View Source zlib (erts v15.0)

zlib compression interface.

This module provides an API for the zlib library (www.zlib.net). It is used to compress and decompress data. The data format is described by RFC 1950, RFC 1951, and RFC 1952.

A typical (compress) usage is as follows:

Z = zlib:open(),
ok = zlib:deflateInit(Z,default),

Compress = fun(end_of_data, _Cont) -> [];
              (Data, Cont) ->
                 [zlib:deflate(Z, Data)|Cont(Read(),Cont)]
           end,
Compressed = Compress(Read(),Compress),
Last = zlib:deflate(Z, [], finish),
ok = zlib:deflateEnd(Z),
zlib:close(Z),
list_to_binary([Compressed|Last])

In all functions errors, {'EXIT',{Reason,Backtrace}}, can be thrown, where Reason describes the error.

Typical Reasons:

  • badarg - Bad argument.

  • not_initialized - The stream hasn't been initialized, eg. if inflateInit/1 wasn't called prior to a call to inflate/2.

  • not_on_controlling_process - The stream was used by a process that doesn't control it. Use set_controlling_process/2 if you need to transfer a stream to a different process.

  • data_error - The data contains errors.

  • stream_error - Inconsistent stream state.

  • {need_dictionary,Adler32} - See inflate/2.

Summary

Types

A zlib stream, see open/0.

Normally in the range -15..-8 | 8..15.

Functions

Closes the stream referenced by Z.

Compresses data with zlib headers and checksum.

Compresses as much data as possible, and stops when the input buffer becomes empty.

Ends the deflate session and cleans all data used.

Same as zlib:deflateInit(Z, default).

Initializes a zlib stream for compression.

Initiates a zlib stream for compression.

Dynamically updates the compression level and compression strategy.

Equivalent to deflateEnd/1 followed by deflateInit/1,2,6, but does not free and reallocate all the internal compression state.

Initializes the compression dictionary from the specified byte sequence without producing any compressed output.

Uncompresses data with gz headers and checksum.

Compresses data with gz headers and checksum.

Decompresses as much data as possible. It can introduce some output latency (reading input without producing any output).

Ends the inflate session and cleans all data used.

Returns the decompression dictionary currently in use by the stream.

Initializes a zlib stream for decompression.

Initializes a decompression session on zlib stream.

Equivalent to inflateEnd/1 followed by inflateInit/1, but does not free and reallocate all the internal decompression state. The stream will keep attributes that could have been set by inflateInit/1,2.

Initializes the decompression dictionary from the specified uncompressed byte sequence.

Opens a zlib stream.

Like inflate/2, but returns once it has expanded beyond a small implementation-defined threshold. It's useful when decompressing untrusted input which could have been maliciously crafted to expand until the system runs out of memory.

Changes the controlling process of Z to Pid, which must be a local process.

Uncompresses data with zlib headers and checksum.

Uncompresses data without zlib headers and checksum.

Compresses data without zlib headers and checksum.

Types

-type zflush() :: none | sync | full | finish.
-type zlevel() :: none | default | best_compression | best_speed | 0..9.
-type zmemlevel() :: 1..9.
-type zmethod() :: deflated.
-type zstrategy() :: default | filtered | huffman_only | rle.
-type zstream() :: reference().

A zlib stream, see open/0.

-type zwindowbits() :: -15..-8 | 8..47.

Normally in the range -15..-8 | 8..15.

Functions

-spec close(Z) -> ok when Z :: zstream().

Closes the stream referenced by Z.

-spec compress(Data) -> Compressed when Data :: iodata(), Compressed :: binary().

Compresses data with zlib headers and checksum.

-spec deflate(Z, Data) -> Compressed when Z :: zstream(), Data :: iodata(), Compressed :: iolist().

Same as deflate(Z, Data, none).

-spec deflate(Z, Data, Flush) -> Compressed
           when Z :: zstream(), Data :: iodata(), Flush :: zflush(), Compressed :: iolist().

Compresses as much data as possible, and stops when the input buffer becomes empty.

It can introduce some output latency (reading input without producing any output) except when forced to flush.

If Flush is set to sync, all pending output is flushed to the output buffer and the output is aligned on a byte boundary, so that the decompressor can get all input data available so far. Flushing can degrade compression for some compression algorithms; thus, use it only when necessary.

If Flush is set to full, all output is flushed as with sync, and the compression state is reset so that decompression can restart from this point if previous compressed data has been damaged or if random access is desired. Using full too often can seriously degrade the compression.

If Flush is set to finish, pending input is processed, pending output is flushed, and deflate/3 returns. Afterwards the only possible operations on the stream are deflateReset/1 or deflateEnd/1.

Flush can be set to finish immediately after deflateInit if all compression is to be done in one step.

Example:

zlib:deflateInit(Z),
B1 = zlib:deflate(Z,Data),
B2 = zlib:deflate(Z,<< >>,finish),
zlib:deflateEnd(Z),
list_to_binary([B1,B2])
-spec deflateEnd(Z) -> ok when Z :: zstream().

Ends the deflate session and cleans all data used.

Notice that this function throws a data_error exception if the last call to deflate/3 was not called with Flush set to finish.

-spec deflateInit(Z) -> ok when Z :: zstream().

Same as zlib:deflateInit(Z, default).

-spec deflateInit(Z, Level) -> ok when Z :: zstream(), Level :: zlevel().

Initializes a zlib stream for compression.

Level decides the compression level to be used:

  • default gives default compromise between speed and compression
  • none (0) gives no compression
  • best_speed (1) gives best speed
  • best_compression (9) gives best compression
Link to this function

deflateInit(Z, Level, Method, WindowBits, MemLevel, Strategy)

View Source
-spec deflateInit(Z, Level, Method, WindowBits, MemLevel, Strategy) -> ok
               when
                   Z :: zstream(),
                   Level :: zlevel(),
                   Method :: zmethod(),
                   WindowBits :: zwindowbits(),
                   MemLevel :: zmemlevel(),
                   Strategy :: zstrategy().

Initiates a zlib stream for compression.

  • Level - Compression level to use:

    • default gives default compromise between speed and compression
    • none (0) gives no compression
    • best_speed (1) gives best speed
    • best_compression (9) gives best compression
  • Method - Compression method to use, currently the only supported method is deflated.

  • WindowBits - The base two logarithm of the window size (the size of the history buffer). It is to be in the range 8 through 15. Larger values result in better compression at the expense of memory usage. Defaults to 15 if deflateInit/2 is used. A negative WindowBits value suppresses the zlib header (and checksum) from the stream. Notice that the zlib source mentions this only as a undocumented feature.

    Warning

    Due to a known bug in the underlying zlib library, WindowBits values 8 and -8 do not work as expected. In zlib versions before 1.2.9 values 8 and -8 are automatically changed to 9 and -9. From zlib version 1.2.9 value -8 is rejected causing zlib:deflateInit/6 to fail (8 is still changed to 9). It also seem possible that future versions of zlib may fix this bug and start accepting 8 and -8 as is.

    Conclusion: Avoid values 8 and -8 unless you know your zlib version supports them.

  • MemLevel - Specifies how much memory is to be allocated for the internal compression state: MemLevel=1 uses minimum memory but is slow and reduces compression ratio; MemLevel=9 uses maximum memory for optimal speed. Defaults to 8.

  • Strategy - Tunes the compression algorithm. Use the following values:

    • default for normal data
    • filtered for data produced by a filter (or predictor)
    • huffman_only to force Huffman encoding only (no string match)
    • rle to limit match distances to one (run-length encoding)

    Filtered data consists mostly of small values with a somewhat random distribution. In this case, the compression algorithm is tuned to compress them better. The effect of filtered is to force more Huffman coding and less string matching; it is somewhat intermediate between default and huffman_only. rle is designed to be almost as fast as huffman_only, but gives better compression for PNG image data.

    Strategy affects only the compression ratio, but not the correctness of the compressed output even if it is not set appropriately.

Link to this function

deflateParams(Z, Level, Strategy)

View Source
-spec deflateParams(Z, Level, Strategy) -> ok
                 when Z :: zstream(), Level :: zlevel(), Strategy :: zstrategy().

Dynamically updates the compression level and compression strategy.

The interpretation of Level and Strategy is as in deflateInit/6. This can be used to switch between compression and straight copy of the input data, or to switch to a different kind of input data requiring a different strategy. If the compression level is changed, the input available so far is compressed with the old level (and can be flushed); the new level takes effect only at the next call of deflate/3.

Before the call of deflateParams, the stream state must be set as for a call of deflate/3, as the currently available input may have to be compressed and flushed.

-spec deflateReset(Z) -> ok when Z :: zstream().

Equivalent to deflateEnd/1 followed by deflateInit/1,2,6, but does not free and reallocate all the internal compression state.

The stream keeps the same compression level and any other attributes.

Link to this function

deflateSetDictionary(Z, Dictionary)

View Source
-spec deflateSetDictionary(Z, Dictionary) -> Adler32
                        when Z :: zstream(), Dictionary :: iodata(), Adler32 :: non_neg_integer().

Initializes the compression dictionary from the specified byte sequence without producing any compressed output.

This function must be called immediately after deflateInit/1,2,6 or deflateReset/1, before any call of deflate/3.

The compressor and decompressor must use the same dictionary (see inflateSetDictionary/2).

The Adler checksum of the dictionary is returned.

-spec gunzip(Data) -> Decompressed when Data :: iodata(), Decompressed :: binary().

Uncompresses data with gz headers and checksum.

-spec gzip(Data) -> Compressed when Data :: iodata(), Compressed :: binary().

Compresses data with gz headers and checksum.

-spec inflate(Z, Data) -> Decompressed when Z :: zstream(), Data :: iodata(), Decompressed :: iolist().

Equivalent to inflate(Z, Data, [])

Link to this function

inflate(Z, Data, Options)

View Source (since OTP 20.1)
-spec inflate(Z, Data, Options) -> Decompressed
           when
               Z :: zstream(),
               Data :: iodata(),
               Options :: [{exception_on_need_dict, boolean()}],
               Decompressed ::
                   iolist() | {need_dictionary, Adler32 :: non_neg_integer(), Output :: iolist()}.

Decompresses as much data as possible. It can introduce some output latency (reading input without producing any output).

Currently the only available option is {exception_on_need_dict,boolean()} which controls whether the function should throw an exception when a preset dictionary is required for decompression. When set to false, a need_dictionary tuple will be returned instead. See inflateSetDictionary/2 for details.

Warning

This option defaults to true for backwards compatibility but we intend to remove the exception behavior in a future release. New code that needs to handle dictionaries manually should always specify {exception_on_need_dict,false}.

-spec inflateEnd(Z) -> ok when Z :: zstream().

Ends the inflate session and cleans all data used.

Notice that this function throws a data_error exception if no end of stream was found (meaning that not all data has been uncompressed).

Link to this function

inflateGetDictionary(Z)

View Source (since OTP 20.0)
-spec inflateGetDictionary(Z) -> Dictionary when Z :: zstream(), Dictionary :: binary().

Returns the decompression dictionary currently in use by the stream.

This function must be called between inflateInit/1,2 and inflateEnd.

Only supported if ERTS was compiled with zlib >= 1.2.8.

-spec inflateInit(Z) -> ok when Z :: zstream().

Initializes a zlib stream for decompression.

Link to this function

inflateInit(Z, WindowBits)

View Source
-spec inflateInit(Z, WindowBits) -> ok when Z :: zstream(), WindowBits :: zwindowbits().

Initializes a decompression session on zlib stream.

WindowBits is the base two logarithm of the maximum window size (the size of the history buffer). It is to be in the range 8 through 15. Default to 15 if inflateInit/1 is used.

If a compressed stream with a larger window size is specified as input, inflate/2 throws the data_error exception.

A negative WindowBits value makes zlib ignore the zlib header (and checksum) from the stream. Notice that the zlib source mentions this only as a undocumented feature.

-spec inflateReset(Z) -> ok when Z :: zstream().

Equivalent to inflateEnd/1 followed by inflateInit/1, but does not free and reallocate all the internal decompression state. The stream will keep attributes that could have been set by inflateInit/1,2.

Link to this function

inflateSetDictionary(Z, Dictionary)

View Source
-spec inflateSetDictionary(Z, Dictionary) -> ok when Z :: zstream(), Dictionary :: iodata().

Initializes the decompression dictionary from the specified uncompressed byte sequence.

This function must be called as a response to an inflate operation (eg. safeInflate/2) returning {need_dictionary,Adler,Output} or in the case of deprecated functions, throwing an {'EXIT',{{need_dictionary,Adler},_StackTrace}} exception.

The dictionary chosen by the compressor can be determined from the Adler value returned or thrown by the call to the inflate function. The compressor and decompressor must use the same dictionary (See deflateSetDictionary/2).

After setting the dictionary the inflate operation should be retried without new input.

Example:

deprecated_unpack(Z, Compressed, Dict) ->
     case catch zlib:inflate(Z, Compressed) of
          {'EXIT',{{need_dictionary,_DictID},_}} ->
                 ok = zlib:inflateSetDictionary(Z, Dict),
                 Uncompressed = zlib:inflate(Z, []);
          Uncompressed ->
                 Uncompressed
     end.

new_unpack(Z, Compressed, Dict) ->
    case zlib:inflate(Z, Compressed, [{exception_on_need_dict, false}]) of
        {need_dictionary, _DictId, Output} ->
            ok = zlib:inflateSetDictionary(Z, Dict),
            [Output | zlib:inflate(Z, [])];
        Uncompressed ->
            Uncompressed
    end.
-spec open() -> zstream().

Opens a zlib stream.

Link to this function

safeInflate(Z, Data)

View Source (since OTP 20.1)
-spec safeInflate(Z, Data) -> Result
               when
                   Z :: zstream(),
                   Data :: iodata(),
                   Result ::
                       {continue, Output :: iolist()} |
                       {finished, Output :: iolist()} |
                       {need_dictionary, Adler32 :: non_neg_integer(), Output :: iolist()}.

Like inflate/2, but returns once it has expanded beyond a small implementation-defined threshold. It's useful when decompressing untrusted input which could have been maliciously crafted to expand until the system runs out of memory.

This function returns {continue | finished, Output}, where Output is the data that was decompressed in this call. New input can be queued up on each call if desired, and the function will return {finished, Output} once all queued data has been decompressed.

This function can introduce some output latency (reading input without producing any output).

If a preset dictionary is required for further decompression, this function returns a need_dictionary tuple. See inflateSetDictionary/2) for details.

Example:

walk(Compressed, Handler) ->
    Z = zlib:open(),
    zlib:inflateInit(Z),
    loop(Z, Handler, zlib:safeInflate(Z, Compressed)),
    zlib:inflateEnd(Z),
    zlib:close(Z).

loop(Z, Handler, {continue, Output}) ->
    Handler(Output),
    loop(Z, Handler, zlib:safeInflate(Z, []));
loop(Z, Handler, {finished, Output}) ->
    Handler(Output).
Link to this function

set_controlling_process(Z, Pid)

View Source (since OTP 20.1.3)
-spec set_controlling_process(Z, Pid) -> ok when Z :: zstream(), Pid :: pid().

Changes the controlling process of Z to Pid, which must be a local process.

-spec uncompress(Data) -> Decompressed when Data :: iodata(), Decompressed :: binary().

Uncompresses data with zlib headers and checksum.

-spec unzip(Data) -> Decompressed when Data :: iodata(), Decompressed :: binary().

Uncompresses data without zlib headers and checksum.

-spec zip(Data) -> Compressed when Data :: iodata(), Compressed :: binary().

Compresses data without zlib headers and checksum.