Crates / Compare / flate2 vs zstd
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
flate2 vs zstd
Short answerBy steady daily use, flate2 is bigger: 2,127,583 real downloads a day against 1,083,388 for zstd (2.0x). 7,758 crates depend on flate2 and 2,614 on zstd. flate2 last shipped 57 days ago, zstd 8 days ago.
flate2
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
7,758 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
DEFLATE compression and decompression exposed as Read/BufRead/Write streams. Supports miniz_oxide and multiple zlib implementations. Supports zlib, gzip, and raw deflate streams.
zstd
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
2,614 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
Binding for the zstd compression library.
flate2zstd · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | flate2 | zstd |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 2,127,583 | 1,083,388 |
| Crates that depend on it | 7,758 | 2,614 |
| Last release | 1.1.10, 57 days ago | 0.14.3, 8 days ago |
| Trend vs the field | +5% | +8% |
| Release-window share | 1.9% | 7.9% |
| Downloads in the window | 196,971,539 | 102,684,385 |
| All-time downloads | 779,541,321 | 440,610,017 |
| Versions published | 78 | 80 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| MSRV | 1.67.0 | 1.64 |
| First published | Nov 11, 2014 | Feb 22, 2016 |
Which to pick
- Downloads tell you what is common, not what fits. Each crate's own description above says what it is for; when the jobs differ, pick by the job.
- When both fit, prefer the one more crates depend on (flate2, 7,758 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: flate2 57 days ago, zstd 8 days ago.
Also in this space
Method
Real downloads = the median day with no release that day or the day before, from the crates.io API (Jul 27, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026). Raw crates.io counts include CI and bots and run high (why); the method is from our 90-day study. People search for this pair: Google suggests "flate2 vs zstd".