Simple Compression Benchmarks

.gitignore

cantrbry.tar
cantrbry.tar.*.*
.*.swp

0-readme.md

Simple Compression Benchmarks

This Gist looks at the following lossless compression utilities, all available as Debian packages:

brotli, bzip2, gzip, lbzip2, lz4, lzip, lzma, lzop, pbzip2, pigz, plzip, pxz, pzstd, xz, zstd

Benchmark

A simple Bash script compresses the Canterbury Corpus (provided) with every compression level for each of the algorithms, with the default level for each printed. It produces a Github-flavored Markdown table, such as results.md as shipped here from my workstation.

Even though it's a Markdown table, you can still process it with standard Unix utilities, as it's pipe-delimited. Something like printing the top-10 fastest compressors:

$ sort -t '|' -k 2 -nr results.md | head
pigz -0 | 258525433.154 | 2821476 | 85109679.301 |
lz4 -1 | 75650475.579 | 1229064 | 55192298.771 | default
lzop -3 | 71676886.832 | 1199867 | 16830860.795 | default
lzop -2 | 71558916.811 | 1199867 | 38213867.999 |
lzop -4 | 68617624.789 | 1199867 | 29681383.024 |
lzop -1 | 68561204.698 | 1210489 | 35648694.633 |
lzop -5 | 67990840.618 | 1199867 | 41306498.621 |
lzop -6 | 67616475.385 | 1199867 | 44747936.210 |
lz4 -2 | 61547959.238 | 1229064 | 77693145.754 |
pigz -1 | 42988502.188 | 866357 | 29336060.575 |

Printing the tightest compression results between brotli(1) and zstd(1):

$ grep -E '^(brotli|zstd)' results.md | sort -t '|' -k 3 -n | head  
brotli -11 | 53483.277 | 495859 | 9783745.946 | default
zstd --ultra -21 | 413327.544 | 516708 | 14872758.711 |
zstd --ultra -22 | 262693.526 | 516719 | 25229871.714 |
zstd -19 | 427172.435 | 516752 | 14235727.584 |
zstd --ultra -20 | 460621.272 | 516752 | 24879831.001 |
brotli -10 | 120502.209 | 518406 | 26550577.522 |
zstd -18 | 628484.580 | 518962 | 13812735.470 |
zstd -17 | 977636.888 | 525979 | 16590003.177 |
zstd -16 | 1083873.266 | 535615 | 26475770.306 |
brotli -9 | 1811053.437 | 587153 | 19998655.296 |

Et cetera. I'm sure you can figure out how to handle the headers separately, or format to your liking.

1-cantrbry.tar.gz

2-benchmarks.bash

#!/bin/bash

declare -a utils
utils=(brotli bzip2 gzip lbzip2 lz4 lzip lzma lzop pbzip2 pigz plzip pxz pzstd xz zstd)

ret=0
for util in "${utils[@]}"; do
    command -v "$util" &> /dev/random
    if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
        echo "$util not installed."
        ret=$(($ret|1))
    fi
done
for cmd in bc date stat; do
    command -v bc &> /dev/random
    if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
        echo "$cmd not installed."
        ret=$(($ret|1))
    fi
done

if [[ $ret -ne 0 ]]; then
    exit 1
fi

# http://corpus.canterbury.ac.nz/descriptions/#cantrbry
gzip -dfkq cantrbry.tar.gz
file="cantrbry.tar"

nproc=8

echo 'Algorithm | Comp. bytes/sec. | Comp. bytes | Decomp. bytes/sec. | Default?'
echo ':---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:'

for util in "${utils[@]}"; do
    case "$util" in
        brotli)
            ext="br"
            for l in {0..11}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -q "$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -q "$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 11 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        bzip2)
            ext="bz2"
            for l in {1..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}".bz2 > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 9 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        gzip)
            ext="gz"
            for l in {1..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 6 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        lbzip2)
            ext="lbz2"
            for l in {1..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 9 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        lzip)
            ext="lz"
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 6 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        lzma)
            ext="lzma"
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 6 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -e -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -e -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                echo "$util -e -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        lz4)
            ext="lz4"
            for l in {1..12}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 1 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        lzop)
            ext="lzo"
            for l in {1..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 3 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        pbzip2)
            ext="pbz2"
            for l in {1..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 9 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        pigz)
            ext="pgz"
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 6 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        plzip)
            ext="plz"
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 6 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        pxz)
            ext="pxz"
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 6 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -e -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -e -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                echo "$util -e -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        pzstd)
            ext="pzst"
            for l in {1..22}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                if [[ "$l" -lt 20 ]]; then
                    "$util" -"$l" -qc "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                else
                    "$util" --ultra -"$l" -qc "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                fi
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                if [[ "$l" -lt 20 ]]; then
                    "$util" -"$l" -qdc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                else
                    "$util" --ultra -"$l" -qdc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                fi
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq "$nproc" ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                elif [[ "$l" -gt 19 ]]; then
                    echo "$util --ultra -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        xz)
            ext="xz"
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 6 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            for l in {0..9}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -e -"$l" -c "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                    "$util" -e -"$l" -dc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                echo "$util -e -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
        zstd)
            ext="zst"
            for l in {0..22}; do
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                if [[ "$l" -lt 20 ]]; then
                    "$util" -"$l" -qc "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                else
                    "$util" --ultra -"$l" -qc "$file" > "${file}.${l}.${ext}"
                fi
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                comp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                size=$(stat -c %s "${file}.${l}.${ext}")
                begin=$(date +'%s%N')
                if [[ "$l" -lt 20 ]]; then
                    "$util" -"$l" -qdc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                else
                    "$util" --ultra -"$l" -qdc "${file}.${l}.${ext}" > "$file"
                fi
                finish=$(date +'%s%N')
                decomp=$((${finish}-${begin}))
                compbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${comp}" | bc)
                decompbps=$(echo "scale=3; 10^9*${size}/${decomp}" | bc)
                if [[ "$l" -eq 3 ]]; then
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps | default"
                elif [[ "$l" -gt 19 ]]; then
                    echo "$util --ultra -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                else
                    echo "$util -$l | $compbps | $size | $decompbps |"
                fi
                rm "${file}.${l}.${ext}" &> /dev/random
            done
            ;;
    esac
done

3-results.md

Algorithm	Comp. bytes/sec.	Comp. bytes	Decomp. bytes/sec.	Default?
brotli -0	42525623.161	846665	18639363.555
brotli -1	27743124.798	750828	20132239.318
brotli -2	14861286.043	666032	15397168.684
brotli -3	13076200.418	667286	34211101.743
brotli -4	6030529.727	598832	30460359.725
brotli -5	3790942.605	600497	29044853.410
brotli -6	3015397.760	594071	27685405.737
brotli -7	2449122.455	590603	26733355.775
brotli -8	2153205.869	588271	27840031.423
brotli -9	1811053.437	587153	19998655.296
brotli -10	120502.209	518406	26550577.522
brotli -11	53483.277	495859	9783745.946	default
bzip2 -1	2773212.007	584964	5027657.124
bzip2 -2	2692912.705	572306	6146071.812
bzip2 -3	2750474.686	564947	5758646.685
bzip2 -4	2652870.739	566661	6236081.271
bzip2 -5	2633621.331	569402	5255272.342
bzip2 -6	2649524.910	559139	5744808.854
bzip2 -7	2702710.657	571189	5866505.627
bzip2 -8	2558766.711	569406	5835549.491
bzip2 -9	2544577.103	570856	5915145.755	default
gzip -1	17149103.955	872568	29328136.848
gzip -2	15007456.484	841649	29057107.563
gzip -3	11881598.143	813271	34079663.939
gzip -4	11128065.265	789786	29382949.357
gzip -5	7149492.596	750049	10021142.025
gzip -6	5345690.863	739064	29968803.919	default
gzip -7	4413673.818	740960	26509497.763
gzip -8	1923741.323	736799	33853591.014
gzip -9	1092794.719	736221	31198742.525
lbzip2 -1	14188885.884	582455	32158851.048
lbzip2 -2	12479163.388	569140	24700620.957
lbzip2 -3	12451645.615	559446	24619983.903
lbzip2 -4	11436986.763	567530	22919152.893
lbzip2 -5	10212529.226	566802	19721538.976
lbzip2 -6	9824726.279	552900	19181941.040
lbzip2 -7	6823916.508	571759	15338149.020
lbzip2 -8	6802582.930	564393	14492693.706
lbzip2 -9	7839086.900	561033	16551658.582	default
lz4 -1	75650475.579	1229064	55192298.771	default
lz4 -2	61547959.238	1229064	77693145.754
lz4 -3	17458602.436	980412	121142611.429
lz4 -4	12698553.557	959607	95460933.375
lz4 -5	9167394.649	947582	88368668.105
lz4 -6	7170755.790	942095	65558163.468
lz4 -7	5506338.484	939622	81099173.612
lz4 -8	4184847.164	938254	70885172.026
lz4 -9	3539506.570	937421	12233745.808
lz4 -10	4085128.236	934451	75554051.672
lz4 -11	1897153.452	931625	32532244.242
lz4 -12	557981.736	930645	77420560.828
lzip -0	7653724.852	591221	16395378.819
lzip -1	2953773.694	585234	10929672.446
lzip -2	1754986.142	554104	6302717.196
lzip -3	738401.534	519202	7021951.710
lzip -4	662861.625	498387	8795445.238
lzip -5	381100.358	488380	4784076.640
lzip -6	350391.448	486875	8484556.373	default
lzip -7	336169.068	484132	7907605.161
lzip -8	283456.235	482663	5757486.961
lzip -9	216531.107	481413	5395579.196
lzma -0	3442434.628	617018	10743550.214
lzma -1	2495734.496	568422	6030700.125
lzma -2	1677103.707	554302	6412207.559
lzma -3	1246543.172	549928	8712624.522
lzma -4	442987.048	491251	6973604.877
lzma -5	403623.779	487290	7646316.236
lzma -6	373788.818	485928	6024627.715	default
lzma -7	382003.766	485998	7386470.656
lzma -8	370987.157	485998	10485060.754
lzma -9	358905.251	485998	5781920.251
lzma -e -0	243300.024	489760	7447328.882
lzma -e -1	205079.759	488004	8951794.869
lzma -e -2	206048.730	485696	6231993.534
lzma -e -3	276136.458	482843	10504767.201
lzma -e -4	195524.988	485713	7539253.866
lzma -e -5	275460.051	482843	8939614.192
lzma -e -6	188395.778	485713	5804664.303
lzma -e -7	199516.583	485713	5230885.223
lzma -e -8	189621.081	485713	6737669.005
lzma -e -9	190734.457	485713	6448051.574
lzop -1	68561204.698	1210489	35648694.633
lzop -2	71558916.811	1199867	38213867.999
lzop -3	71676886.832	1199867	16830860.795	default
lzop -4	68617624.789	1199867	29681383.024
lzop -5	67990840.618	1199867	41306498.621
lzop -6	67616475.385	1199867	44747936.210
lzop -7	3306260.512	944068	63814210.198
lzop -8	817155.381	931435	41422010.341
lzop -9	564826.128	930815	17975648.949
pbzip2 -1	6780922.787	582374	5603930.478
pbzip2 -2	6776409.138	568388	5711604.987
pbzip2 -3	5254845.293	559157	5777099.708
pbzip2 -4	6071586.016	556204	5545545.772
pbzip2 -5	4719549.057	555145	5375965.633
pbzip2 -6	6502934.219	563562	5257088.445
pbzip2 -7	6312213.249	568372	4890454.951
pbzip2 -8	4660333.477	567199	5766975.664
pbzip2 -9	5147798.934	566224	5238312.969	default
pigz -0	258525433.154	2821476	85109679.301
pigz -1	42988502.188	866357	29336060.575
pigz -2	36702810.286	828584	32441309.304
pigz -3	34768285.974	798307	31718201.173
pigz -4	13211359.636	778314	40768480.680
pigz -5	22648861.561	745095	46669044.292
pigz -6	16076847.741	733735	49839728.458	default
pigz -7	15710142.392	734746	48010661.920
pigz -8	7557754.683	731108	40902323.009
pigz -9	4899633.573	730418	37085585.522
plzip -0	7759443.026	591221	14882354.159
plzip -1	2872114.338	585234	11388408.853
plzip -2	1761795.524	554104	6815423.789
plzip -3	1025264.221	519202	6094622.285
plzip -4	748820.975	498387	6132511.476
plzip -5	387822.836	488380	6969913.018
plzip -6	374338.978	486875	6215975.553	default
plzip -7	346005.675	484132	6681689.744
plzip -8	289816.263	482663	8323326.583
plzip -9	186121.237	481413	7403909.644
pxz -0	4971483.209	620380	9976036.158
pxz -1	1890441.438	568556	6376223.472
pxz -2	1295433.339	554440	7039872.694
pxz -3	999294.520	550056	8530873.780
pxz -4	385759.994	491368	8741137.325
pxz -5	384031.261	487408	6283474.438
pxz -6	340652.971	486044	9582811.994	default
pxz -7	338309.057	486116	6850823.693
pxz -8	365393.368	486116	7341208.882
pxz -9	326228.776	486116	7190535.052
pxz -e -0	5765777.996	620380	10255423.320
pxz -e -1	2400047.032	568556	9022830.829
pxz -e -2	1488180.726	554440	4130440.263
pxz -e -3	968657.794	550056	9378046.169
pxz -e -4	425645.825	491368	7008095.833
pxz -e -5	349227.230	487408	8691484.435
pxz -e -6	335340.433	486044	6248499.644
pxz -e -7	367672.277	486116	6492868.237
pxz -e -8	352305.931	486116	5875458.780
pxz -e -9	367108.377	486116	7333627.221
pzstd -1	31846727.227	704042	12040225.292
pzstd -2	23439475.464	664086	23000373.084
pzstd -3	19635697.130	642542	36420670.987
pzstd -4	18030308.692	640216	42218442.601
pzstd -5	10733909.728	632807	35969946.328
pzstd -6	8543048.021	624604	45073568.454
pzstd -7	5337407.377	607160	35223346.216
pzstd -8	5309200.929	604753	36711908.950	default
pzstd -9	3854609.902	601183	39274149.810
pzstd -10	4198468.666	601296	34861324.289
pzstd -11	3714335.849	600880	33282968.711
pzstd -12	2608659.474	598808	35916624.640
pzstd -13	2146727.317	594680	31752742.523
pzstd -14	2076904.480	593634	36372613.138
pzstd -15	1744451.169	593608	38070698.437
pzstd -16	1082814.737	535624	27700993.482
pzstd -17	930018.822	525988	14993613.031
pzstd -18	620584.566	518971	31801108.309
pzstd -19	370972.501	516761	16262896.981
pzstd --ultra -20	341784.576	516761	29659149.444
pzstd --ultra -21	349750.822	516717	31316386.798
pzstd --ultra -22	193729.373	516728	20495027.855
xz -0	3170599.321	617164	8496348.635
xz -1	1817745.561	568556	10508069.744
xz -2	1353425.533	554440	7088727.848
xz -3	905984.616	550056	6717762.465
xz -4	378145.090	491368	6529884.192
xz -5	389045.742	487408	6366740.630
xz -6	358627.187	486044	9554301.141	default
xz -7	378648.049	486116	9024134.784
xz -8	330858.747	486116	8851595.620
xz -9	354733.657	486116	7053997.977
xz -e -0	221528.082	489876	6981495.820
xz -e -1	177470.460	488120	8635337.662
xz -e -2	176914.134	485812	8004947.587
xz -e -3	257627.596	482960	6402760.154
xz -e -4	193201.039	485832	7647537.418
xz -e -5	285225.571	482960	6877240.530
xz -e -6	196028.275	485832	7337312.901
xz -e -7	203357.362	485832	9462377.955
xz -e -8	206378.137	485832	7321010.704
xz -e -9	203920.900	485832	8170510.312
zstd -0	19165292.331	642534	54271149.995
zstd -1	36268595.227	701641	7506509.719
zstd -2	25575804.377	661066	21466170.355
zstd -3	20062103.365	642534	31692373.452	default
zstd -4	18404978.700	640208	44845463.008
zstd -5	9273096.839	632797	45276373.934
zstd -6	9498767.235	624592	37172851.210
zstd -7	6540150.769	607153	36096674.758
zstd -8	5638374.203	604744	34815001.980
zstd -9	4348387.693	601175	42484196.380
zstd -10	4279621.344	601287	33404788.793
zstd -11	3959751.979	600871	34806013.291
zstd -12	2513726.541	598799	33963751.065
zstd -13	2167685.380	594671	35854170.654
zstd -14	2127588.038	593625	33883827.204
zstd -15	1876199.631	593599	37899319.420
zstd -16	1083873.266	535615	26475770.306
zstd -17	977636.888	525979	16590003.177
zstd -18	628484.580	518962	13812735.470
zstd -19	427172.435	516752	14235727.584
zstd --ultra -20	460621.272	516752	24879831.001
zstd --ultra -21	413327.544	516708	14872758.711
zstd --ultra -22	262693.526	516719	25229871.714

for cmd in bc date stat; do command -v bc &> /dev/random if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then echo "$cmd not installed." ret=$(($ret|1)) fi done

I believe you meant that to be command -v $cmd. As it is, you loop over bc, date, and stat and check for the existence of bc each time.