Editing Zlib (section)

== Applications ==
Today, zlib is something of a ''[[de facto]]'' [[Standardization|standard]], to the point that zlib and DEFLATE are often used interchangeably in standards documents, with thousands of applications relying on it for compression, either directly or indirectly.<ref>{{Citation|title = zlib Applications|url = http://zlib.net/apps.html|date = 2002-04-18|first1 = Jean-loup|last1 = Gailly|first2 = Mark|last2 = Adler|access-date = 2007-12-09|archive-date = 2019-06-10|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190610212240/http://zlib.net/apps.html|url-status = live}}</ref> These include:
* The [[Linux kernel]], where zlib is used to implement compressed network protocols, compressed [[file system]]s, and to decompress the kernel image at boot time.
* [[GNU Binutils]] and [[GNU Debugger]] (GDB)
* [[libpng]], the [[reference implementation]] for the [[PNG]] image format, which specifies DEFLATE as the stream compression for its [[bitmap]] data.
* [[libwww]], an API for web applications like [[web browser]]s.
* The [[Apache HTTP Server]], which uses zlib to implement [[HTTP compression|HTTP/1.1]].
* Similarly, the [[cURL]] library uses zlib to decompress HTTP responses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26244134/why-does-curl-use-zlib|title=c++ - Why does cURL use zlib?|website=Stack Overflow}}</ref>
* The [[OpenSSH]] client and server, which rely on zlib to perform the optional compression offered by the [[Secure Shell]] protocol.
* The [[OpenSSL]] and [[GnuTLS]] security libraries, which can optionally use zlib to compress [[Transport Layer Security|TLS]] connections.
* The [[FFmpeg]] multimedia library, which uses zlib to read and write the DEFLATE-compressed parts of [[Digital container format|stream formats]], such as [[Matroska]].
* The [[rsync]] remote file synchronizer, which uses zlib to implement optional protocol compression.
* The [[dpkg]] and [[RPM Package Manager|RPM]] [[package manager]]s, which use zlib to unpack files from compressed software packages.
* The [[Apache Subversion]] and [[Concurrent Versions System|CVS]] [[version control]] systems, which use zlib to compress traffic to and from remote repositories.
* The [[Apache ORC]] column-oriented data storage format use ZLib as its default compression method.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://blog.cloudera.com/orcfile-in-hdp-2-better-compression-better-performance/ | title=ORCFile in HDP 2: Better Compression, Better Performance | date=6 September 2013 | access-date=16 May 2020 | archive-date=6 August 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806094918/https://blog.cloudera.com/orcfile-in-hdp-2-better-compression-better-performance/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
* The [[Git]] [[version control]] system uses zlib to store the contents of its data objects (blobs, trees, commits and tags).
* The [[PostgreSQL]] [[Relational database#RDBMS|RDBMS]] uses zlib with custom dump format (pg_dump -Fc) for database backups.
* The class System.IO.Compression.DeflateStream of the Microsoft [[.NET Framework]] 2.0 and higher.<ref>[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.compression.deflatestream(v=vs.110).aspx System.IO.Compression.DeflateStream] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206034021/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.compression.deflatestream(v=vs.110).aspx |date=2016-02-06 }}. MSDN Library.</ref>
* The "deflate" utility in TORNADO as part of [[VxWorks]] Operating System made by [[Wind River Systems]] uses zlib to compress boot ROM images.
* zlib-flate,<ref>{{man|1|zlib-flate|Debian}}</ref> raw zlib compression program, part of qpdf<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/qpdf/filelist |title=qpdf |access-date=2021-03-28 |archive-date=2024-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711145517/https://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/qpdf/filelist |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The [[MySQL]] [[Relational database#RDBMS|RDBMS]] uses ZLib LZ77 for compression in [[InnoDB]] Tables <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/innodb-compression-internals.html|title=MySQL :: MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual :: 15.9.1.5 How Compression Works for InnoDB Tables|website=dev.mysql.com|access-date=2021-07-14|archive-date=2021-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801181906/https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/innodb-compression-internals.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
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zlib is also used in many embedded devices, such as the Apple [[iPhone]] and Sony [[PlayStation 3]], because the code is portable, liberally licensed, and has a relatively small memory footprint.

=== Forks ===
A commonly used library built on an old codebase, zlib is also frequently [[Fork (software development)|forked]] by third-parties that claim improvements to this library:
* [[Intel]] has a high-performance fork of zlib.<ref>{{cite web |title=github Intel ZLIB |url=https://github.com/intel/zlib |website=github |access-date=25 January 2024 |language=en |date=25 January 2024 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125130250/https://github.com/intel/zlib |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Cloudflare]] maintains a high-performance fork with "massive" improvements.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fighting Cancer: The Unexpected Benefit Of Open Sourcing Our Code |url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-fights-cancer/ |website=The Cloudflare Blog |language=en |date=8 July 2015 |access-date=18 January 2020 |archive-date=21 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921164235/https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-fights-cancer/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* zlib-ng is a zlib replacement fork for "next generation" systems. It removes workaround code for compilers that do not support [[ANSI C]], integrates Cloudflare and Intel optimizations, adds [[hardware acceleration]] ([[SIMD]] and [[intrinsic function]]s), and uses [[code sanitizer]]s, [[fuzzing]], and [[code coverage]] to help find bugs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rosbach |first1=HK |title=zlib-ng/zlib-ng: zlib replacement with optimizations for "next generation" systems. |url=https://github.com/zlib-ng/zlib-ng |website=GitHub |publisher=zlib-ng |date=24 February 2023 |access-date=18 January 2020 |archive-date=20 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420024701/https://github.com/zlib-ng/zlib-ng |url-status=live }}</ref>