What is Zend Optimizer?

Zend Optimizer is a free application that allows PHP to run files encoded by Zend Guard. Zend Optimizer greatly enhances the performance of PHP applications.

The Zend Optimizer goes over the code generated by the standard Zend run-time compiler and optimizes it for faster execution. The standard Zend run-time compiler used by PHP is indeed very fast, generating code that is usually 2 to 10 times faster. But an application that uses Zend Optimizer can execute scripts another 40% to 100% faster.

The latest stable version of Zend Optimizer is installed on all servers as part of our Professional Zend Optimizer Hosting.

Zend Guard Compatibility:

The encoded files must be compiled with a compatible version of Zend Guard. When you are not sure about the Zend Guard version, always use the latest version of Zend Optimizer. If the versions of Zend Guard and Zend Optimizer are incompatible, the Optimizer will fail to run the encoded files and will display an error message. Currently, we support Zen Guard for PHP 5.4 and PHP 5.5.

To ensure that Zend Optimizer is properly running, create a phpinfo.php file with the following code:

<?phpphpinfo();?>

Once this is done access the file via web browser. The part associated with Zend Optimizer will look like this:

This program makes use of the Zend Scripting Language Engine:Zend Engine vX.Y.Z, Copyright (c) 1998-2007 Zend Technologies.>with Zend Optimizer vX.Y.Z, Copyright (c) 1998-2007, by Zend Technologies

The Zend Optimizer is capable of performing around 20 different optimizations, some of which are quite complex. One of the optimizations Zend Optimizer does is to change post-incrementing to pre-incrementing, where possible, since pre-incrementing is the faster operation of the two. You can adjust your Zend Optimizer to perform only the desired optimizations. Each optimization can be turned on or off by setting the corresponding option.