Effortless File Compression and Decompression in Python: A Practical Guide

Simplify Your Data Management with Python’s Compression Tools

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File compression and decompression are essential operations in data management, allowing you to reduce file sizes for storage or transmission purposes. In Python, you can perform these tasks effortlessly using built-in modules, making it a breeze to handle compressed files in your projects.

In this article, we’ll explore how to compress and decompress files in Python using up-to-date techniques and examples. By the end, you’ll have the knowledge and tools to streamline your data management workflow with ease.

Compressing Files with zlib

Python’s zlib module provides functions for compressing and decompressing data using the zlib compression algorithm. Let's start by compressing a file using zlib.

import zlib

# Define input and output file paths
input_file = 'data.txt'
output_file = 'compressed_data.txt.gz'

# Read data from input file
with open(input_file, 'rb') as f_in:
    data = f_in.read()

# Compress data
compressed_data = zlib.compress(data)

# Write compressed data to output file
with open(output_file, 'wb') as f_out:
    f_out.write(compressed_data)