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gzip (Score:2)
Re:gzip (Score:1)
gzip is fast, easy to implement, and uses almost no memory.
It's easily streamable and you get great bang for your buck so you can do it easily on the fly.
bzip2 is heavier, a lot slower, and only adds a fraction additional reduction (10-20%).
lzma is asymmetrical. It's a LOT more expensive on the compression side, and both sides use a lot more memory. But the decompression code is very small and FASTER than bzip2.
So as long as you have memory (desktop, server) it's much smaller than bzip2, and it's faster as well. Which means for packaged software and other files, lzma is much better.
But for resource-constrained situations, times you need a lot of speed, or anything with on-the-fly-compression, gzip is still the lowest common denominator and the best choice.
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