I'd argue it's more workload dependent, and everything is a tradeoff.

In my own testing of compressing internal generic json blobs, I found brotli a clear winner when comparing space and time.

If I want higher compatibility and fast speeds, I'd probably just reach for gzip.

zstd is good for many use cases, too, perhaps even most...but I think just telling everyone to always use it isn't necessarily the best advice.

> If I want higher compatibility and fast speeds, I'd probably just reach for gzip.

It’s slower and compresses less than zstd. gzip should only be reached for as a compatibility option, that’s the only place it wins, it’s everywhere.

EDIT: If you must use it, use the modern implementation, https://www.zlib.net/pigz/