WinRAR vs. WinZIP

[napnip]

OK, so I decided to do a little test and compare the two. I had created a DivX AVI file of a movie, and wanted to shrink it down. The original AVI is 724 megs. (It's my first DivX creation, I can probably do better once I get the "feel" of creating DivX videos.)

Anyway, I zip this file up using WinZIP's maximum compression, and it shrinks it to 718 megs in about 2 minutes.

Then, I compress it using WinRAR's maximum compression, and it shrinks it to 717 megs in about 45 minutes!

Is that the best WinRAR can do? I was told by several people that WinRAR has superior compression capabilities. So why does it take so much longer to compress a file, and the best it can offer me over WinZIP is one lousy meg?

2 minutes with WinZIP vs. 45 minutes with WinRAR, and the best I got with WinRAR was a 1 meg smaller file! :mad:

Has anybody else had better luck with WinRAR?

[DUKE HARDKNOCK]

I guess it depends on the files, WinRAR can compress some can be a lot more than WinZIP could, but I don't think it's a must in most scenarios. I for one only use WinRAR to unpack non-ZIP archives.

[BloodyL]

WinRAR is normally perfect for me, there must be something amiss there.

BTW, DivX/XviD avi's are already heavily compressed, in regards to both the video layer and the mp3 audio layer, using a compression program will only knock a few more mb off, as you have found out.

if the video is still too big, learn how to cut the credits of the end of the film using nandub, that normally cuts off around 20mb or so.
Then finetune your encoding methods, are you learning from doom9.org, I hope you are! ;)

the best data for packing is ASCII, get yourself a really large HTML or TXT file, say 1 to 2mb, then pack with WinZip & WinRAR, see which one works best. :)

[opus512]

Try WinAce, as well.

I like Winzip though, bought it years ago.

[DUKE HARDKNOCK]

Originally posted by BloodyL
the best data for packing is ASCII, get yourself a really large HTML or TXT file, say 1 to 2mb, then pack with WinZip & WinRAR, see which one works best. :)

Of course, that begs the question: how many 1+ MB ASCII files does anyone have in the first place and how many of those would ever have to be compressed?

EDIT: Incidentally I tried zipping and rarring my latest HSF database backup (Coranto stores everything in flat text files). The original file was 547 kB: WinZIP brought it down to 203kB, WinRAR made a 136kB archive. That's about 35% less, which is quite good but not so good that I really need it unless I have to send several dozen of these files over a 56kbps connection or something.

[Banana-King]

Maybe it took 43 minutes to get that extra 1mb? :D

[OtakingGX]

I'm not making archives, but I do use both programs. WinZip for .zip files and WinRar for .rar--and every other archive--file. I've had .zip files I downloaded that WinZip handled fine but WinRar choked on. It's not common, but it has happened, so I keep WinZip around for just that reason.

[scottg26]

i like winrar if i need to have the smallest size possible, but i use winzip daily. winzip has a nice interface too

[Huber]

Originally posted by BloodyL
WinRAR is normally perfect for me, there must be something amiss there.

BTW, DivX/XviD avi's are already heavily compressed, in regards to both the video layer and the mp3 audio layer, using a compression program will only knock a few more mb off, as you have found out.

if the video is still too big, learn how to cut the credits of the end of the film using nandub, that normally cuts off around 20mb or so.
Then finetune your encoding methods, are you learning from doom9.org, I hope you are! ;)

the best data for packing is ASCII, get yourself a really large HTML or TXT file, say 1 to 2mb, then pack with WinZip & WinRAR, see which one works best. :)


yeah thats really the thing. video files are compressed. if you know how compression works you'll understand. basically a compression program finds strings of say 5 0's or 5 1's or more. it uses a subtiution bit then to represent those 5 ones. so you have 1 bit representing 5. this is done already in a movie file such as divx. so when you whent to compress it more there where hardley any long strings left. incedentaly the reason winrar takes much longer is because of its encoding technique is much more thorough than winzip. but yes it normally does a much better job

[ItsNoot]

Originally posted by Huber



yeah thats really the thing. video files are compressed. if you know how compression works you'll understand. basically a compression program finds strings of say 5 0's or 5 1's or more. it uses a subtiution bit then to represent those 5 ones. so you have 1 bit representing 5. this is done already in a movie file such as divx. so when you whent to compress it more there where hardley any long strings left. incedentaly the reason winrar takes much longer is because of its encoding technique is much more thorough than winzip. but yes it normally does a much better job

Word :)

WinRAR is awesome, I use it exclusively.

[ArchAngelCD]

I use only WinRar because a lot of compressed file releases are in that format but I usually use the .zip format in WinRar when I compress files because it is a lot faster.

[czorhanz]

Originally posted by opus512


I like Winzip though, bought it years ago.

Yeah right!!LOL who the hell actually buys winzip??

[scottg26]

Originally posted by czorhanz


Yeah right!!LOL who the hell actually buys winzip??

opus512?

i paid for getright when i got my credit card earlier this year, lol

[opus512]

Originally posted by czorhanz


Yeah right!!LOL who the hell actually buys winzip??

Realy, I did :P

Not long aftre it was clear Netscape was going under, I used that program for years without paying for it, I decided I would support shareware after that :D

Also own GameSpy and Powerstrip.

[abid]

Hi,

For me win zip is the best one over winrar for many reasons. I'm usng winzip for many years and it s working fine for me. In between i tried winrar but its not showing performance as you said earlier. Try the new version of win zip here . click Win Zip (http://www.slackercentral.com)

[opus512]

The way to sneak in incognito is not to bring up a seven year dead necro thread :lol:

[Emig5m]

I use only WinRar because a lot of compressed file releases are in that format

This ^^

And if people are complaining about WinRAR being too slow, then don't ever try 7Zip. :P (but I'm sure A LOT of things have changed since 2003 :P )

[opus512]

Well if we're gonna dance on the dead, I still use WinZip 9. That was the last version you could use the 'trial' version of it without buying it, as well as the last version that fell under my original 'lifetime' license. I bought that originally before I even started hanging out on 3dfx, think it would a been like 1993 or some shit, heh. I got free upgrades for ten years at least, it was worth the money. I have a 'trial' version of WinRAR in case I need it, and with Windows supporting zip files and storage so damn cheap it doesn't really matter anymore.

[Sabbz]

I just use 7zip. It's easy, it supports all the formats, that I know of, and it's free, so fuck it.

[Cop]

2003 for fuck's sake!

Napnip, Blidd, Scott :lol: It still has quotes in bold even :lol:

[PaleDuke]

Necro threads are best archived with 7zip.

[Cop]

I stick with winrar because it's already on the system, it's free and it opens all other formats as well...

On this system however, there still aren't any of those things installed, so I'm free to choose, but there's a big chance I'd still stick with winrar, just because I already know it. But as of yet, no reason to install it here on this PC...

[Sabbz]

2003 for fuck's sake!

Napnip, Blidd, Scott :lol: It still has quotes in bold even :lol:
Blame the spam whore and Opus. :lol: I knew it was a necro when I replied, but I didn't care. :P

[Freeman]

I wish I could be as slick a spammer as that guy was. He's my hero.

[opus512]

Blame the spam whore and Opus. :lol: I knew it was a necro when I replied, but I didn't care. :P
Hey I said it was necro from the start :P

[abin]

Good post

[PaleDuke]

:lol:

[Cop]

What the fucking hell? Necro of a necro by a spambot...

[Apoch003]

Good Post GrapeNuts

[czorhanz]

LOLOLOLOLOl holy cow 2003?? i used winzip btw like in the 90's

[czorhanz]

I stick with winrar because it's already on the system, it's free and it opens all other formats as well...

On this system however, there still aren't any of those things installed, so I'm free to choose, but there's a big chance I'd still stick with winrar, just because I already know it. But as of yet, no reason to install it here on this PC...
what?.....

[Apoch003]

Zombie thread needs brains....