Compression utility

[Sage]

Can anyone give me some input on a good (free) XP compatible compression utility. One that can handle .zip, .ace, .rar and so on.

 

[Mister Zee]

Originally posted by Sage
Can anyone give me some input on a good (free) XP compatible compression utility. One that can handle .zip, .ace, .rar and so on.

WINRAR!!!!!! It's the best ever!! You can have it in shareware version for a very long time. www.rarsoft.com

Supports all the above mentioned compression formats plus a lot more!

 

[Hilander]

Someone explain why WinRAR is better/different than WinZip?
Thanks

 

[AmarSingh]

Originally posted by Hilander
Someone explain why WinRAR is better/different than WinZip?
Thanks

i can't say cuz i haven't used winzip a whole lot, but winrar works great......power archiver is also a really good utility. Its a bit more customizable than winrar and its skinable too. Just my two cents

 

[LoctOut]

PowerArchiver is the best of all by far. They have gone to shareware, but if you hunt around you can probably still find the freeware version

 

[Mister Zee]

Originally posted by Hilander
Someone explain why WinRAR is better/different than WinZip?
Thanks

Winzip only suports ZIP format plus maybe some Unix types like tar.gz, but nothing else. You need plugins to supports other formats. WinRAR supports ALL the known formats (even mac I think) natively. Also, only the fact that you see folder paths as FOLDERS instead of all the file sin the same list with the folder written beside it makes all the difference for me. Also, the compression rate of RAR compared to ZIP is a LOT better. And RAR is the secondly most popular compression format out there...


Need more?

A little benchmark from the Rarsoft site: http://www.rarsoft.com/benchm.htm

Compare with WinZIP:
http://www.rarsoft.com/compare.htm

That should answer all your questions =P

 

[xsk8zerox]

I use either winace or winrar.. both have very good compression

 

[gajef]

If you want to have a freeware version: have a look at 7-zip.

The main features of 7-Zip are the following:

Free software distributed under the GNU LGPL.
Supported formats: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO and RPM.
For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip.
Highest compression ratio in new 7z format.
Self-extracting capability for 7z format.
Integration with Windows Shell.
Plugin for FAR Manager.
Powerful command line version

Gert-Jan