TechCompressor v2.0.0 Release Notes

Release Date: January 15, 2026
Status: Production/Stable

Overview

TechCompressor v2.0.0 is a major release introducing two new high-performance compression algorithms (Zstandard and Brotli) and a modern Terminal User Interface (TUI) built with Textual. This release dramatically expands TechCompressor's capabilities with industry-leading compression speeds and web-optimized compression ratios.

Highlights

Five Compression Algorithms

Choose the algorithm that fits your needs:

Zstandard (NEW): Ultra-fast compression at 400-600 MB/s with excellent ratios, developed by Meta
Brotli (NEW): Web-optimized compression, 20-30% better than DEFLATE on text/HTML/JSON, developed by Google
DEFLATE: Industry-standard hybrid compression (LZ77 + Huffman), best compatibility
LZW: Lightning-fast dictionary-based compression, ideal for repetitive data
Huffman: Frequency-based compression optimized for non-uniform distributions

Modern Terminal User Interface (TUI)

A rich, interactive terminal interface powered by Textual:

File Browser: Navigate and select files/folders visually
Algorithm Selection: Choose from all 5 algorithms via dropdown
Encryption Support: Toggle encryption with secure password modal
Multi-Volume Support: Create split archives with custom volume sizes
Archive Inspector: View archive contents without extraction
Real-time Progress: Live progress bars and operation status
Keyboard Shortcuts: Power-user friendly navigation
Launch with: techcompressor --tui or techcompressor-tui

Military-Grade Security

Password-protected compression uses AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption with PBKDF2 key derivation (100,000 iterations). Every encryption generates unique salts and nonces, and includes integrity verification via authentication tags. There are no backdoors or recovery mechanisms - security by design.

Flexible Archiving with Advanced Features

The custom TCAF v2 (TechCompressor Archive Format) supports:

Advanced File Filtering: Exclude patterns (*.tmp, .git/), size limits
Multi-Volume Archives: Split into parts (archive.tc.part1, .part2, etc.)
Incremental Backups: Only compress changed files since last archive
Archive Metadata: User comments, creation date, creator information
File Attributes: Windows ACLs and Linux/macOS extended attributes
Recovery Records: PAR2-style error correction
Solid Compression: Dictionary persistence for 10-30% better ratios

Triple Interface

CLI: Full-featured command-line with all algorithms and features
GUI: User-friendly Tkinter application with background threading
TUI (NEW): Modern Textual-based terminal interface with rich widgets

Production-Ready

228 tests passing (4 platform-specific skipped). Comprehensive test coverage includes algorithm correctness, encryption validation, archive security, multi-volume handling, new algorithm validation, TUI imports, and performance regression checks.

What's New in v2.0.0

Zstandard Compression Algorithm

Ultra-fast compression developed by Meta/Facebook:

Speed: 400-600 MB/s compression, 800+ MB/s decompression
Ratio: Comparable to DEFLATE with 10-100x faster speed
Magic Header: TCS1
Algorithm ID: 5
Default Level: 3 (balanced speed/ratio)
Use Cases: Large file compression, real-time streaming, backup operations

from techcompressor import compress, decompress

# Zstandard compression (fastest)
compressed = compress(data, algo="ZSTD")
original = decompress(compressed, algo="ZSTD")

# With encryption
compressed = compress(data, algo="ZSTD", password="secret")

Brotli Compression Algorithm

Web-optimized compression developed by Google:

Ratio: 20-30% better than DEFLATE on text content
Optimized For: HTML, JSON, CSS, JavaScript, APIs
Magic Header: TCB1
Algorithm ID: 6
Default Quality: 6 (balanced speed/ratio)
Use Cases: Web content, API responses, text-heavy archives

# Brotli compression (best for text)
compressed = compress(html_content, algo="BROTLI")
original = decompress(compressed, algo="BROTLI")

Textual Terminal User Interface

Modern, interactive terminal interface:

Rich Text Rendering: Colors, styling, and Unicode support
Mouse Support: Click to select files and buttons
File Browser Pane: Visual navigation of filesystem
Operation Pane: Algorithm selection, encryption toggle, volume size
Progress Pane: Real-time progress bars with status messages
Log Pane: Operation history and status messages
Modals: Password input, archive contents viewer, about dialog

# Launch TUI
techcompressor --tui
techcompressor-tui
techcompressor tui

Migration from v1.x to v2.0.0

No Breaking Changes

v2.0.0 is fully backward compatible with v1.x archives and API. No code changes required.

New Algorithm Support

To use new algorithms, simply specify them:

# Before (still works)
compressed = compress(data, algo="DEFLATE")

# New options
compressed = compress(data, algo="ZSTD")    # Fastest
compressed = compress(data, algo="BROTLI")  # Best for text

New Dependencies

v2.0.0 requires additional dependencies:

pip install textual>=0.75.0 zstandard>=0.22.0 brotli>=1.1.0

Algorithm Comparison

Algorithm	Speed	Ratio	Best For
Zstandard	400-600 MB/s	Excellent	Large files, backups, streaming
Brotli	20-50 MB/s	Excellent	HTML, JSON, CSS, web content
DEFLATE	6 MB/s	Excellent	General purpose, compatibility
LZW	3 MB/s	Good	Repetitive data, speed-critical
Huffman	2.5 MB/s	Good	Text, frequency-skewed data

What Was New in v1.4.0

Enhanced Stability

This release focuses on refinement and stability:

Fixed minor edge cases in multi-volume archive extraction
Improved error messages for common failure scenarios
Better progress reporting with more accurate estimates
Enhanced GUI responsiveness during large operations

Performance Improvements

Optimized memory usage for large archive operations
Reduced startup time through lazy imports
Improved entropy detection accuracy for mixed content

Bug Fixes

Improved compatibility with older Python 3.10 versions
Fixed rare race condition in parallel compression mode
Refined multi-volume handling for edge cases

What Was New in v1.3.0

TCVOL Multi-Volume Headers

Volume files now include structured metadata headers to improve reliability and reduce antivirus false positives:

Magic header TCVOL with version, volume number, and total volumes
Changed naming from .001/.002 to .part1/.part2 format
I/O throttling (10ms delay) between volume writes

Optional pywin32 Dependency

Windows ACL operations are now opt-in only:

Default builds exclude pywin32, significantly reducing executable size
Install with pip install techcompressor[windows-acls] for ACL features
Graceful degradation when pywin32 not available

Migration from v1.3.0 to v1.4.0

No Breaking Changes

v1.4.0 is fully backward compatible with v1.3.0. No code changes required.

Recommended Actions

Update via pip: pip install --upgrade techcompressor
Existing archives remain fully compatible
Multi-volume archives created with v1.2.0 (.001/.002) are still readable

API Reference

Core Functions

from techcompressor import compress, decompress

# Basic compression
compressed = compress(data, algo="LZW")
original = decompress(compressed, algo="LZW")

# With encryption
compressed = compress(data, algo="DEFLATE", password="secret")
original = decompress(compressed, algo="DEFLATE", password="secret")

Archive Functions

from techcompressor.archiver import create_archive, extract_archive, list_contents

# Create archive with filtering
create_archive(
    "project/",
    "backup.tc",
    algo="DEFLATE",
    password="secret",
    exclude_patterns=["*.tmp", ".git/", "__pycache__/"],
    volume_size=650*1024*1024,  # Multi-volume: 650MB parts
    comment="Weekly backup"
)

# Extract archive
extract_archive("backup.tc", "restored/", password="secret")

# List contents
contents = list_contents("backup.tc")

System Requirements

Python: 3.10 or higher
Dependencies: cryptography>=41.0.0, tqdm>=4.65.0
Optional: pywin32>=306 (for Windows ACL preservation)
OS: Windows, Linux, macOS

Credits

Developed by: Devaansh Pathak
GitHub: DevaanshPathak
License: MIT base_archive="backup-full.tc" )


### 🔍 Enhanced Entropy Detection
Smarter automatic format recognition for incompressible files:
- **40+ Formats Detected**: JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, MP3, ZIP, RAR, 7Z, PDF, DOCX, and more
- **Extension-Based Detection**: Fast file type checks before content analysis
- **Auto STORED Mode**: Incompressible files stored directly (no wasted compression)
- **20-30% Faster**: Reduced processing time by skipping futile compression attempts
- **Entropy Sampling**: Analyzes first 4KB to calculate compression potential

### 📝 Archive Metadata
User-defined metadata for documentation and provenance:
- **Comment Field**: Add notes to archives (e.g., "Monthly backup - Q4 2025")
- **Creator Information**: Track who created the archive
- **Creation Date**: Automatic timestamp recording
- **Retrievable via list_contents()**: Read metadata without full extraction
- **Use Cases**: Backup notes, version tracking, audit trails, compliance

Example:
```python
create_archive(
    "documents/",
    "docs-backup.tc",
    comment="Q4 2025 Financial Records - Audited",
    creator="Devaansh Pathak"
)

🔐 File Attributes Preservation

Complete file restoration with security attributes:

Windows ACLs: Access Control Lists preserved and restored (via pywin32)
Linux/macOS Extended Attributes: xattrs support for Unix systems (via os.getxattr)
Platform Detection: Automatic detection with graceful degradation
Cross-Platform Safe: Archives created on Windows extract on Linux (attributes ignored gracefully)
Optional Dependency: pywin32 not required for basic operation
JSON Serialization: Base64 encoding for binary attribute data
Backward Compatible: Old archives without attributes extract normally
Use Cases: System backups, secure document archiving, permission-critical files

Example:

# Create archive with attributes
create_archive(
    "secure_docs/",
    "backup.tc",
    preserve_attributes=True  # Captures ACLs/xattrs
)

# Extract with attributes
extract_archive(
    "backup.tc",
    "restored/",
    restore_attributes=True  # Restores ACLs/xattrs
)

Migration from v1.1.0 to v1.2.0

No breaking changes - v1.2.0 is fully backward compatible with v1.1.0 and v1.0.0. All new features are optional parameters with sensible defaults.

Updated API Signatures

# v1.2.0 - New optional parameters (all backward compatible)
create_archive(
    source_path,
    archive_path,
    algo="LZW",
    password=None,
    per_file=True,
    recovery_percent=0.0,  # v1.1.0
    max_workers=None,  # v1.1.0
    exclude_patterns=None,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: File filtering
    max_file_size=None,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Max file size filter
    min_file_size=None,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Min file size filter
    incremental=False,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Incremental backup mode
    base_archive=None,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Base for incremental
    volume_size=None,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Multi-volume split size
    preserve_attributes=False,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Windows ACLs / Linux xattrs
    comment=None,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Archive comment
    creator=None,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Creator info
    progress_callback=None
)

extract_archive(
    archive_path,
    dest_path,
    password=None,
    restore_attributes=False,  # v1.2.0 - NEW: Restore file attributes
    progress_callback=None
)

Upgrading Archives

Existing TCAF v1 and v2 archives extract without modification
New metadata fields optional—old archives lack them but remain valid
Multi-volume archives require extraction from .001 file or base path (auto-detected)
File attributes backward compatible—archives without attributes extract normally

Recommended Usage

Daily Backup Workflow (Incremental)

from techcompressor.archiver import create_archive
from datetime import datetime

# Monday: Full backup
create_archive(
    "project/",
    f"backup-full-{datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d')}.tc",
    algo="DEFLATE",
    password="secure123",
    per_file=False,  # Solid mode
    persist_dict=True,
    recovery_percent=5.0,
    exclude_patterns=["*.tmp", ".git/", "__pycache__/"],
    comment="Weekly full backup"
)

# Tuesday-Sunday: Incremental backups
create_archive(
    "project/",
    f"backup-incr-{datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d')}.tc",
    incremental=True,
    base_archive="backup-full-20251027.tc",
    password="secure123",
    exclude_patterns=["*.tmp", ".git/"],
    comment="Daily incremental"
)

Large Dataset Backup (Multi-Volume)

create_archive(
    "/data/large_dataset/",
    "dataset-backup.tc",
    algo="DEFLATE",
    volume_size=4.7*1024*1024*1024,  # 4.7GB (DVD-size)
    recovery_percent=10.0,  # High redundancy
    max_workers=8,  # Parallel compression
    comment="Research dataset - 2025 Q4"
)
# Creates: dataset-backup.tc.001, .002, .003, ...

Clean Source Code Archive

create_archive(
    "my_project/",
    "project-release.tc",
    algo="DEFLATE",
    per_file=False,  # Solid compression
    persist_dict=True,
    exclude_patterns=[
        "*.pyc", "__pycache__/", ".git/", ".venv/",
        "node_modules/", "*.log", "*.tmp", ".DS_Store"
    ],
    max_file_size=10*1024*1024,  # Skip files > 10MB
    comment="v1.2.0 Release Source Code",
    creator="Devaansh Pathak"
)

Getting Started

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Quick compress with filtering
techcompressor compress input.txt output.tc --algo DEFLATE

# Create archive with file filtering and metadata
techcompressor create my_folder/ backup.tc \
  --algo DEFLATE \
  --password mypassword \
  --exclude "*.tmp" --exclude ".git/" \
  --comment "Monthly backup" \
  --recovery-percent 5

# Create multi-volume archive
techcompressor create large_data/ backup.tc \
  --algo DEFLATE \
  --volume-size 650MB

# Create incremental backup
techcompressor create project/ backup-incr.tc \
  --incremental \
  --base backup-full.tc

# Extract archive
techcompressor extract backup.tc restored/ --password mypassword

# Launch GUI
techcompressor --gui

Performance Metrics (v1.2.0)

Incremental Backup Performance

Daily Backup (1% changed): 50x faster (2min → 2.4sec)
Weekly Backup (10% changed): 10x faster (5min → 30sec)
Archive Size Reduction: 90-99% smaller for typical daily deltas

Enhanced Entropy Detection

Mixed Content Archives: 20-30% faster creation (skips PNGs, JPGs, MP4s)
Already-Compressed Data: Near-instant STORED mode selection
Archive Size Improvement: 15-25% smaller (avoids expansion artifacts)

Multi-Volume Archives

Streaming Overhead: <2% performance impact
Volume Write Speed: ~6 MB/s (DEFLATE, SSD)
Extraction Speed: Same as single-file archives

Developer Information

TechCompressor is developed by Devaansh Pathak
GitHub: https://github.com/DevaanshPathak
Project: https://github.com/DevaanshPathak/TechCompressor

MIT License - Free for personal and commercial use

Support & Contributing

Documentation: Full API docs in README.md
Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
Feature Requests: GitHub Discussions
Security: See SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting

Previous Releases

v1.1.0 (October 27, 2025)

techcompressor-gui


## Migration from v1.0.0 to v1.1.0

**API Changes**: None required - all v1.0.0 code works unchanged.

**New Features** (optional adoption):
```python
from techcompressor import compress, reset_solid_compression_state
from techcompressor.archiver import create_archive
from techcompressor.recovery import generate_recovery_records

# Use solid compression for better ratios
create_archive("source/", "output.tc", persist_dict=True)

# Add recovery records (5% redundancy)
create_archive("source/", "output.tc", recovery_percent=5.0)

# Parallel compression
create_archive("source/", "output.tc", max_workers=4)

# Reset state between archives
reset_solid_compression_state()

Archive Format: TCAF v2 is backward compatible with v1 archives. Old archives decompress correctly. New features (STORED mode, recovery records) are only used in newly created archives.

Known Issues

Compression Pattern Leakage: Compressed data reveals patterns even with encryption enabled. This is an inherent limitation of compress-then-encrypt approaches and is not a bug. For maximum security, consider encrypt-then-compress workflows in security-critical applications.
Intentional Key Derivation Delay: PBKDF2 with 100,000 iterations introduces a ~50-100ms delay during encryption/decryption. This is a deliberate security feature to resist brute-force attacks and should not be "optimized away."
No Password Recovery: There is no password recovery mechanism. Data encrypted with a forgotten password is permanently irrecoverable. This is by design—we do not store password hints or backdoors.
Tkinter GUI Platform Limitations: The GUI requires a display server (X11, Wayland, or Windows). Headless servers should use the CLI interface.

Recommended Usage

Algorithm Selection:

General purpose: DEFLATE (best overall compression)
Speed-critical: LZW (fastest, lowest memory)
Text/source code: DEFLATE with single-stream mode + solid compression
Mixed content: LZW with per-file mode
Media files: STORED mode automatically used for incompressible data

Archive Modes:

Per-file mode (per_file=True): Better for random access, selective extraction, mixed content
Single-stream mode (per_file=False): Better compression ratio for similar files
Solid compression (persist_dict=True): 10-30% better ratios, use with per_file=True

Recovery Records:

Use 2-5% redundancy for normal archives
Use 5-10% for critical backups or unreliable media
Recovery records add minimal overhead but enable corruption repair

Security:

Use strong passwords (12+ characters, mixed case, numbers, symbols)
Store passwords in a password manager, never in code
Verify password before long compression operations
Consider the compression pattern leakage limitation for highly sensitive data

System Requirements

Python 3.10 or higher
cryptography>=41.0.0 (AES-GCM, PBKDF2)
tqdm>=4.65.0 (progress bars)
pytest>=7.0.0 (development/testing)

Acknowledgments

TechCompressor is built on battle-tested cryptography libraries and implements well-established compression algorithms. Special thanks to the open-source community for cryptography, pytest, and Python ecosystem tools.

Support & Contributing

Issues: GitHub Issues
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
Security: See SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting
Contributing: See README.md for development setup and guidelines

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Full Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
Download: GitHub Releases

FilesExpand file tree

RELEASE_NOTES.md

Latest commit

History

RELEASE_NOTES.md

File metadata and controls

TechCompressor v2.0.0 Release Notes

Overview

Highlights

Five Compression Algorithms

Modern Terminal User Interface (TUI)

Military-Grade Security

Flexible Archiving with Advanced Features

Triple Interface

Production-Ready

What's New in v2.0.0

Zstandard Compression Algorithm

Brotli Compression Algorithm

Textual Terminal User Interface

Migration from v1.x to v2.0.0

No Breaking Changes

New Algorithm Support

New Dependencies

Algorithm Comparison

What Was New in v1.4.0

Enhanced Stability

Performance Improvements

Bug Fixes

What Was New in v1.3.0

TCVOL Multi-Volume Headers

Optional pywin32 Dependency

Migration from v1.3.0 to v1.4.0

No Breaking Changes

Recommended Actions

API Reference

Core Functions

Archive Functions

System Requirements

Credits

🔐 File Attributes Preservation

Migration from v1.1.0 to v1.2.0

Updated API Signatures

Upgrading Archives

Recommended Usage

Daily Backup Workflow (Incremental)

Large Dataset Backup (Multi-Volume)

Clean Source Code Archive

Getting Started

Performance Metrics (v1.2.0)

Incremental Backup Performance

Enhanced Entropy Detection

Multi-Volume Archives

Developer Information

Support & Contributing

Previous Releases

v1.1.0 (October 27, 2025)

Known Issues

Recommended Usage

System Requirements

Acknowledgments

Support & Contributing

License