🌌 ZeroZip — Ultra Compression & Instant SFX Packaging Studio

High-ratio compression studio and instant self-extracting archive (SFX) creator for Windows
TAR Core + Zstandard/LZMA/Brotli Codecs • Append-Mode SFX • AES-256-GCM • Multiplatform Stubs

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📖 Overview

ZeroZip (powered by the sovereign Ztar engine) packages directories and files into standalone .exe self-extracting archives (SFX). Recipients run the generated executable directly with zero setup, zero extraction dependencies, and no .NET runtime requirements.

Unlike standard zip utilities, ZeroZip couples native POSIX TAR stream packaging with state-of-the-art compression algorithms (Zstandard, LZMA, Brotli) and authenticated AES-256-GCM encryption.

Part of the sovereign ZeroUniverse application suite, ZeroZip is engineered for developer deployments, game repacking, firmware distribution, and resilient file archives.

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🌟 Key Features

• ⚡ Instant Append-Mode SFX: Builds self-extracting executables via zero-recompile binary tail-append. Recipients require no .NET SDK or runtime.
• 🗜️ Multi-Algorithm Engine:
  • Zstandard (zstd): Ultra-fast multi-threaded compression with long-distance matching (LDM).
  • LZMA: Maximum compression ratio for dense source trees and distribution packages.
  • Brotli: Optimized web and text compression.
  • Store: Uncompressed tar packaging for rapid containerization.
• 🌌 Long-Range Compression (--long): Up to 2GB sliding dictionary window for massive files (disk images, ISOs, virtual machine snapshots).
• 🎮 Precomp Deep Repack Mode (--precomp): Unpacks pre-compressed streams (zlib, zip, png) within payloads and recompresses them using high-ratio codecs (game repacking technique).
• 🔐 Authenticated AES-256-GCM Encryption: Provides cryptographic integrity verification against file truncation or tampering.
• ✂️ Multi-Part Volume Splitting: Splits output into .001, .002 chunks (FAT32-safe, email-friendly).
• 🛡️ ZIP Envelope Cloaking (--zip): Envelopes the executable inside a standard .zip store wrapper to bypass restrictive mail and network firewall executable filters.
• ⏱️ Rapid Ratio Estimation: Predicts compression ratios in ~1 second before running long batch jobs.
• 🌍 Cross-Platform Extraction: Console extraction stubs available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

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🏗 Project Layout

Project	Description
Ztar.Core	Core library: SFX binary format, compression/decompression pipeline, codecs, AES-GCM, ratio estimator
Ztar.Main	Primary application: Modern WinForms desktop GUI + unified CLI runner
Ztar.Stub	Native WinForms GUI extraction stub embedded into SFX executables
Ztar.StubConsole	Lightweight cross-platform console extraction stub
Ztar.Tests	Automated regression test suite (33 xUnit unit & integration tests)

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💻 CLI Usage

When executed with arguments, ZeroZip runs in headless CLI mode:

# Syntax
zerozip c <source> [-o output.exe] [-m zstd|lzma|brotli|store]
                   [--ultra|--normal|--fast] [--level N] [--window N] [--long]
                   [--threads N] [--split SIZE] [-p password] [--zip]
                   [--precomp] [--precomp-path <path>]
zerozip x <sfx.exe> [-o out_dir] [-p password]
zerozip i <sfx.exe>
zerozip l <sfx.exe> [-p password]
zerozip t <sfx.exe> [-p password]
zerozip e <source>
zerozip h

Command Reference

Command	Action	Description
c / compress	Compress	Package source directory or file into standalone SFX .exe
x / extract	Extract	Decompress payload to target directory
i / info	Info	Inspect archive metadata (codec, mode, sizes, CRC checksum)
l / list	List	Inspect archive file manifest without extracting to disk
t / test	Test	Verify integrity (CRC validation and trial decompression)
e / estimate	Estimate	Rapid ratio prediction (~1 sec)
h / help	Help	Display command-line options and examples

Practical Examples

# Compress directory with ultra Zstandard preset
zerozip c "C:\Data" -o Data.exe --ultra

# LZMA maximum compression with 2GB volume splits
zerozip c game.iso -m lzma --level 22 --long --split 2GB

# Password-protected archive enveloped in ZIP wrapper
zerozip c secret\ -o vault.exe -p "SecurePass123" --zip

# Inspect archive contents without unpacking
zerozip l Data.exe

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🔨 Build from Source

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 10 / .NET 8 SDK
• Windows 10/11 (64-bit)

Build Commands

# Build complete solution
dotnet build Ztar.slnx -c Release

# Run automated test suite
dotnet test Ztar.Tests/Ztar.Tests.csproj

# Package standalone release executable
./publish.ps1

The publish.ps1 script produces a self-contained, single-file executable in dist/.

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📄 License

Licensed under the MIT License. Part of the sovereign ZeroUniverse industrial computing ecosystem.