The Win64 version follows typical POSIX-style arguments:
lz4 file.txt # creates file.txt.lz4
lz4 -d file.txt.lz4 # decompress
lz4 -9 input.log # slower, better ratio (still faster than gzip)
One minor gripe: The Windows build doesn’t natively integrate into Explorer’s right-click menu. But that’s intentional—this is a command-line tool for automation.
LZ4 is legendary for its lossless compression speed, often hitting RAM bandwidth limits. The v1.8.x branch introduced significant internal refactoring compared to the v1.7.x branch. lz4 v1.8.3 win64
v1.8.3 specifically served as a stabilization milestone. It followed v1.8.2 (which had minor fixes) and preceded v1.9.0 (which introduced major changes to the command-line interface and compression levels).
Why people still use v1.8.3:
Open a new Command Prompt or PowerShell window and type:
lz4 --version
Expected output:
*** LZ4 CLI (64-bit) v1.8.3, by Yann Collet ***
Link against lz4.lib and lz4hc.lib from the v1.8.3 release.
#include "lz4.h"
int compressed_size = LZ4_compress_default(src, dst, src_len, dst_capacity);