(PHP 4 >= 4.0.4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
gzencode — Create a gzip compressed string
This function returns a compressed version of the input
data
compatible with the output of the
gzip program.
For more information on the GZIP file format, see the document: » GZIP file format specification version 4.3 (RFC 1952).
data
The data to encode.
level
The level of compression. Can be given as 0 for no compression up to 9 for maximum compression. If not given, the default compression level will be the default compression level of the zlib library.
encoding
The encoding mode. Can be FORCE_GZIP
(the default)
or FORCE_DEFLATE
.
FORCE_DEFLATE
generates
RFC 1950 compliant output, consisting of a zlib header, the deflated
data, and an Adler checksum.
The encoded string, or false
if an error occurred.
The resulting data contains the appropriate headers and data structure to make a standard .gz file, e.g.:
Example #1 Creating a gzip file
<?php
$data = file_get_contents("bigfile.txt");
$gzdata = gzencode($data, 9);
file_put_contents("bigfile.txt.gz", $gzdata);
?>
this is a benchmark test of gzencode (.txt file)
----------------------------------------------
original file size = 3.29 MB (3,459,978 bytes)
compress lvl 1 = 1.09 MB (1,144,006 bytes)
compress lvl 2 = 1.06 MB (1,119,518 bytes)
compress lvl 3 = 1.03 MB (1,085,567 bytes)
compress lvl 4 = 953 KB (976,538 bytes)
compress lvl 5 = 909 KB (931,486 bytes)
compress lvl 6 = 910 KB (932,516 bytes)
compress lvl 7 = 910 KB (932,608 bytes)
compress lvl 8 = 910 KB (932,646 bytes)
compress lvl 9 = 910 KB (932,652 bytes)
----------------------------------------------
It may be difficult to understand the differences between "gzcompress", "gzdeflate" and "gzencode". Here are my notes:
gzcompress()
------------
Uses ZLIB_ENCODING_DEFLATE (https://www.php.net/manual/en/zlib.constants.php#constant.zlib-encoding-deflate)
ZLIB compression algorithm as per RFC 1950.
Compatible with pigz. (Not compatible with gzip.)
Has a header (compression details, begins with 0x78) and a footer (Adler32 checksum of uncompressed data in big-endian).
gzdeflate()
------------
Uses ZLIB_ENCODING_RAW (https://www.php.net/manual/en/zlib.constants.php#constant.zlib-encoding-raw)
DEFLATE algorithm as per RFC 1951.
No header and footer. Pure DEFLATE.
gzencode()
------------
Uses ZLIB_ENCODING_GZIP (https://www.php.net/manual/en/zlib.constants.php#constant.zlib-encoding-gzip)
GZIP algorithm as per RFC 1952.
Compatible with gzip.
Header begins with magic number 0x1f8b, then compression method 8 (DEFLATE), no file flags, no timestamp, with operating system ID.
Footer contains CRC32 checksum of uncompressed data and then size of uncompressed data, both in little-endian.