zstandard

Zstandard bindings for Python

zstandard Permissive license BSD-3-Clause Active ★ 638 v0.25.0 released 2025-09-14

Install

zstandard on PyPI

pip

pip install zstandard

uv

uv add zstandard

poetry

poetry add zstandard

Package facts

License	BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (>=3.9)
Install friction	medium — platform-specific wheel
Runtime dependencies	none
Maintenance	actively maintained — 333 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-07-25
First released	2016-09-03
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: zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux2010_i686.manylinux2014_i686.manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux_2_17_i686.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_ppc64le.manylinux_2_17_ppc64le.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_s390x.manylinux_2_17_s390x.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_1_aarch64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_1_x86_64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_i686.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_ppc64le.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_s390x.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-win32.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp311-cp311-manylinux2010_i686.manylinux2014_i686.manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux_2_17_i686.whl; zstandard-0.25.0-cp311-cp311-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.whl

Keywords: zstandard, zstd, compression

Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersProgramming Language :: CProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Free Threading :: 1 - Unstable

About zstandard

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

================ python-zstandard ================

This project provides Python bindings for interfacing with the Zstandard <http://www.zstd.net>_ compression library. A C extension and CFFI interface are provided.

The primary goal of the project is to provide a rich interface to the underlying C API through a Pythonic interface while not sacrificing performance. This means exposing most of the features and flexibility of the C API while not sacrificing usability or safety that Python provides.

The canonical home for this project is https://github.com/indygreg/python-zstandard.

For usage documentation, see https://python-zstandard.readthedocs.org/.

.. |ci-test| image:: https://github.com/indygreg/python-zstandard/workflows/.github/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg :target: https://github.com/indygreg/python-zstandard/blob/main/.github/workflows/test.yml

.. |ci-wheel| image:: https://github.com/indygreg/python-zstandard/workflows/.github/workflows/wheel.yml/badge.svg :target: https://github.com/indygreg/python-zstandard/blob/main/.github/workflows/wheel.yml

.. |ci-typing| image::...

Read as markdown · JSON record · Source repository · Homepage · 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

Python bindings for the Zstandard compression library, offering both C extension and CFFI interfaces to compress and decompress data with high performance and access to the full Zstandard C API.

Medium install friction due to compiled C extension wheels; however, prebuilt wheels are available for Python 3.9–3.14 across macOS, Linux (multiple architectures), and Windows, reducing build-from-source requirements for most users.

BSD-3-Clause permissive license allows use in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions; attribution required.

Usage

pip install zstandard
import zstandard as zstd
cctx = zstd.ZstdCompressor()
compressed = cctx.compress(b'data to compress')

Requires Python 3.9 or later; C compiler may be needed if a prebuilt wheel is unavailable for your platform.

Verdict: Production-stable, actively maintained compression library with no known vulnerabilities, broad platform coverage via prebuilt wheels, and permissive licensing. Medium install friction is offset by comprehensive wheel distribution and strong maintenance signals (active status, recent commits, top-1000 popularity).

Needs verification

Performance benchmarks vs. other Python compression libraries to validate 'high performance' claim
Whether CFFI interface is recommended over C extension for specific use cases
Memory overhead or resource constraints when compressing very large datasets

zstandard compression pythonzstd bindingspython compression libraryfast data compressionzstandard encoder decoderc extension compressionhigh performance compression