# pigz > Multithreaded zlib compression utility. > More information: . - Compress a file with default options: `pigz {{path/to/file}}` - Compress a file using the best compression method: `pigz -9 {{path/to/file}}` - Compress a file using no compression and 4 processors: `pigz -0 -p{{4}} {{path/to/file}}` - Compress a directory using tar: `tar cf - {{path/to/directory}} | pigz > {{path/to/file}}.tar.gz` - Decompress a file: `pigz -d {{archive.gz}}` - List the contents of an archive: `pigz -l {{archive.tar.gz}}`