[Geek] Compression utility

[dancefloorlandmine]

We've got people currently using .zip utilities to compress files. However, we've also had a problem with at least one .zip archive corrupting, which is, technically at least, referred to as "a bugger". What, in the collected opinion of those who intermittently browse these tedious pages, is the best compression software, taking into account cost, compression performance, reliability, and recoverability/tendency to corrupt. Oh, and ease of use ...

Cheers, all!

Comments

[stevek.livejournal.com]

Winzip is the obvious answer, but at work I've got ZipGenius5 - I can't really comment on their reliability etc as I don't zip stuff too often.

Sorry, probably not quite the answer you were looking for!

[flick.livejournal.com]

Do you really need to zip stuff? Couldn't you blag a couple of pen drives and use those? just a thought!

[jaq.livejournal.com]

If you installed Cygwin you could use Gzip or Bzipped tars - Gzip is fairly ubiquitous and usually comes out slightly smaller than Zip; Bzip is not quite so well known but makes even smaller files. If you're happy with a unix-style shell you can script these, which could be useful. Not sure how well GUI tools deal with them though.

[easterbunny.livejournal.com]

I'm ashamed to say that I use winzip on my laptop, and plain old tar and gzip on my linux box. I'm also a big fan of java's jar facility and making .WAR with maven, but those are not quite right for your standard zip alternative.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Mmm, unzipping... ;->

Zippyness :)

[gaxx.livejournal.com]

The format? .zip without a doubt. Why?

• Pretty much all of the general-purpose compression formats are pretty much on a par for compression-ratio and speed.


• .zip is, by a very long way, the most prevalent format for the PC


• There are plenty of free tools for .zip as well as free libraries for codies to write stuff

Util to work with it? I go for ZipGenius - easy, free and realatively reliable.

Corruption? Unfortunately files will corrupt from time to time. The more compressed they are the more likely that corruption is to do something nasty (I haven't thought that one through thoroughly but I think I'm right). The only real defence is proper backups :)

[thepaintedone.livejournal.com]

For format, ZIP. Anything else makes not the slightest bit of sense for non-geeks.

Personaly I've always used the shareware version of winzip (well I originaly used pkzip, but never mind). Or rather I did until I migrated to windows XP. It has built in zip support in the OS, which presents zips as folders to the users. Very, very simple, user friendly and free with the OS.

[resyk.livejournal.com]

I like the winzip self extractor app, simply because it allows me to force destination if necessary and is a one-click for the end user - but, for general compression goodness.. http://www.win-rar.com/index.php is great.

resyk