I think that's misidentifying where's credit is due: LZ might not be the most efficient compression format when it comes to size, but it's very efficient computation-wise when compressing and decompressing, and this still holds true today even when you consider newer algorthms like Zstandard (which uses a derivative of LZ). Sure, if you need to archive data into its compactest representation at any cost, LZ and derivatives won't deliver it, but unless there's a significant change to how computing works it's still in LZ's favour. At the time DEFLATE was designed, LZ just beat out every competition since realistically you can't run decompression at real-time using minimal memory.
Comments
I think that's misidentifying where's credit is due: LZ might not be the most efficient compression format when it comes to size, but it's very efficient computation-wise when compressing and decompressing, and this still holds true today even when you consider newer algorthms like Zstandard (which uses a derivative of LZ). Sure, if you need to archive data into its compactest representation at any cost, LZ and derivatives won't deliver it, but unless there's a significant change to how computing works it's still in LZ's favour. At the time DEFLATE was designed, LZ just beat out every competition since realistically you can't run decompression at real-time using minimal memory.