Compression

SoftwareShield System Feature Guide > IronWrapping > IronWrap Protection > Compression

## Compression

You may choose in a variety of locations to use compression. You may compress the host, you may compress embedded binary files and you may compress embedded data files. You may choose different compression algorithms for each of these elements. Compressions main benefit is to simply make the final compiled IronWrapped product smaller, however compression is another layer of obfuscation and can also aid the protection of your product.

### Test Platform

- Platform: WinXP SP2
- CPU: Celeron 2.8G
- RAM: 1GB

### Compression Algorithms

If you choose to use compression, you may use any of the installed compression algorithms. You may even install your own compression algorithm into the DRM Kit as a plug-in (see Add Compressor for more information on installing compressors). The compression algorithms installed by default are:

Name | Compression Speed (KB/S) | Decompression Speed (KB/S) | Compression Ratio
NATIVE | 5058.81 | 87548.77 | 23.80 %
ZLIB | 3261.43 | 658.2 | 39.42 %
JCALG | 166.57 | 41639 | 37.43 %
LZMA | 514.00 | 7733.64 | 44.98 %

* Speeds and ratios provided are a sample only as tested from a number of programs and may not be representative of your binaries and data files speeds or ratios.

So, when deciding which compression algorithm to use, consider the following comparison:

- To optimize compression speed (build time), choose from best to worst:

1. Native

2. ZLib

3. LZMA

4. JCALG

- To optimize decompression speed (run-time), choose from best to worst:

1. Native

2. JCALG

3. LZMA

4. ZLIB

- To optimize compression ratio (footprint), choose from best to worst:

1. LZMA

2. ZLib

3. JCALG

4. Native

### More Information

For more information on how to set compression for the host file, see: IronWrap Host Tab

For more information on how to set compression for embedded data files, see: Embed Data File

For more information on how to set compression for embedded binary files, see: Embed Binary File

For more information on installing your own compression algorithm into the DRM Kit as a plug-in see: Add Compressor