Compression programs, which one?

[ruderacer]

anyone know of a free compression programs that works well?

[burninfool]

Use Winzip or Winrar.Winrar is better at compressing but the user must have Winrar installed to read the file,Winzip on the otherhand is supported by Win98SE -> XP.
BTW...Winrar isn't free but has a 30 day trial.

[ruderacer]

I tried the winrar, but stupid me could not figure it out. After messing with it I was able to see the file, but compression wasn't all that great. It compressed it only 1MB. I thought these programs could compress alot more, but then I don't know much about some of these things. Thanks.

If you know of an idiot for compression site let me know. TIA

[pranav81]

Well,compression of a certain file depends on the file type.Sometimes the compressed files are larger than the original file,by some bytes.So compression programs always dont work on each and every file.The compression ratio changes for different file types.But I have seen that rar always offers better compression than zip files,though it is not as common as Winzip.


::Pranav::

[dodecahedron]

i agree.
in all cases i compared, compressing with winzip (best compression) vs. winrar (best compression), winrar compresses better (smaller final file).
but winzip is usually faster (both compression and decompression).

both files have trial downloads (trialware).
www.winzip.com
www.rarlabs.com

[Matt]

Free Winzip like program:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/zipgenius.html

I've used it before. It has quite an elegant interface and the best part is that it's free.