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  laszip:

  Compresses and uncompresses LIDAR data stored in binary LAS
  format (1.0 - 1.3) in a completely lossless manner to the
  compressed LAZ format.

  This tool comes with an LGPL license. The LASzip compression
  source code is embedded inside LASlib, the LGPL-licensed API
  that is used by all LAStools. The source code is also available
  at http://laszip.org packaged for integration into libLAS.

  The laszip compressor also includes full waveform compression,
  namely the WPD part of LAS 1.3 files. Compress/decompress the
  WPD part to and from a WPZ file via '-waveforms'. This makes
  only sense for point types 4 and 5. It is expected that the
  waveforms are sequential in the file.

  For updates check the website or join the LAStools mailing list.

  http://laszip.org/
  http://www.cs.unc.edu/~isenburg/lastools/
  http://groups.google.com/group/lastools/
  https://lidarbb.cr.usgs.gov/index.php?showtopic=8455
  http://twitter.com/lastools/
  http://facebook.com/lastools/

  Martin @lastools

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example usage:

>> laszip *.las

compresses all LAS files in the current folder overwriting any
existing file.

>> laszip *.laz

decompresses all LAZ files in the current folder overwriting any
existing file.

>> laszip *.txt -iparse xyztairn

parses and compresses all ASCII files in the current folder.

>> laszip lidar.las

compresses the LAS file 'lidar.las' to the LAZ file 'lidar.laz'
overwriting any existing file.

>> laszip lidar.laz

decompresses the LAZ file 'lidar.laz' to the LAS file 'lidar.las'
overwriting any existing file.

>> laszip -i lidar.las -o lidar_comp.laz

compresses the LAS file 'lidar.las' to the LAZ file 'lidar_comp.laz'

>> laszip -i data\flight*.las -merged -o merged.laz

merges all the LAS files that match the wild card 'data\flight*.las'
and compresses them to the LAZ file 'merged.laz'

>> laszip -lof file_list.txt

compresses (or uncompresses) all LAS/TXT (or LAZ) files listed in the
the text file 'file_list.txt'

>> laszip -lof file_list.txt -merged -o merged.laz

merges all the LAS/LAZ files listed in the text file 'file_list.txt'
and compresses them to the LAZ file 'merged.laz'

>> laszip -i lidar.txt -iparse xyziRGB -itranslate_intensity 2047

parses the ASCII file 'lidar.txt' with parse string 'xyziRGB' and
converts it on-the-fly to LAS while translating the intensity with
an offset of 2047 and compresses it to the LAZ file 'lidar.laz'

>> laszip -i *.txt -iparse xyzt -iscale_intensity 65535

parses all ASCII file ending in *.txt with parse string 'xyzt' and
converts them on-the-fly to LAS while scaling the intensity with a
multiplier of 65535 and compresses it to a properly named LAZ file.

>> laszip -i *.txt -iparse xyzt -iscale_intensity 65535 -merged -o merged.laz

same as above but all matching ASCII files are merged into one LAS
file.

for more info:

C:\lastools\bin>laszip -h
Filter points based on their coordinates.
  -clip_tile 631000 4834000 1000 (ll_x, ll_y, size)
  -clip_circle 630250.00 4834750.00 100 (x, y, radius)
  -clip 630000 4834000 631000 4836000 (min_x, min_y, max_x, max_y)
  -clip_x_below 630000.50 (min_x)
  -clip_y_below 4834500.25 (min_y)
  -clip_x_above 630500.50 (max_x)
  -clip_y_above 4836000.75 (max_y)
  -clip_z 11.125 130.725 (min_z, max_z)
  -clip_z_below 11.125 (min_z)
  -clip_z_above 130.725 (max_z)
Filter points based on their return number.
  -first_only
  -last_only
  -keep_return 1 2 3
  -drop_return 3 4
  -single_returns_only
  -double_returns_only
  -triple_returns_only
  -quadruple_returns_only
  -quintuple_returns_only
Filter points based on the scanline flags.
  -drop_scan_direction 0
  -scan_direction_change_only
  -edge_of_flight_line_only
Filter points based on their intensity.
  -keep_intensity 20 380
  -drop_intensity_below 20
  -drop_intensity_above 380
  -drop_intensity_between 4000 5000
Filter points based on their classification.
  -keep_class 1 3 7
  -drop_class 4 2
Filter points based on their point source ID.
  -keep_point_source 3
  -keep_point_source_between 2 6
  -drop_point_source_below 6
  -drop_point_source_above 15
  -drop_point_source_between 17 21
Filter points based on their scan angle.
  -keep_scan_angle -15 15
  -drop_scan_angle_below -15
  -drop_scan_angle_above 15
  -drop_scan_angle_between -25 -23
Filter points based on their gps time.
  -keep_gps_time 11.125 130.725
  -drop_gps_time_below 11.125
  -drop_gps_time_above 130.725
  -drop_gps_time_between 22.0 48.0
Filter points with simple thinning.
  -keep_every_nth 2
  -keep_random_fraction 0.1
  -thin_with_grid 1.0
Transform coordinates.
  -translate_x -2.5
  -scale_z 0.3048
  -rotate_xy 15.0 620000 4100000 (angle + origin)
  -translate_xyz 0.5 0.5 0
  -translate_then_scale_y -0.5 1.001
  -clamp_z 70.5 72.5
Transform raw xyz integers.
  -translate_raw_z 20
  -translate_raw_xyz 1 1 0
  -clamp_raw_z 500 800
Transform intensity.
  -scale_intensity 2.5
  -translate_intensity 50
  -translate_then_scale_intensity 0.5 3.1
Transform scan_angle.
  -scale_scan_angle 1.944445
  -translate_scan_angle -5
  -translate_then_scale_scan_angle -0.5 2.1
Repair points with return number or pulse count of zero.
  -repair_zero_returns
Change classification by replacing one with another.
  -change_classification_from_to 2 4
Transform gps_time.
  -translate_gps_time 40.50
Transform RGB colors.
  -scale_rgb_down (by 256)
  -scale_rgb_up (by 256)
Supported LAS Inputs
  -i lidar.las
  -i lidar.laz
  -i lidar1.las lidar2.las lidar3.las -merged
  -i *.las
  -i flight0??.laz flight1??.laz -single
  -i lidar.txt -iparse xyzti (on-the-fly from ASCII)
  -i lidar.txt -iparse xyzi -itranslate_intensity 1024
  -lof file_list.txt
  -stdin (pipe from stdin)
  -rescale 0.1 0.1 0.1
  -reoffset 600000 4000000 0
Supported LAS Outputs
  -o lidar.las
  -o lidar.laz
  -o xyzta.txt -oparse xyzta (on-the-fly to ASCII)
  -olas -olaz -otxt (specify format)
  -stdout (pipe to stdout)
  -nil    (pipe to NULL)
usage:
laszip *.las
laszip *.laz
laszip *.txt -iparse xyztiarn
laszip lidar.las
laszip lidar.laz -v
laszip -i lidar.las -o lidar_zipped.laz
laszip -i lidar.laz -o lidar_unzipped.las
laszip -i lidar.las -stdout -olaz > lidar.laz
laszip -stdin -o lidar.laz < lidar.las
laszip -h

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if you find bugs let me (martin.isenburg@gmail.com) know.