[OSM-talk] Why bz2?

[Frederik Ramm]

Fabio,

Fabio Alessandro Locati wrote:
> It seems that all files from planet.openstreetmap.org are in .bz2
> format. Why using it instead of xz? xz can compress (usually) more
> than bz2 and is way faster to compress/uncompress.(1) I'm sure that
> there are other sources that report the same info. Please, consider xz
> as a possibility. It would decrease the space needed, the time used to
> make the planets and the bandwith use.

We have introduced a new binary format that compresses far better than 
even xz, so if you're willing to install extra software for 
uncompressing data, go with the new pbf format. Extracts on the 
download.geofabrik.de site are already available in .osm.pbf, and sonner 
or later the full planet file will be, too.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"