GPG Compression Shrinks Text Files | Generated by AI
Why the Encrypted SRT File is Half the Size
Subtitle files like .srt are plain text (e.g., timestamps and dialogue lines), which have lots of repetition and redundancy—perfect for compression. GPG’s default settings compress the data with zlib (a ZIP-like algorithm) before encrypting it, squeezing out the fluff. Your original 136K file dropped to 54K (~60% reduction), which is typical for text-heavy SRTs.
- Original: 136 KB (uncompressed text).
- Encrypted: 54 KB (compressed + encrypted).
- Ratio: About 40% of original size—great savings compared to videos, where compression barely helps.
This is the opposite of your MP4 experience: Videos are pre-compressed (H.264), so GPG can’t shrink them much. Text? Easy win.
If you want even smaller (or to verify), decrypt it back:
gpg --decrypt 'The Shawshank Redemption 1994.720p.BRRip.x264.YIFY.srt.gpg' > test.srt
ls -lh test.srt # Should match original size
Then delete the test file. Compression level is fixed at 6 (decent balance of speed/size), but for max squeeze, you’d need custom tools like gzip -9 first.
GPG Compression on Text Files
Why SRT Compresses Well