Choose a version:
33% The original file has 293430 bytes (286.6k) and is available from the project website.
There you can find the official minified version, too, which brings down the size to 97163 bytes (94.9k, 33%).

After GZIP compression these minified files vary in size:
Microsoft
  43298 bytes (42.3k)
 CDN
Boot
  39396 bytes (38.5k)
 CDN
jsdelivr
  39396 bytes (38.5k)
 CDN
gzip -6 (default)
  33814 bytes (33.0k)
 local copy
cdnjs
  33782 bytes (33.0k)
 CDN
unpkg
  33782 bytes (33.0k)
 CDN
Google
  33760 bytes (33.0k)
 CDN
Sina
  33760 bytes (33.0k)
 CDN
gzip -9
  33759 bytes (33.0k)
 local copy
7zip -mx=9 -tgzip
  32648 bytes (31.9k)
 local copy
libdeflate -12
  32629 bytes (31.9k)
 local copy
zultra
  32567 bytes (31.8k)
 local copy
pigz -11 -n
  32565 bytes (31.8k)
 local copy
kzip -s0 -rn -b2
  32554 bytes (31.8k)
 local copy
Zopfli
  32540 bytes (31.8k)
 local copy

perma-link to the smallest file on my server:
http://minime.stephan-brumme.com/files/jquery/jquery-1.12.4.min.js (or via HTTPS)

You will automatically get the smallest jQuery 1.12.4 file, ETag caching is available and
if your browser doesn't support GZIP decompression then the uncompressed version will be sent.

Currently best Zopfli settings

Save 1220 bytes by using my jQuery 1.12.4 Zopfli version instead of the best available CDN (3.75% smaller than Sina, 32540 vs. 33760 bytes):
Download
You can use my super-compressed files for whatever purpose you like as long as you respect the library's original license agreement.
There are no restrictions from my side - but please avoid hot-linking if you run a high-traffic website.

These command-line settings yielded the best compression ratio so far (Linux version of zopfli-krzymod):
zopfli --i1000000 --mb8 --mls16 --bsr21 --lazy --ohh

(found May 21, 2016)
Description Value Parameter
iterations 1000000  --i1000000
maximum blocks 8  --mb8
maximum length score 16  --mls16
block splitting recursion 21  --bsr21
lazy matching in LZ77 yes  --lazy
optimized Huffman headers yes  --ohh
initial random W for iterations 1  --rw1
initial random Z for iterations 2  --rz2

Verify file integrity

After decompression, my uncompressed files are identical to the original ones:

MD5:
curl --silent --compressed https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.min.js --location | md5sum
4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19  -
curl --silent --compressed https://minime.stephan-brumme.com/files/jquery/jquery-1.12.4.min.zopfli.js.gz | md5sum
4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19  -

SHA1:
curl --silent --compressed https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.min.js --location | sha1sum
5a9dcfbef655a2668e78baebeaa8dc6f41d8dabb  -
curl --silent --compressed https://minime.stephan-brumme.com/files/jquery/jquery-1.12.4.min.zopfli.js.gz | sha1sum
5a9dcfbef655a2668e78baebeaa8dc6f41d8dabb  -

All listed CDNs deliver identical contents:
CDN Size (compressed) MD5 (uncompressed) Timestamp
Microsoft 43298 bytes 4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19 June 16, 2016 @ 18:18
Boot 39396 bytes 4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19 May 21, 2016 @ 05:38
jsdelivr 39396 bytes 4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19 May 20, 2016 @ 19:41
cdnjs 33782 bytes 4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19 May 20, 2016 @ 21:01
unpkg 33782 bytes 4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19 July 11, 2016 @ 15:39
Google 33760 bytes 4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19 May 23, 2016 @ 18:49
Sina 33760 bytes 4f252523d4af0b478c810c2547a63e19 September 9, 2016 @ 10:47

Note: only the MD5 hashes are shown to keep things simple.

Other Versions

Available jQuery versions at minime.stephan-brumme.com:

3.6.1, 3.6.0,
3.5.1, 3.5.0,
3.4.1, 3.4.0,
3.3.1, 3.3.0,
3.2.1, 3.2.0,
3.1.1, 3.1.0, 3.0.0,
2.2.4, 2.2.3, 2.2.2, 2.2.1, 2.2.0,
2.1.4, 2.1.3, 2.1.2, 2.1.1, 2.1.0,
2.0.3, 2.0.2, 2.0.1, 2.0.0,
1.12.4, 1.12.3, 1.12.2, 1.12.1, 1.12.0,
1.11.3, 1.11.2, 1.11.1, 1.11.0,
1.10.2, 1.10.1, 1.10.0,
1.9.1, 1.9.0,
1.8.3, 1.8.2, 1.8.1, 1.8.0,
1.7.2, 1.7.1, 1.7.0,
1.6.4, 1.6.3, 1.6.2, 1.6.1, 1.6,
1.5.2, 1.5.1, 1.5,
1.4.4, 1.4.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.1, 1.4,
1.3.2, 1.3.1, 1.3,
1.2.6, 1.2.5, 1.2.4, 1.2.3, 1.2.2, 1.2.1, 1.2,
1.1.4, 1.1.3, 1.1.2, 1.1.1, 1.1,
1.0.4, 1.0.3, 1.0.2, 1.0.1, 1.0

The project site contains an overview how well these versions were compressed.
Other interesting projects are AngularJS, BackboneJS, Bootstrap, D3, Dojo, Ember, Knockout, lodash, React, Socket.IO, ThreeJS, UnderscoreJS and Vue.

Changelog

Best Zopfli parameters so far:
Size Improvement Parameters Found
32540 bytes -2 bytes zopfli --i1000000 --mls16 --bsr21 --lazy --ohh May 21, 2016 @ 18:07
32542 bytes -4 bytes zopfli --i100000 --mls16 --bsr21 --lazy --ohh May 21, 2016 @ 01:54
32546 bytes -1 byte zopfli --i10000 --mls16 --bsr21 --lazy --ohh May 21, 2016 @ 01:18
32547 bytes -1 byte zopfli --i1000 --mls128 --bsr13 --lazy --ohh May 21, 2016 @ 01:07
32548 bytes -1 byte zopfli --i1000 --mls8192 --bsr9 --lazy --ohh May 21, 2016 @ 01:06
32549 bytes -2 bytes zopfli --i1000 --mls8192 --bsr20 --lazy --ohh May 21, 2016 @ 01:04
32551 bytes – zopfli --i100 --mls8192 --bsr20 --lazy --ohh May 21, 2016 @ 00:48

If there are multiple parameter sets yielding the same compressed size, only the first one found is shown.

Most recent activity on July 20, 2020 @ 12:48.

Heatmaps

This Zopfli heatmap visualizes how compression changes when modifying the --bsr and --mls parameter.
Cell's contents is the best filesize achieved (in bytes, hover with mouse over cells to see number of iterations).

Good parameters are green, bad are red. The best and worst are bold as well.
The brightness of the blue background color indicates how many iterations were processed:
10,000, 100,000 or 1,000,000.
bsr \ mls
2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 16384 32768
bsr \ mls
2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 16384 32768
2 32555 32558 32555 32557 32556 32556 32557 32557 32557 32556 32555 32559 32563 32561 32556
4 32547 32547 32547 32549 32551 32550 32549 32552 32550 32552 32552 32552 32565 32553 32551
6 32555 32555 32551 32554 32556 32548 32557 32557 32555 32555 32547 32551 32548 32551 32550
7 32557 32547 32547 32551 32555 32548 32554 32551 32555 32555 32548 32551 32549 32552 32547
8 32548 32547 32555 32557 32562 32556 32557 32557 32558 32556 32546 32551 32544 32550 32550
9 32548 32548 32549 32556 32555 32554 32554 32554 32556 32554 32547 32548 32548 32551 32547
10 32548 32548 32548 32548 32554 32555 32554 32547 32555 32555 32547 32552 32548 32551 32551
11 32552 32547 32554 32548 32552 32555 32554 32555 32555 32555 32547 32551 32550 32550 32547
12 32555 32555 32555 32554 32555 32554 32547 32547 32558 32555 32546 32551 32549 32552 32547
13 32548 32554 32547 32556 32550 32554 32547 32557 32555 32555 32547 32551 32548 32550 32548
14 32547 32543 32541 32554 32555 32555 32554 32555 32555 32556 32547 32551 32549 32552 32551
15 32547 32548 32549 32548 32555 32548 32555 32555 32555 32555 32548 32547 32548 32550 32550
16 32548 32548 32548 32552 32553 32549 32555 32555 32555 32555 32546 32551 32549 32551 32549
17 32548 32547 32548 32558 32555 32556 32547 32554 32555 32558 32547 32551 32549 32550 32550
18 32547 32544 32547 32554 32556 32554 32548 32554 32555 32558 32547 32551 32548 32550 32549
19 32549 32550 32548 32555 32551 32552 32547 32554 32554 32555 32547 32551 32547 32550 32549
20 32548 32547 32552 32554 32555 32548 32547 32554 32555 32556 32547 32551 32548 32551 32549
21 32554 32553 32551 32540 32553 32548 32555 32549 32554 32555 32550 32551 32547 32551 32555
22 32548 32548 32549 32549 32552 32549 32554 32543 32555 32555 32548 32551 32547 32551 32547
23 32548 32548 32549 32552 32555 32554 32555 32555 32555 32555 32547 32551 32549 32551 32555
25 32554 32554 32552 32543 32555 32548 32554 32554 32558 32555 32546 32551 32547 32552 32555
30 32557 32554 32551 32547 32556 32555 32554 32555 32555 32555 32547 32551 32547 32551 32547
40 32548 32547 32548 32547 32549 32548 32555 32554 32555 32555 32547 32551 32548 32550 32547

Due to the Monte Carlo design of my search algorithm, not all parameters have reached the same number of iterations yet:
Iterations Min. Bytes Reduction Coverage
100 32551 bytes – 100%
1,000 32546 bytes -5 bytes 100%
10,000 32545 bytes -1 byte 100%
100,000 32542 bytes -3 bytes 3.19%
1,000,000 32540 bytes -2 bytes 0.87%
10,000,000 – – –

KZIP has far less options available for tuning/optimization. I only played around with the number of blocks (parameter -n):
Blocks Min. Bytes Compared To Best Zopfli Compared To Best KZIP
(any) 32645 bytes +105 bytes (+0.32%) +91 bytes
1 32645 bytes +105 bytes (+0.32%) +91 bytes
2 32554 bytes +14 bytes (+0.04%) –
3 32569 bytes +29 bytes (+0.09%) +15 bytes
4 32579 bytes +39 bytes (+0.12%) +25 bytes
5 32608 bytes +68 bytes (+0.21%) +54 bytes
6 32643 bytes +103 bytes (+0.32%) +89 bytes
7 32682 bytes +142 bytes (+0.44%) +128 bytes
8 32719 bytes +179 bytes (+0.55%) +165 bytes

Non-DEFLATE Algorithms

Archivers based on completely different compression algorithms often produce superior results.
Unfortunately, browsers only support gzip compression at the moment.
However, support for Brotli is constantly growing - for example, your browser actually supports it !
Algorithm Program Parameters Size Compared To Best Zopfli
ZPAQ (Wikipedia) zpaq zpaq -method 69 26635 bytes -5905 bytes (-18.15%)
RAR (proprietary) RAR rar a -m5 -md64m -mc63:128t -mt1 27380 bytes -5160 bytes (-15.86%)
PPMd (Wikipedia) 7zip 7za a -mx=9 -m0=ppmd 29073 bytes -3467 bytes (-10.65%)
Brotli (Wikipedia) brotli brotli -q 11 30289 bytes -2251 bytes (-6.92%)
Burrows-Wheeler transform (Wikipedia) bzip2 bzip2 -9 30614 bytes -1926 bytes (-5.92%)
LZMA2 (Wikipedia) xz xz -9 31492 bytes -1048 bytes (-3.22%)
Zstandard (Wikipedia) zstd zstd -19 32085 bytes -455 bytes (-1.40%)

Detailled Analysis

I wrote a DEFLATE decoder in Javascript. Click the button below to start a client-side analysis of the smallest gzipped files (may take a second):
Load and Parse Data


Notes: pigz is a fast open source multi-threaded implementation of gzip written by one of the original authors of gzip.
However, when using compression level 11, pigz actually switches to the slower Zopfli algorithm and isn't multi-threaded anymore.
KrzyMOD's extensions to Zopfli offer the highest level of configuration and is therefore used for my brute-force search.
Ken Silverman wrote the closed-source KZIP compression program and Jonathon Fowler ported it to Linux.
Defluff was created by Joachim Henke; DeflOpt is a tool by Ben Jos Walbeehm.

website made by Stephan Brumme in 2015 and still improving in 2026.
all timestamps are displayed in central european time. see my changelog.
no flash, not even images or external css files - and everything squeezed into a single html file.
which was handsomely compressed before releasing it into the wild internet - obviously.

please visit my homepage and my blog, too.
email: minime (at) stephan-brumme.com

All trademarks are property of their respective owners. You know, the boring legal stuff.