Compress Better, Compute Bigger
Blosc and Blosc2 have consistently focused on achieving compression and decompression speeds that approach or even exceed memory bandwidth limits. With the introduction of a new compute engine in Blosc2 3.0, the guiding principle has evolved to "Compress Better, Compute Bigger." This enhancement enables computations on datasets that are over 100 times larger than the available RAM, all while maintaining high performance. Continue reading to explore the details.
The Importance of Better Compression
Data compression typically requires a trade-off between speed and compression ratio. Blosc2 allows users to fine-tune this balance. They can select from a variety of codecs and filters to maximize compression, and even introduce custom ones via its plugin system. For optimal speed, it's crucial to understand and utilize modern CPU capabilities. Multicore processing, SIMD, and cache hierarchies can significantly boost compression performance. Blosc2 leverages these features to achieve speeds close to memory bandwidth limits, and sometimes even surpassing them, particularly with contemporary CPUs.