Installation

Requirements

• Zig 0.16.0 (required) — download from ziglang.org
• No external dependencies required — pure Zig implementation
• Supported OS: Windows 10+, Linux, macOS
• Supported architectures: x86_64, aarch64, x86

Version Requirement

This library requires Zig 0.16.0 as declared in build.zig.zon (minimum_zig_version = "0.16.0"). Older versions are not supported.

Setup

Method 1: Zig Fetch (Recommended) — Latest Release

zig fetch --save https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/zstd.zig/archive/refs/tags/0.0.2.tar.gz

This corresponds to build.zig.zon version 0.0.2:

.{
    .name = .zstd,
    .version = "0.0.2",
    .minimum_zig_version = "0.16.0",
    // ...
}

Method 2: Zig Fetch (Main Branch)

Use the latest development version from the main branch:

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/zstd.zig.git

Method 3: Manual build.zig.zon Configuration

Add the dependency to your build.zig.zon:

.dependencies = .{
    .zstd = .{
        .url = "https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/zstd.zig/archive/refs/tags/0.0.2.tar.gz",
        .hash = "...", // Run `zig fetch --save <url>` to generate the hash.
    },
},

Method 4: Local Source Checkout

Clone the repository locally:

git clone https://github.com/muhammad-fiaz/zstd.zig.git
cd zstd.zig
zig build

To use a local checkout from another project, add a path dependency to your build.zig.zon:

.dependencies = .{
    .zstd = .{
        .path = "../zstd.zig",
    },
},

Wire into build.zig

After adding the dependency, import the module in your build.zig:

const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});

const zstd_dep = b.dependency("zstd", .{
    .target = target,
    .optimize = optimize,
});
exe.root_module.addImport("zstd", zstd_dep.module("zstd"));

Use in your code

const zstd = @import("zstd");

// You're ready to go!
const compressed = try zstd.compress(allocator, data);
defer allocator.free(compressed);

const decompressed = try zstd.decompress(allocator, compressed);
defer allocator.free(decompressed);

Verify Installation

zig build                    # Build library
zig build test --summary all # Run all tests
zig build run-all-examples   # Run all 11 examples

If all tests pass, zstd.zig is properly installed.

Cross-Compilation

Zig makes cross-compilation easy. Build for any target from any host:

# Build for Linux ARM64 from Windows
zig build -Dtarget=aarch64-linux

# Build for Windows from Linux
zig build -Dtarget=x86_64-windows

# Build for macOS Apple Silicon from Linux
zig build -Dtarget=aarch64-macos

# Build for 32-bit Windows
zig build -Dtarget=x86-windows

# Run tests with emulation for cross targets
zig build test -Dtarget=aarch64-linux --summary all -fqemu

Validated targets:

Platform	x86_64 (64-bit)	aarch64 (ARM64)	x86 (32-bit)
Linux	Yes	Yes (via QEMU)	Yes
Windows	Yes	Yes	Yes
macOS	Yes (via aarch64 runner)	Yes (Apple Silicon)	No