Bzip2 is a freely available, patent-free, high quality data compressor. Bzip2 compresses files to within 10 to 15 percent of the capabilities of the best techniques available. However, bzip2 has the added benefit of being approximately two times faster at compression and six times faster at decompression than those techniques. Bzip2 is not the fastest compression utility, but it does strike a balance between speed and compression capability. Install bzip2 if you need a compression utility.