"lzma" — Compression using the LZMA algorithm
*********************************************

New in version 3.3.

**Source code:** Lib/lzma.py

======================================================================

This module provides classes and convenience functions for compressing
and decompressing data using the LZMA compression algorithm. Also
included is a file interface supporting the ".xz" and legacy ".lzma"
file formats used by the **xz** utility, as well as raw compressed
streams.

The interface provided by this module is very similar to that of the
"bz2" module. However, note that "LZMAFile" is *not* thread-safe,
unlike "bz2.BZ2File", so if you need to use a single "LZMAFile"
instance from multiple threads, it is necessary to protect it with a
lock.

exception lzma.LZMAError

   This exception is raised when an error occurs during compression or
   decompression, or while initializing the compressor/decompressor
   state.


Reading and writing compressed files
====================================

lzma.open(filename, mode="rb", *, format=None, check=-1, preset=None, filters=None, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None)

   Open an LZMA-compressed file in binary or text mode, returning a
   *file object*.

   The *filename* argument can be either an actual file name (given as
   a "str", "bytes" or *path-like* object), in which case the named
   file is opened, or it can be an existing file object to read from
   or write to.

   The *mode* argument can be any of ""r"", ""rb"", ""w"", ""wb"",
   ""x"", ""xb"", ""a"" or ""ab"" for binary mode, or ""rt"", ""wt"",
   ""xt"", or ""at"" for text mode. The default is ""rb"".

   When opening a file for reading, the *format* and *filters*
   arguments have the same meanings as for "LZMADecompressor". In this
   case, the *check* and *preset* arguments should not be used.

   When opening a file for writing, the *format*, *check*, *preset*
   and *filters* arguments have the same meanings as for
   "LZMACompressor".

   For binary mode, this function is equivalent to the "LZMAFile"
   constructor: "LZMAFile(filename, mode, ...)". In this case, the
   *encoding*, *errors* and *newline* arguments must not be provided.

   For text mode, a "LZMAFile" object is created, and wrapped in an
   "io.TextIOWrapper" instance with the specified encoding, error
   handling behavior, and line ending(s).

   Changed in version 3.4: Added support for the ""x"", ""xb"" and
   ""xt"" modes.

   Changed in version 3.6: Accepts a *path-like object*.

class lzma.LZMAFile(filename=None, mode="r", *, format=None, check=-1, preset=None, filters=None)

   Open an LZMA-compressed file in binary mode.

   An "LZMAFile" can wrap an already-open *file object*, or operate
   directly on a named file. The *filename* argument specifies either
   the file object to wrap, or the name of the file to open (as a
   "str", "bytes" or *path-like* object). When wrapping an existing
   file object, the wrapped file will not be closed when the
   "LZMAFile" is closed.

   The *mode* argument can be either ""r"" for reading (default),
   ""w"" for overwriting, ""x"" for exclusive creation, or ""a"" for
   appending. These can equivalently be given as ""rb"", ""wb"",
   ""xb"" and ""ab"" respectively.

   If *filename* is a file object (rather than an actual file name), a
   mode of ""w"" does not truncate the file, and is instead equivalent
   to ""a"".

   When opening a file for reading, the input file may be the
   concatenation of multiple separate compressed streams. These are
   transparently decoded as a single logical stream.

   When opening a file for reading, the *format* and *filters*
   arguments have the same meanings as for "LZMADecompressor". In this
   case, the *check* and *preset* arguments should not be used.

   When opening a file for writing, the *format*, *check*, *preset*
   and *filters* arguments have the same meanings as for
   "LZMACompressor".

   "LZMAFile" supports all the members specified by
   "io.BufferedIOBase", except for "detach()" and "truncate()".
   Iteration and the "with" statement are supported.

   The following method is also provided:

   peek(size=-1)

      Return buffered data without advancing the file position. At
      least one byte of data will be returned, unless EOF has been
      reached. The exact number of bytes returned is unspecified (the
      *size* argument is ignored).

      Note: While calling "peek()" does not change the file position
        of the "LZMAFile", it may change the position of the
        underlying file object (e.g. if the "LZMAFile" was constructed
        by passing a file object for *filename*).

   Changed in version 3.4: Added support for the ""x"" and ""xb""
   modes.

   Changed in version 3.5: The "read()" method now accepts an argument
   of "None".

   Changed in version 3.6: Accepts a *path-like object*.


Compressing and decompressing data in memory
============================================

class lzma.LZMACompressor(format=FORMAT_XZ, check=-1, preset=None, filters=None)

   Create a compressor object, which can be used to compress data
   incrementally.

   For a more convenient way of compressing a single chunk of data,
   see "compress()".

   The *format* argument specifies what container format should be
   used. Possible values are:

   * "FORMAT_XZ": The ".xz" container format.

        This is the default format.

   * "FORMAT_ALONE": The legacy ".lzma" container format.

        This format is more limited than ".xz" – it does not support
        integrity checks or multiple filters.

   * "FORMAT_RAW": A raw data stream, not using any container
     format.

        This format specifier does not support integrity checks, and
        requires that you always specify a custom filter chain (for
        both compression and decompression). Additionally, data
        compressed in this manner cannot be decompressed using
        "FORMAT_AUTO" (see "LZMADecompressor").

   The *check* argument specifies the type of integrity check to
   include in the compressed data. This check is used when
   decompressing, to ensure that the data has not been corrupted.
   Possible values are:

   * "CHECK_NONE": No integrity check. This is the default (and the
     only acceptable value) for "FORMAT_ALONE" and "FORMAT_RAW".

   * "CHECK_CRC32": 32-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check.

   * "CHECK_CRC64": 64-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check. This is the
     default for "FORMAT_XZ".

   * "CHECK_SHA256": 256-bit Secure Hash Algorithm.

   If the specified check is not supported, an "LZMAError" is raised.

   The compression settings can be specified either as a preset
   compression level (with the *preset* argument), or in detail as a
   custom filter chain (with the *filters* argument).

   The *preset* argument (if provided) should be an integer between
   "0" and "9" (inclusive), optionally OR-ed with the constant
   "PRESET_EXTREME". If neither *preset* nor *filters* are given, the
   default behavior is to use "PRESET_DEFAULT" (preset level "6").
   Higher presets produce smaller output, but make the compression
   process slower.

   Note: In addition to being more CPU-intensive, compression with
     higher presets also requires much more memory (and produces
     output that needs more memory to decompress). With preset "9" for
     example, the overhead for an "LZMACompressor" object can be as
     high as 800 MiB. For this reason, it is generally best to stick
     with the default preset.

   The *filters* argument (if provided) should be a filter chain
   specifier. See Specifying custom filter chains for details.

   compress(data)

      Compress *data* (a "bytes" object), returning a "bytes" object
      containing compressed data for at least part of the input. Some
      of *data* may be buffered internally, for use in later calls to
      "compress()" and "flush()". The returned data should be
      concatenated with the output of any previous calls to
      "compress()".

   flush()

      Finish the compression process, returning a "bytes" object
      containing any data stored in the compressor’s internal buffers.

      The compressor cannot be used after this method has been called.

class lzma.LZMADecompressor(format=FORMAT_AUTO, memlimit=None, filters=None)

   Create a decompressor object, which can be used to decompress data
   incrementally.

   For a more convenient way of decompressing an entire compressed
   stream at once, see "decompress()".

   The *format* argument specifies the container format that should be
   used. The default is "FORMAT_AUTO", which can decompress both ".xz"
   and ".lzma" files. Other possible values are "FORMAT_XZ",
   "FORMAT_ALONE", and "FORMAT_RAW".

   The *memlimit* argument specifies a limit (in bytes) on the amount
   of memory that the decompressor can use. When this argument is
   used, decompression will fail with an "LZMAError" if it is not
   possible to decompress the input within the given memory limit.

   The *filters* argument specifies the filter chain that was used to
   create the stream being decompressed. This argument is required if
   *format* is "FORMAT_RAW", but should not be used for other formats.
   See Specifying custom filter chains for more information about
   filter chains.

   Note: This class does not transparently handle inputs containing
     multiple compressed streams, unlike "decompress()" and
     "LZMAFile". To decompress a multi-stream input with
     "LZMADecompressor", you must create a new decompressor for each
     stream.

   decompress(data, max_length=-1)

      Decompress *data* (a *bytes-like object*), returning
      uncompressed data as bytes. Some of *data* may be buffered
      internally, for use in later calls to "decompress()". The
      returned data should be concatenated with the output of any
      previous calls to "decompress()".

      If *max_length* is nonnegative, returns at most *max_length*
      bytes of decompressed data. If this limit is reached and further
      output can be produced, the "needs_input" attribute will be set
      to "False". In this case, the next call to "decompress()" may
      provide *data* as "b''" to obtain more of the output.

      If all of the input data was decompressed and returned (either
      because this was less than *max_length* bytes, or because
      *max_length* was negative), the "needs_input" attribute will be
      set to "True".

      Attempting to decompress data after the end of stream is reached
      raises an *EOFError*.  Any data found after the end of the
      stream is ignored and saved in the "unused_data" attribute.

      Changed in version 3.5: Added the *max_length* parameter.

   check

      The ID of the integrity check used by the input stream. This may
      be "CHECK_UNKNOWN" until enough of the input has been decoded to
      determine what integrity check it uses.

   eof

      "True" if the end-of-stream marker has been reached.

   unused_data

      Data found after the end of the compressed stream.

      Before the end of the stream is reached, this will be "b""".

   needs_input

      "False" if the "decompress()" method can provide more
      decompressed data before requiring new uncompressed input.

      New in version 3.5.

lzma.compress(data, format=FORMAT_XZ, check=-1, preset=None, filters=None)

   Compress *data* (a "bytes" object), returning the compressed data
   as a "bytes" object.

   See "LZMACompressor" above for a description of the *format*,
   *check*, *preset* and *filters* arguments.

lzma.decompress(data, format=FORMAT_AUTO, memlimit=None, filters=None)

   Decompress *data* (a "bytes" object), returning the uncompressed
   data as a "bytes" object.

   If *data* is the concatenation of multiple distinct compressed
   streams, decompress all of these streams, and return the
   concatenation of the results.

   See "LZMADecompressor" above for a description of the *format*,
   *memlimit* and *filters* arguments.


Miscellaneous
=============

lzma.is_check_supported(check)

   Returns true if the given integrity check is supported on this
   system.

   "CHECK_NONE" and "CHECK_CRC32" are always supported. "CHECK_CRC64"
   and "CHECK_SHA256" may be unavailable if you are using a version of
   **liblzma** that was compiled with a limited feature set.


Specifying custom filter chains
===============================

A filter chain specifier is a sequence of dictionaries, where each
dictionary contains the ID and options for a single filter. Each
dictionary must contain the key ""id"", and may contain additional
keys to specify filter-dependent options. Valid filter IDs are as
follows:

* Compression filters:

     * "FILTER_LZMA1" (for use with "FORMAT_ALONE")

     * "FILTER_LZMA2" (for use with "FORMAT_XZ" and "FORMAT_RAW")

* Delta filter:

     * "FILTER_DELTA"

* Branch-Call-Jump (BCJ) filters:

     * "FILTER_X86"

     * "FILTER_IA64"

     * "FILTER_ARM"

     * "FILTER_ARMTHUMB"

     * "FILTER_POWERPC"

     * "FILTER_SPARC"

A filter chain can consist of up to 4 filters, and cannot be empty.
The last filter in the chain must be a compression filter, and any
other filters must be delta or BCJ filters.

Compression filters support the following options (specified as
additional entries in the dictionary representing the filter):

   * "preset": A compression preset to use as a source of default
     values for options that are not specified explicitly.

   * "dict_size": Dictionary size in bytes. This should be between 4
     KiB and 1.5 GiB (inclusive).

   * "lc": Number of literal context bits.

   * "lp": Number of literal position bits. The sum "lc + lp" must
     be at most 4.

   * "pb": Number of position bits; must be at most 4.

   * "mode": "MODE_FAST" or "MODE_NORMAL".

   * "nice_len": What should be considered a “nice length” for a
     match. This should be 273 or less.

   * "mf": What match finder to use – "MF_HC3", "MF_HC4", "MF_BT2",
     "MF_BT3", or "MF_BT4".

   * "depth": Maximum search depth used by match finder. 0 (default)
     means to select automatically based on other filter options.

The delta filter stores the differences between bytes, producing more
repetitive input for the compressor in certain circumstances. It
supports one option, "dist". This indicates the distance between bytes
to be subtracted. The default is 1, i.e. take the differences between
adjacent bytes.

The BCJ filters are intended to be applied to machine code. They
convert relative branches, calls and jumps in the code to use absolute
addressing, with the aim of increasing the redundancy that can be
exploited by the compressor. These filters support one option,
"start_offset". This specifies the address that should be mapped to
the beginning of the input data. The default is 0.


Examples
========

Reading in a compressed file:

   import lzma
   with lzma.open("file.xz") as f:
       file_content = f.read()

Creating a compressed file:

   import lzma
   data = b"Insert Data Here"
   with lzma.open("file.xz", "w") as f:
       f.write(data)

Compressing data in memory:

   import lzma
   data_in = b"Insert Data Here"
   data_out = lzma.compress(data_in)

Incremental compression:

   import lzma
   lzc = lzma.LZMACompressor()
   out1 = lzc.compress(b"Some data\n")
   out2 = lzc.compress(b"Another piece of data\n")
   out3 = lzc.compress(b"Even more data\n")
   out4 = lzc.flush()
   # Concatenate all the partial results:
   result = b"".join([out1, out2, out3, out4])

Writing compressed data to an already-open file:

   import lzma
   with open("file.xz", "wb") as f:
       f.write(b"This data will not be compressed\n")
       with lzma.open(f, "w") as lzf:
           lzf.write(b"This *will* be compressed\n")
       f.write(b"Not compressed\n")

Creating a compressed file using a custom filter chain:

   import lzma
   my_filters = [
       {"id": lzma.FILTER_DELTA, "dist": 5},
       {"id": lzma.FILTER_LZMA2, "preset": 7 | lzma.PRESET_EXTREME},
   ]
   with lzma.open("file.xz", "w", filters=my_filters) as f:
       f.write(b"blah blah blah")
