# More on BZip2

<datetime class="hidden">2004-02-29T00:00</datetime>
<!-- category -- mostlylucidcouk, Imported, .NET, Tools -->

In a previous post, I mentioned I used [BZip2](http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/) for my compression - mainly because, it's simple, offers the best XML compression for a generic algorithm - IMHO, i.e., not one designed specifically for XML compression like [XMill](http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/xmill/) - which if anyone knows a C# or Java implementation of - please let me know.
Anyway, you can get BZip2 (with a number of others) in the excellent [SharpZipLib](http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SharpZipLib/Default.aspx) library. I really lament the lack of specific support for compression within the .NET framework, I mean the [J# stuff has it  in the java.util.zip namespace](http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/03/06/ZipCompression/default.aspx), would it really be so difficult to include this invaluable functionality within the framework proper?
As it stands, you can encrypt but not compress data - there's no simple way to use compression from web services, you can't natively compress serialized objects - you can't really even open a compressed file without a third party plugin! XP now has compressed file support, why not the .NET framework!