Choose a version:
37% The original file has 22255 bytes (21.7k) and is available from the project website.
There you can find the official minified version, too, which brings down the size to 8201 bytes (8.0k, 37%).

After GZIP compression these minified files vary in size:
Boot
  2967 bytes (2.9k)
 CDN
gzip -6 (default)
  2689 bytes (2.6k)
 local copy
gzip -9
  2688 bytes (2.6k)
 local copy
Baidu
  2685 bytes (2.6k)
 CDN
cdnjs
  2673 bytes (2.6k)
 CDN
libdeflate -12
  2615 bytes (2.6k)
 local copy
7zip -mx=9 -tgzip
  2610 bytes (2.5k)
 local copy
zultra
  2607 bytes (2.5k)
 local copy
kzip -s0 -rn -b1
  2606 bytes (2.5k)
 local copy
pigz -11 -n
  2604 bytes (2.5k)
 local copy
Zopfli
  2602 bytes (2.5k)
 local copy

perma-link to the smallest file on my server:
http://minime.stephan-brumme.com/files/underscorejs/underscore-0.5.3.min.js (or via HTTPS)

You will automatically get the smallest UnderscoreJS 0.5.3 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 71 bytes by using my UnderscoreJS 0.5.3 Zopfli version instead of the best available CDN (2.73% smaller than cdnjs, 2602 vs. 2673 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 --i100000 --mb8 --mls32 --bsr15 --lazy --ohh

(found February 2, 2016)
Description Value Parameter
iterations 100000  --i100000
maximum blocks 8  --mb8
maximum length score 32  --mls32
block splitting recursion 15  --bsr15
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://raw.githubusercontent.com/jashkenas/underscore/0.5.3/underscore-min.js --location | md5sum
e5e2da95efff07939e5ef99455b52687  -
curl --silent --compressed https://minime.stephan-brumme.com/files/underscorejs/underscore-0.5.3.min.zopfli.js.gz | md5sum
e5e2da95efff07939e5ef99455b52687  -

SHA1:
curl --silent --compressed https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jashkenas/underscore/0.5.3/underscore-min.js --location | sha1sum
92553c8479e02f3b853029d39422228b517ec135  -
curl --silent --compressed https://minime.stephan-brumme.com/files/underscorejs/underscore-0.5.3.min.zopfli.js.gz | sha1sum
92553c8479e02f3b853029d39422228b517ec135  -

These CDNs send you the original file:
CDN Size (compressed) MD5 (uncompressed) Timestamp
Boot 2967 bytes e5e2da95efff07939e5ef99455b52687 (invalid)
cdnjs 2673 bytes e5e2da95efff07939e5ef99455b52687 (invalid)

And some CDNs send you a different file:
CDN Size (compressed) MD5 (uncompressed) Comment / Diff Timestamp
Baidu 2685 bytes d3e1a5aa82d127082b0c815d76e12afd only whitespaces differ (invalid)

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

Other Versions

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

1.13.6, 1.13.5, 1.13.4, 1.13.3, 1.13.2, 1.13.1, 1.13.0,
1.12.1, 1.12.0,
1.11.0,
1.10.2, 1.10.1, 1.10.0,
1.9.2, 1.9.1, 1.9.0,
1.8.3, 1.8.2, 1.8.1,
1.7.0,
1.6.0,
1.5.2, 1.5.0,
1.4.4, 1.4.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.1, 1.4.0,
1.3.3, 1.3.2, 1.3.1, 1.3.0,
1.2.4, 1.2.3, 1.2.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.0,
1.1.7, 1.1.5, 1.1.4, 1.1.3, 1.1.2, 1.1.1, 1.1.0,
1.0.4, 1.0.3, 1.0.2, 1.0.1, 1.0.0,
0.6.0,
0.5.7, 0.5.6, 0.5.5, 0.5.4, 0.5.3, 0.5.2, 0.5.1, 0.5.0,
0.4.7, 0.4.6, 0.4.5, 0.4.4, 0.4.3, 0.4.2, 0.4.1, 0.4.0,
0.3.3, 0.3.2, 0.3.1, 0.3.0,
0.2.0,
0.1.1, 0.1.0

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

Changelog

Best Zopfli parameters so far:
Size Improvement Parameters Found
2602 bytes -1 byte zopfli --i100000 --mls32 --bsr15 --lazy --ohh February 2, 2016 @ 23:27
2603 bytes -2 bytes zopfli --i10000 --mls32 --bsr15 --lazy --ohh February 2, 2016 @ 23:21
2605 bytes – zopfli --i1000 --mls32 --bsr15 --lazy --ohh February 2, 2016 @ 23:18

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 @ 12:43.

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:
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 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
4 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
6 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
7 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
8 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
9 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
10 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
11 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
12 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
13 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
14 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
15 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
16 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
17 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
18 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
19 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
20 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
21 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
22 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
23 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
25 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
30 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602
40 2602 2602 2602 2603 2602 2603 2602 2602 2603 2603 2602 2602 2602 2602 2602

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 2604 bytes – 100%
1,000 2604 bytes – 100%
10,000 2603 bytes -1 byte 100%
100,000 2602 bytes -1 byte 100%
1,000,000 2602 bytes – 0.29%
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) 2606 bytes +4 bytes (+0.15%) –
1 2606 bytes +4 bytes (+0.15%) –
2 2629 bytes +27 bytes (+1.04%) +23 bytes
3 2665 bytes +63 bytes (+2.42%) +59 bytes
4 2676 bytes +74 bytes (+2.84%) +70 bytes
5 2703 bytes +101 bytes (+3.88%) +97 bytes
6 2730 bytes +128 bytes (+4.92%) +124 bytes
7 2763 bytes +161 bytes (+6.19%) +157 bytes
8 2799 bytes +197 bytes (+7.57%) +193 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
RAR (proprietary) RAR rar a -m5 -md64m -mc63:128t -mt1 2331 bytes -271 bytes (-10.42%)
Brotli (Wikipedia) brotli brotli -q 11 2402 bytes -200 bytes (-7.69%)
Zstandard (Wikipedia) zstd zstd -19 2616 bytes +14 bytes (+0.54%)
PPMd (Wikipedia) 7zip 7za a -mx=9 -m0=ppmd 2652 bytes +50 bytes (+1.92%)
Burrows-Wheeler transform (Wikipedia) bzip2 bzip2 -9 2671 bytes +69 bytes (+2.65%)
LZMA2 (Wikipedia) xz xz -9 2700 bytes +98 bytes (+3.77%)
ZPAQ (Wikipedia) zpaq zpaq -method 69 3229 bytes +627 bytes (+24.10%)

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.