I'd argue that bzip2 is a better example of a compression algorithm which no one needs anymore.

Considering these features:

  * Compression ratio
  * Compression speed
  * Decompression speed
  * Ubiquity

And considering these methods:

  * lzop
  * gzip
  * bzip2
  * xz

You get spectrums like this:

  * Ratio:    (worse) lzop  gzip bzip2  xz  (better)
  * C.Speed:  (worse) bzip2  xz  gzip  lzop (better)
  * D.Speed:  (worse) bzip2  xz  gzip  lzop (better)
  * Ubiquity: (worse) lzop   xz  bzip2 gzip (better)

So, xz, lzop, and gzip are all the "best" at something. Bzip2 isn't the best at anything anymore.

randerson

bzip2 can take advantage of any number of CPU cores when compressing.

justinmayer

Bzip2 doesn't handle multiple cores as far as I'm aware, but tools such as pbzip2 can. I wrote about this some time ago: https://hackercodex.com/guide/parallel-bzip-compression/

That said, parallel XZ is even better: https://github.com/vasi/pixz