node v0.10.26, 1mb sample:

   deflate-dankogai x 4.73 ops/sec ±0.82% (15 runs sampled)
   deflate-gildas x 4.58 ops/sec ±2.33% (15 runs sampled)
   deflate-imaya x 3.22 ops/sec ±3.95% (12 runs sampled)
 ! deflate-pako x 6.99 ops/sec ±0.51% (21 runs sampled)
   deflate-pako-string x 5.89 ops/sec ±0.77% (18 runs sampled)
   deflate-pako-untyped x 4.39 ops/sec ±1.58% (14 runs sampled)
 * deflate-zlib x 14.71 ops/sec ±4.23% (59 runs sampled)
   inflate-dankogai x 32.16 ops/sec ±0.13% (56 runs sampled)
   inflate-imaya x 30.35 ops/sec ±0.92% (53 runs sampled)
 ! inflate-pako x 69.89 ops/sec ±1.46% (71 runs sampled)
   inflate-pako-string x 19.22 ops/sec ±1.86% (49 runs sampled)
   inflate-pako-untyped x 17.19 ops/sec ±0.85% (32 runs sampled)
 * inflate-zlib x 70.03 ops/sec ±1.64% (81 runs sampled)

node v0.11.12, 1mb sample:

   deflate-dankogai x 5.60 ops/sec ±0.49% (17 runs sampled)
   deflate-gildas x 5.06 ops/sec ±6.00% (16 runs sampled)
   deflate-imaya x 3.52 ops/sec ±3.71% (13 runs sampled)
 ! deflate-pako x 11.52 ops/sec ±0.22% (32 runs sampled)
   deflate-pako-string x 9.53 ops/sec ±1.12% (27 runs sampled)
   deflate-pako-untyped x 5.44 ops/sec ±0.72% (17 runs sampled)
 * deflate-zlib x 14.05 ops/sec ±3.34% (63 runs sampled)
   inflate-dankogai x 42.19 ops/sec ±0.09% (56 runs sampled)
   inflate-imaya x 79.68 ops/sec ±1.07% (68 runs sampled)
 ! inflate-pako x 97.52 ops/sec ±0.83% (80 runs sampled)
   inflate-pako-string x 45.19 ops/sec ±1.69% (57 runs sampled)
   inflate-pako-untyped x 24.35 ops/sec ±2.59% (40 runs sampled)
 * inflate-zlib x 60.32 ops/sec ±1.36% (69 runs sampled)

npm install pako

bower install pako

var pako = require('pako');

// Deflate
//
var input = new Uint8Array();
//... fill input data here
var output = pako.deflate(input);

// Inflate (simple wrapper can throw exception on broken stream)
//
var compressed = new Uint8Array();
//... fill data to uncompress here
try {
  var result = pako.inflate(compressed);
} catch (err) {
  console.log(err);
}

//
// Alternate interface for chunking & without exceptions
//

var inflator = new pako.Inflate();

inflator.push(chunk1, false);
inflator.push(chunk2, false);
...
inflator.push(chunkN, true); // true -> last chunk

if (inflator.err) {
  console.log(inflator.msg);
}

var output = inflator.result;

var pako = require('pako');

var test = { my: 'super', puper: [456, 567], awesome: 'pako' };

var binaryString = pako.deflate(JSON.stringify(test), { to: 'string' });

//
// Here you can do base64 encode, make xhr requests and so on.
//

var restored = JSON.parse(pako.inflate(binaryString, { to: 'string' }));