover, trainFastCover	zig build run-dictionary_training
prepared_dictionary	examples/prepared_dictionary.zig	Preparing dictionary state once and reusing it	zig build run-prepared_dictionary
streaming_compression	examples/streaming_compression.zig	Streaming compression with StreamingCompressor + EndDirective	zig build run-streaming_compression
streaming_decompression	examples/streaming_decompression.zig	Streaming decompression with StreamingDecompressor	zig build run-streaming_decompression
custom_allocator	examples/custom_allocator.zig	Custom TrackingAllocator tracking	zig build run-custom_allocator
error_handling	examples/error_handling.zig	Corruption, truncation, and buffer error cases	zig build run-error_handling
legacy_decompression	examples/legacy_decompression.zig	Historic frame detection for v01-v07 and skippable frames	zig build run-legacy_decompression
file_compression	examples/file_compression.zig	Real file compression, write to .zst archive, and decompression	zig build run-file_compression
explicit_io_streaming	examples/explicit_io_streaming.zig	Chunked streaming file compression, decompression, and Encoder/Decoder contexts	zig build run-explicit_io_streaming
large_file_compression	examples/large_file_compression.zig	Multi-megabyte (4 MiB) compression, ratio inspection, and disk preservation	zig build run-large_file_compression

Run all at once:

zig build run-all-examples

Per-Example Guides

Every example above has a page here with its source, its real captured output, and what the output means.

Guide	Example File	Focus
Basic Compression	basic_compression.zig	compress/decompress round-trip, ratio
Custom Level	custom_level.zig	compressWithLevel, and why every level ties here
Advanced Params	advanced_params.zig	getCompressionParameters, checksum, windowLog, strategy
Custom Strategy	custom_strategy.zig	All nine Strategy values, round-tripped
Compression Bound	compression_bound.zig	compressBound as an upper bound, compressInto
Window Limit	window_limit.zig	maxWindowSize boundary, one-shot and streaming
Frame Iteration	frame_iteration.zig	FrameIterator, skippable frames, truncation
Long-Distance Matching	long_distance_matching.zig	LDM options, and why it currently saves nothing
Parallel Compression	parallel_compression.zig	One context per thread, and one frame across a worker pool
Dictionary Compression	dictionary_compression.zig	Train, compress against, decode with
Dictionary Training	dictionary_training.zig	train, trainCover, trainFastCover
Prepared Dictionary	prepared_dictionary.zig	prepareDictionary, reuse, wrong-dictionary refusal
Streaming Compression	streaming_compression.zig	StreamingCompressor, EndDirective, remaining
Streaming Decompression	streaming_decompression.zig	StreamingDecompressor, needsMore
Custom Allocator	custom_allocator.zig	A caller-supplied counting allocator
Error Handling	error_handling.zig	PrefixUnknown, SrcSizeWrong, DstSizeTooSmall
Legacy Decompression	legacy_decompression.zig	Historic detection, v0.1-v0.5 decode, v0.6-v0.7 refusal
File & Directory Compression	file_compression.zig	File and directory tree to .zst and back, with std.Io.Dir
Explicit IO Streaming	explicit_io_streaming.zig	std.Io chunk streaming, StreamingCompressor, StreamingDecompressor, Encoder, Decoder
Large File Compression	large_file_compression.zig	4 MiB buffer compression, ratio, throughput, and disk preservation

Validate

zig build test --summary all
zig build run-all-examples
zig build check
zig build -Dtarget=aarch64-linux
zig build -Dtarget=x86_64-windows
zig build -Dtarget=aarch64-macos
zig build -Dtarget=x86-windows