Java | Compression | Difference between using Deflater, DeflaterOutputStream and GZIPOutputStream

Use Case: I am working with Java, Spring Boot Rest API project. I am storing each request's payload in the cosmos DB (sql). Since payload is big in size, I want to apply compression before persisting into DB.

Problem Statement: I explored over web, different ways of compression - using Deflater, DeflaterOutputStream and GZIPOutputStream. I tried implementing and figured out each ultimately comes to Deflater() class for compression (see below the code for constructor).

DeflaterOutputStream constructor:

public DeflaterOutputStream(OutputStream out, boolean syncFlush) {
        this(out, new Deflater(), 512, syncFlush);
        usesDefaultDeflater = true;
    }

GZIPOutputStream constructor:

public GZIPOutputStream(OutputStream out, int size, boolean syncFlush)
        throws IOException
    {
        super(out, new Deflater(Deflater.DEFAULT_COMPRESSION, true),
              size,
              syncFlush);
        usesDefaultDeflater = true;
        writeHeader();
        crc.reset();
    }

Question:

1. How these 3 are different when comes to about compressing the data?
2. How to choose which to use for my use case.

I could not find when to use each of the three class.

EDIT on 12 Jun 12:01pm GMT

I have tried all 3 with some sample data, and measured along 2 dimensions - time taken to compress, and size after compression, with following observations:

• DeflaterOutputStream

Time(in ns): ~325037(avg of 50 iterations); 430140(100); 356630(1000)
before compress size, byte.length: 15322
after compress size, byte.length: 3909

• GZIPOutputStream

Time(in ns): ~407427(avg of 50 iterations); 411844(100); 366735(1000)
before compress size, byte.length: 15322
after compress size, byte.length: 3921

• Deflater

Time(in ns: ~395136(); 100(379532); 337576(1000)
before compress size, byte.length: 15322
after compress size, byte.length: 3909

1. Time taken is almost similar in all 3 cases.
2. DeflaterOutputStream & Deflater compresses to same size, and GZIPOutputStream has 12 bytes extra - I have tried with different data, and this this 12 byte diff was consistent.

DeflaterOutputStream produces raw deflate compressed data. Deflater produces deflate data with a zlib wrapper, unless nowrap is specified, which case again a raw deflate stream is produced. (In both cases, the word "deflator" is sadly misspelled. The Java librarians also misspelled "inflator".) GZIPOutputStream produces deflate data with a gzip wrapper.

They will all compress the same, with small wrappers added in two cases. The zlib wrapper is six bytes, and the gzip wrapper is 18 bytes. The wrappers provide an important check on data integrity.

As for what to choose, that's up to you.