cramjam

Thin Python bindings to de/compression algorithms in Rust

cramjam Permissive license MIT Active ★ 124 v2.11.0 released 2025-07-27

Install

cramjam on PyPI

pip

pip install cramjam

uv

uv add cramjam

poetry

poetry add cramjam

Package facts

License	MIT (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (>=3.8)
Install friction	medium — platform-specific wheel
Runtime dependencies	none
Maintenance	actively maintained — 382 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-05-18
First released	2020-03-08
Popularity	one of the top 1,000 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_12_x86_64.macosx_11_0_arm64.macosx_10_12_universal2.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux2010_i686.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_armv7l.manylinux2014_armv7l.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_ppc64le.manylinux2014_ppc64le.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_s390x.manylinux2014_s390x.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_1_aarch64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_1_armv7l.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_1_i686.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_1_x86_64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-win32.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_10_12_x86_64.macosx_11_0_arm64.macosx_10_12_universal2.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux2010_i686.whl; cramjam-2.11.0-cp311-cp311-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl

Keywords: compression, decompression, snappy, zstd, bz2, gzip, lz4, brotli, deflate, blosc2

About cramjam

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

cramjam

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API Documentation

Install (Python)

pip install --upgrade cramjam  # Requires no Python or system dependencies!

Install (JavaScript / TypeScript)

npm install cramjam

CLI

A CLI interface is available as cramjam-cli

libcramjam

A Rust crate and C friendly library available at libcramjam

Extremely thin and...

Read as markdown · JSON record · Source repository · Docs

AI interpretation — verify before relying

AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

Provides fast Python bindings to multiple compression algorithms (Snappy, Brotli, Bzip2, Lz4, Gzip, Zlib, Deflate, ZSTD, XZ) implemented in Rust, with no system or Python dependencies required.

Medium install friction due to platform-specific wheels (precompiled binaries for multiple architectures), but no runtime dependencies. Active maintenance with last commit in May 2026 and 382 days since latest release.

MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution in commercial and private projects with minimal obligations.

Usage

pip install cramjam
import cramjam
compressed = cramjam.snappy.compress(b"bytes here")
decompressed = cramjam.snappy.decompress(compressed)
print(bytes(decompressed))

Requires Python 3.8 or later; precompiled wheels available for common platforms but source build may be needed on unsupported architectures.

Verdict: A well-maintained, dependency-free compression library offering nine algorithms through a simple API. MIT-licensed and actively developed with no known vulnerabilities. Medium install friction stems from platform-specific wheels rather than build complexity. Suitable for production use when compression performance and algorithm variety are priorities.

Needs verification

Whether the 382-day gap since latest release (2025-07-27) reflects stable maturity or reduced active development
Performance characteristics relative to native Python compression libraries for specific use cases
Support status for experimental features (Blosc2, ISA-L backend) in precompiled wheels

compression decompression librarysnappy brotli zstd pythonfast compression bindingsrust compression algorithmsgzip bzip2 lz4 pythonzero dependency compressionmulti-algorithm compression