--- ## 🥇 What is Gzip? **Gzip** is a file compression algorithm that’s been around since the 90s — and it’s still the default compression method for most web servers. - 📦 Compresses text-based files (HTML, CSS, JS) - 🔧 Supported by every browser - 🔄 Faster to compress, not always the smallest **Think of Gzip as the "safe choice"** — battle-tested, reliable, and widely adopted. ## 🚀 What is Brotli? **Brotli** is a newer, smarter compression algorithm created by Google. - 🧠 Uses dictionary + context modeling = better compression - 🐢 Slower to compress, but much smaller file sizes - ⚡ Supported by all major browsers **Think of Brotli as the "next-gen" optimizer** — especially for static content. ## 🧪 Use Case Scenarios

Use Case	Use Gzip	Use Brotli
Dynamic content (APIs, server-rendered pages)	✅ Faster to compress	❌ Not ideal
Static assets (HTML, CSS, JS, fonts)	✅ OK	✅✅ Best choice
First load performance critical (e.g. landing pages)	👍	🚀 Definitely
Older browsers / max compatibility	✅ Always works	✅ Mostly works

## 📦 File Size Estimator — Know Before You Ship Ever deployed a website, only to get a Lighthouse slap for sending bloated assets across the wire? **Yeah. Same.**
That’s why we built the [File Size Estimator](/tools/file-size-estimator) — a no-friction tool to: - ✅ Estimate raw, gzip, and Brotli sizes - ✅ Compare text, JSON, images, and base64 blobs - ✅ Paste, upload, or drag-and-drop — your choice - ✅ Understand the real network cost **before it hits production** ## 🚀 Why it Matters Modern users expect *fast*. But fast doesn’t just mean good code — it means: - Small payloads - Efficient compression - Realistic expectations on mobile & slow networks
If you’re shipping: - JSON APIs - Web bundles - Image-heavy UIs - Base64 inline content You should know what the *compressed* version actually looks like. Because that’s what browsers load.
## Try it! 🔥
## 🧪 Example Let’s say you're bundling a payload of: ```json { "users": [{ "id": "abc123", "name": "John" }, ...] } ``` It looks small in your editor... But is it 5KB or 50KB over the wire? Drop it into xlocale.com/tools/file-size-estimator — and you’ll see: - Raw: 42.1 KB - Gzip: 12.3 KB - Brotli: 10.7 KB
Now you actually know what your users are downloading.
💡 Use Cases : - Validate the size of config files before shipping them via CDN - See the true weight of large JSON files served from your API - Check how well your site images compress under Brotli - Estimate if your base64 logo is bloating your CSS
🛠 Built for Devs, Not Sales Teams No login. No limits. Just a clean utility that does one thing right.
Keep it small. Keep it fast. Keep building.
🔥 xlocale team

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