gzip decompress string

bgzip.py

import gzip
import base64
import StringIO

# python bgzip.py
# H4sIAErhF1wC/8tIzcnJBwCGphA2BQAAAA==
# hello

def gzip_and_base64(s):
    out = StringIO.StringIO()

    with gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=out, mode='w') as fh:
        fh.write(s)

    # return gzipped string base64 encoded
    return base64.b64encode(out.getvalue())

def base64_and_gunzip(s):
    decoded = base64.b64decode(s)

    fo = StringIO.StringIO(decoded)

    return gzip.GzipFile(fileobj=fo).read()

zipped = gzip_and_base64('hello')
print(zipped)
unzipped = base64_and_gunzip(zipped)
print(unzipped)