# 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|--best]}} {{path/to/file}}` - Compress a file using no compression and 4 processors: `pigz -0 {{[-p|--processes]}} {{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|--decompress]}} {{archive.gz}}` - List the contents of an archive: `pigz {{[-l|--list]}} {{archive.tar.gz}}`