Install and Use Zstandard (zstd) for Fast File Compression on Linux

What is Zstandard (zstd)?

Zstandard, abbreviated as zstd, is a high‑performance data compression tool created by Facebook engineers in 2015. It is widely adopted on Linux because it offers fast compression and decompression with good compression ratios.

Installing zstd on Linux

Before using zstd, ensure your system is up to date and install required build tools.

Update the package index and upgrade existing packages (Debian/Ubuntu based):

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Install build essentials, wget and tar:

sudo apt install build-essential wget tar

Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint

sudo apt install zstd

Fedora / Red Hat / CentOS / AlmaLinux

sudo dnf install zstd

Arch Linux / Manjaro

sudo pacman -S zstd

After installation, zstd is ready for use.

Compressing Files with zstd

Compress a single file by running: zstd filename This creates filename.zst. Example:

cd /var/log

sudo zstd alternatives.log

Sample output shows the compression factor:

[sudo] password for linuxmi:
alternatives.log : 17.94% ( 2737 => 491 bytes, alternatives.log.zst)

Compressing Multiple Files

List the files separated by spaces, or use a wildcard:

sudo zstd vmware-network.1.log vmware-network.2.log vmware-network.3.log vmware-network.4.log

Or compress all matching files:

sudo zstd *.log

Decompressing Files

To restore a compressed file, use the -d option or the unzstd command:

sudo zstd -d vmware-install.log.zst

sudo unzstd vmware-install.log.zst

Ensure the target file does not already exist, otherwise zstd will prompt before overwriting.

Summary

This tutorial demonstrated how to install the Zstandard utility on various Linux distributions and how to compress and decompress files, including handling multiple files and using wildcards.