zdelta FAQ

  1. Can zdelta handle large files?
  2. Can zdelta sliding windows be larger than 64kb?
  3. Is zdelta in-place?
  4. Does zdelta support streaming?
  5. How is the multi reference support in zdelta-2.0 implemented?
  6. Can I use zdelta together with the zlib library?



Can zdelta handle large files?

Although zdelta can compress and decompress correctly very large files, it could sometimes have poor performance on files larger than 100kb. The problem stems from the fact that for efficiency, zdelta computes the difference between the reference and the target file using only 64kb windows at a time. Currently the library employs a simple window synchronization/movement technique. As a result it is possible that the windows loose synchronization. In such cases zdelta will act as a conventional LZ77 compressor.
We are currently working on resolving this issue.

Can zdelta sliding windows be larger than 64kb?

No, for variety of reasons the zdelta windows can not be larger than 64kb.

Is zdelta in-place?

No, zdelta does not provide in-place decompression yet.

Does zdelta support streaming?

Currently the zdelta library supports streaming only on the target file, the reference file(s) should still be available at the start of the compression/decompression process. Additional interfaces for streaming on the reference data will be provided in the near future.

How is the multi reference support in zdelta-2.0 implemented?

zdelta places 64kb windows in any of the reference files and tries to find the longest possible match searching all of the windows. The multi reference file support is NOT implemented by concatenating the reference files and running zdelta with with one reference file!

Can I use zdelta together with the zlib library?

Yes, all global functions in zdelta have a prefix "zd_" added to their names to resolve name conflicts with the zlib library.


Copyright © Dimitre Trendafilov 2002.
dtrend01@utopia.poly.edu