TechCompressor

TechCompressor is a production-ready, modular Python compression framework featuring five compression algorithms (LZW, Huffman, DEFLATE, Zstandard, Brotli), military-grade encryption, a modern Terminal User Interface (TUI), solid compression with dictionary persistence, PAR2-style recovery records, advanced file filtering, multi-volume archives, incremental backups, and CLI/GUI/TUI interfaces.

Features

Multiple Compression Algorithms

LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch): Fast dictionary-based compression, ideal for repetitive data
Huffman Coding: Optimal for data with non-uniform frequency distributions
DEFLATE: Industry-standard hybrid (LZ77 + Huffman), best overall compression
Zstandard (v2.0.0): Ultra-fast compression (400-600 MB/s) with excellent ratios, developed by Meta
Brotli (v2.0.0): Web-optimized compression, 20-30% better than DEFLATE for text content
STORED: Automatic detection and direct storage of incompressible files

Advanced Archive Features

Solid Compression: Dictionary persistence across files for 10-30% better ratios
Recovery Records: PAR2-style Reed-Solomon error correction (0-10% redundancy)
Multi-threaded: Parallel per-file compression for 2-4x faster archives
Smart AUTO mode: Entropy detection and algorithm selection heuristics
Advanced File Filtering: Exclude patterns (*.tmp, .git/), size limits, date ranges
Multi-Volume Archives: Split large archives into parts (archive.tc.part1, .part2, etc.)
Incremental Backups: Only compress changed files since last archive
Enhanced Entropy Detection: Auto-skip compression on JPG, PNG, MP4, ZIP, etc.

Modern Terminal User Interface (v2.0.0)

Textual TUI: Rich, interactive terminal interface with mouse support
File Browser: Navigate and select files/folders visually
Archive Inspector: View archive contents without extraction
Real-time Progress: Live progress bars and operation status
Keyboard Shortcuts: Efficient navigation and operations
Launch with: techcompressor --tui or techcompressor-tui

Military-Grade Encryption

AES-256-GCM: Authenticated encryption with integrity verification
PBKDF2: 100,000 iterations for brute-force resistance
Password-protected compression with seamless integration
No backdoors or recovery mechanisms

Archive Management

TCAF v2 Format: Custom TechCompressor Archive Format with backward compatibility
Compress entire folders with metadata preservation
Supports both per-file and single-stream compression
Path traversal protection and security validation
Preserves timestamps, permissions, and relative paths
Recovery records for archive repair and corruption detection
Archive metadata: User comments, creation date, creator information
File attributes: Windows ACLs and Linux extended attributes preservation

Triple Interface

CLI: Full-featured command-line with benchmarking and verification
GUI: User-friendly Tkinter interface with background threading
TUI (v2.0.0): Modern Textual-based terminal interface with rich widgets
Python API: Direct module imports for automation scripts

Performance Optimized

Encryption overhead less than 10% for typical use cases
Streaming support for large files (>16MB)
Optimized I/O operations and buffer handling
Multi-threaded GUI/TUI operations (non-blocking)
Zstandard: 400-600 MB/s compression speed
Brotli: 20-30% better ratios on web content

Quick Start

Installation

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/DevaanshPathak/TechCompressor.git
cd TechCompressor

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Install the package (enables CLI commands)
pip install -e .

# Run tests
pytest

# Launch GUI
techcompressor --gui

# Launch TUI (v2.0.0)
techcompressor --tui

Basic Usage

Command Line:

# Compress a file with Zstandard (fastest)
techcompressor compress input.txt output.tc --algo ZSTD

# Compress with Brotli (best for web content)
techcompressor compress input.html output.tc --algo BROTLI

# Create encrypted archive with DEFLATE
techcompressor create folder/ archive.tc --algo DEFLATE --password mypassword

# Extract archive
techcompressor extract archive.tc output/ --password mypassword

# Verify archive integrity
techcompressor verify archive.tc

# Run performance benchmark
techcompressor --benchmark

# Launch TUI
techcompressor --tui

Python API:

from techcompressor.core import compress, decompress
from techcompressor.archiver import create_archive, extract_archive

# Simple compression with different algorithms
data = b"Hello, World!"
compressed_zstd = compress(data, algo="ZSTD")      # Fastest
compressed_brotli = compress(data, algo="BROTLI")  # Best for text
compressed_deflate = compress(data, algo="DEFLATE")  # Industry standard

# Decompress
original = decompress(compressed_zstd, algo="ZSTD")

# With encryption
compressed = compress(data, algo="ZSTD", password="secret")
original = decompress(compressed, algo="ZSTD", password="secret")

# Archive folder with all features
create_archive(
    source_path="my_folder/",
    archive_path="backup.tc",
    algo="ZSTD",
    password="secret",
    per_file=False,
    recovery_percent=5.0,
    max_workers=4,
    exclude_patterns=["*.tmp", ".git/", "__pycache__/"],
    volume_size=650*1024*1024,
    preserve_attributes=True,
    comment="Monthly backup",
    creator="Backup Script v2.0"
)

# Extract archive
extract_archive("backup.tc", "restored/", password="secret", restore_attributes=True)

TUI Application (v2.0.0):

# Launch the modern terminal user interface
techcompressor --tui

# Or via direct command
techcompressor-tui

Comparison with Other Archivers

Feature Comparison

Feature	TechCompressor	ZIP	RAR	7-Zip
Open Source	Yes (MIT)	Yes	No	Yes (LGPL)
Algorithms	5 + AUTO	1	1	3
Solid Compression	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Recovery Records	Yes	No	Yes	No
AES-256 Encryption	Yes (GCM)	Yes (weak)	Yes	Yes
Multi-Volume	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Incremental Backup	Yes	No	Limited	No
File Attributes	Yes	Limited	Yes	Limited
Python API	Native	Via zipfile	No	Via py7zr
Terminal UI	Yes	No	No	No
GUI Included	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

Speed Comparison

Algorithm	Compression Speed	Decompression Speed	Ratio
Zstandard	400-600 MB/s	800+ MB/s	Excellent
Brotli	20-50 MB/s	300+ MB/s	Best for text
DEFLATE	6 MB/s	200+ MB/s	Excellent
LZW	3 MB/s	50+ MB/s	Good
Huffman	2.5 MB/s	50+ MB/s	Good

When to Use TechCompressor

Best For:

Python applications needing compression
Automated backup scripts
Web content compression (use Brotli)
High-speed compression needs (use Zstandard)
Development and testing compression algorithms
Scenarios requiring strong encryption
Mixed content archives

Not Ideal For:

Maximum compression ratio (use 7-Zip LZMA2)
Universal format compatibility (use ZIP)
Extremely large files over 10GB

Algorithm Performance

Algorithm	Best For	Speed	Ratio	Memory
Zstandard	Speed + ratio	Excellent	Excellent	Medium
Brotli	Web/text content	Good	Excellent	Medium
DEFLATE	General purpose	Good	Excellent	Medium
LZW	Repetitive data	Excellent	Good	Low
Huffman	Frequency-skewed	Good	Good	Low

Recommendations by File Type

File Type	Recommended Algorithm	Archive Mode
Text/Source Code	Brotli or DEFLATE	Single-stream
HTML/JSON/CSS	Brotli	Single-stream
Office Documents	DEFLATE	Per-file
Binary/Executables	Zstandard or LZW	Per-file
Media Files	STORED (AUTO mode)	Per-file
Large Files (>100MB)	Zstandard	Single-stream

Security Features

Encryption Details

Algorithm: AES-256-GCM (Galois/Counter Mode)
Key Derivation: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256
Iterations: 100,000 (adjustable)
Key Size: 256 bits
Salt: 16 bytes (random per encryption)
Nonce: 12 bytes (random per encryption)
Authentication Tag: 16 bytes

Security Best Practices

Use strong, unique passwords (12+ characters)
Store passwords in a password manager
No password recovery - keep backups of critical data
Encrypted archives include integrity verification
Path traversal protection prevents malicious archives

Security Warnings

Password Loss = Data Loss: No backdoors or recovery mechanisms
Compression Leaks Info: Data patterns visible despite encryption
PBKDF2 Intentionally Slow: ~50-100ms for key derivation (security feature)

Documentation

Command-Line Interface

Global Options:

techcompressor --version           # Show version
techcompressor --benchmark         # Run performance test
techcompressor --gui               # Launch GUI
techcompressor --tui               # Launch TUI
techcompressor --help              # Show help

Compression Commands:

# Compress single file
techcompressor compress INPUT OUTPUT [--algo ALGO] [--password PASS]

# Decompress single file
techcompressor decompress INPUT OUTPUT [--algo ALGO] [--password PASS]

Archive Commands:

# Create archive
techcompressor create SOURCE ARCHIVE [--algo ALGO] [--password PASS] [--per-file]

# Extract archive
techcompressor extract ARCHIVE DEST [--password PASS]

# List contents
techcompressor list ARCHIVE

# Verify integrity
techcompressor verify ARCHIVE

Python API

Core Compression:

from techcompressor.core import compress, decompress

# Basic compression
compressed = compress(data, algo="ZSTD")
original = decompress(compressed, algo="ZSTD")

# With password
compressed = compress(data, algo="DEFLATE", password="secret")
original = decompress(compressed, algo="DEFLATE", password="secret")

# Available algorithms: "LZW", "HUFFMAN", "DEFLATE", "ZSTD", "BROTLI", "AUTO"

Archiver:

from techcompressor.archiver import create_archive, extract_archive, list_contents

# Create archive
create_archive(
    source_path="folder/",
    archive_path="backup.tc",
    algo="ZSTD",
    password="secret",
    per_file=False,
    recovery_percent=5.0,
    max_workers=4,
    exclude_patterns=["*.tmp"],
    volume_size=650*1024*1024,
    preserve_attributes=True,
    comment="Backup description",
    creator="Script name"
)

# Extract archive
extract_archive("backup.tc", "output/", password="secret", restore_attributes=True)

# List contents
contents = list_contents("backup.tc")

Testing

Test Suite

Coverage:

228 tests passing (4 skipped on some platforms)
Core compression algorithms (LZW, Huffman, DEFLATE, Zstandard, Brotli)
Encryption and key derivation
Archive creation and extraction
Multi-volume archives
File attributes preservation
TUI components
Performance validation
Integration tests

Run Tests:

# All tests
pytest

# Specific test file
pytest tests/test_lzw.py -v

# With coverage
pytest --cov=techcompressor --cov-report=html

# Quick test
pytest -q

Development

Project Structure

TechCompressor/
|-- techcompressor/          # Main package
|   |-- __init__.py          # Version and exports
|   |-- core.py              # Compression algorithms
|   |-- crypto.py            # Encryption (AES-256-GCM)
|   |-- archiver.py          # Archive management (TCAF)
|   |-- cli.py               # Command-line interface
|   |-- gui.py               # Tkinter GUI
|   |-- tui.py               # Textual TUI
|   |-- recovery.py          # Recovery records
|   +-- utils.py             # Logging and utilities
|-- tests/                   # Test suite (228 tests)
|-- bench.py                 # Benchmark tool
|-- requirements.txt         # Dependencies
|-- pyproject.toml           # Package configuration
|-- LICENSE                  # MIT License
+-- README.md                # This file

Requirements

Python: 3.10 or higher
Dependencies:
- cryptography>=41.0.0 - AES encryption
- tqdm>=4.65.0 - Progress bars
- textual>=0.75.0 - TUI framework
- zstandard>=0.22.0 - Zstandard compression
- brotli>=1.1.0 - Brotli compression

Building from Source

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Run tests
pytest

# Run benchmarks
python bench.py

# Build executable
.\build_release.ps1

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Devaansh Pathak

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

Acknowledgments

LZW Algorithm: Terry Welch (1984)
Huffman Coding: David A. Huffman (1952)
DEFLATE Format: Phil Katz, RFC 1951 (1996)
Zstandard: Yann Collet, Meta/Facebook
Brotli: Google
Textual: Textualize team
Cryptography: Python cryptography library

Contact and Support

GitHub: DevaanshPathak/TechCompressor
Issues: Report bugs or request features
Developer: Devaansh Pathak

TechCompressor v2.0.0 - Efficient, secure compression for Python

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 34 Commits
.github		.github
docs		docs
techcompressor		techcompressor
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
MANIFEST.in		MANIFEST.in
README.md		README.md
RELEASE_NOTES.md		RELEASE_NOTES.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md		THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md
UPGRADE.md		UPGRADE.md
_techcompressor.bash		_techcompressor.bash
bench.py		bench.py
build_release.ps1		build_release.ps1
publish.md		publish.md
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
requirements.txt		requirements.txt

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TechCompressor

Features

Multiple Compression Algorithms

Advanced Archive Features

Modern Terminal User Interface (v2.0.0)

Military-Grade Encryption

Archive Management

Triple Interface

Performance Optimized

Quick Start

Installation

Basic Usage

Comparison with Other Archivers

Feature Comparison

Speed Comparison

When to Use TechCompressor

Algorithm Performance

Recommendations by File Type

Security Features

Encryption Details

Security Best Practices

Security Warnings

Documentation

Command-Line Interface

Python API

Testing

Test Suite

Development

Project Structure

Requirements

Building from Source

License

Acknowledgments

Contact and Support

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