====================================================== https://www.topattack.com/list/best-file-compression-software-review/35 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First off, I use 7-Zip almost exclusively, and if not 7-Zip, then I reach for WinRAR. That said, I found this comparison of the various file compression software quite thorough and interesting. I learned about apps, such as the free Bandizip, that I had never heard of. No compression software app is rated the best for all situations, but I might try out some of the free options such as either Bandizip or PeaZip. And if you ever need to deal with B1 files, then B1 Free is your only option. If you want to try the one they rated as the best, PowerArchiver, the latest release is PowerArchiver 2019 build 57. The closest I found was 2019_19.00.50. A comparison of the various versions of PowerArchiver can be found here - https://www.powerarchiver.com/powerarchiver-toolbox/ - scroll down and click "compare". Anyway, the overall comparison is here: ====================================================== https://www.topattack.com/list/best-file-compression-software-review/35 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I couldn't easily copy the wonderfully complete comparison charts here, so you'll have to go to the site to see it. Click the categories on the left of the "graph" if you don't want to read the tables. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019 Best File Compression Software Review Ranking ------------ PowerArchiver 01 - - Review » -- Download -- $22.95 Bandizip 02 - - Review » -- Download -- Free PKZIP 03 - - Review » -- Download -- $39.95 PeaZip 04 - - Review » -- Download -- Free WinRAR 05 - - Review » -- Download -- $40.42 jZip 06 - - Review » -- Download -- Free BitZipper 07 - - Review » -- Download -- $24.95 WinZip 08 - - Review » -- Download -- $29.95 System Navigator 09 - - Review » -- Download -- $34.95 IZArc 10 - - Review » -- Download -- Free B1 Free Archiver 11 - - Review » -- Download -- Free 7-Zip 12 - - Review » -- Download -- Free HaoZip 13 - - Review » -- Download -- Free ======================================================
7zip is best, followed by WinRAR (for SFX), I am able to do amazing command line tricks with 7z and it's proven itself time and again - even being part of SetupS. So you can say the others are better, but I doubt we'd really believe you
A lot of programs just use 7-Zip compression etc and don't have their own algorithms. So they're basically GUIs. I did really like HaoZip at the time, but they aren't maintaining new versions with English translations so it's definitely China-centric now. But yeah who puts 7-Zip at no. 12 doesn't know what they're talking about nor how the other softwares rely on it under the hood. Heck, many companies now use 7-Zip to compress files inside their installers!
Sigh. JPG and MP3 are lossy compression. That's a whole separate class of compression methodology. More accurately called "destructive" or "irreversible" compression. Data archivers use all sorts of lossless compression techniques & algorithms but would never use a lossy one. An apples to apples comparison to include pictures and audio would've listed something like PNG and FLAC instead. 7-Zip (the archiver) likely ranks so low because it does, in my opinion, perform so poorly. 7z (the format), on the other hand, is actually highly rated throughout and support of is a requirement to even be considered a major player.
That's right, .7z is distinct from 7-Zip the archiver as such, though both stem from Igor Pavlov Yes, get audio in FLAC or similar, then if you need it for a tablet or player, you can always encode it to MP3 or whatever for that particular use. It's funny, there are people out there who have up-encoded a 128kbps MP3 to a 320kbps one, thinking it would be better quality Myself for MP3 I always use max VBR settings unless storage space is an issue like on a portable player.
I get 160 or 192kb/s MP3's but wouldn't down sample a few that I got at 320, I can hear the imperfections and quality issues in doing this, but as I am only listening off my PC (with $100 headphones) or over basic Bluetooth speakers, or perhaps some factory car speakers, I don't really gain any quality that is noticeable on these devices EXCEPT for VBR that dip under 80kb/s (wobble effect) or Hissing S's due to clipping (over volume) I usually re-get songs that have these issues. I enjoy mostly old music from 50's, 80's and 90's with a few early 2000's and finally post 2015 when Rap/talking stopped being the majority of music (which I can't stand to listen too as I literally can not hear what they are saying - I lack the skills to do so). The only other thing with my music choices are I hate it when a song repeats the same sentence over 3 times in a row, this makes me usually remove it from the collection, as I find if a song doesn't progress or have enough to say then it's not worth having. This all said I have few categories of music I enjoy, Old (Earth Angle, Wonderful World, California Dreaming etc), Uplifting/energetic (Imagine Dragons, Train, Vance Joy (building up instruments/voice)), Sad (Someone You Loved, Hallelujah, (thinking music)), Some Angry music and catchy ear worms, there a few anomalies but not as many. Team check other sub forums for more info.
I haven't down-sampled much from higher quality MP3's to lower quality ones, but the few times I did it wasn't much of an issue unless I went too low. 128kbps is really too low for most music, unless it's not very complex. Encoding with VBR really shows one this, the more dense/complex the audio (not so much the length of the track) the larger the file will be -- but that is the same with converting to JPG using an image with gradients (complex/dense data) rather than with swaths of monotone color, the sizes differ dramatically. 192kbps usually sounds pretty good. In the early days you could get issues encoding with VBR as some portable audio players wouldn't support it. At least, that's what I read but even on some ancient players I had it was never an issue. As far as audio from PC, storage is not so much an issue there so I prefer FLAC for the master tracks but not because it's better to listen to than 320 or 256 kbps or whatever, but because one then has the choice to encode to whatever lossy format one chooses, and at whatever bitrate. So I don't really have a preference listening to a flac track over a 256kbps MP3, but I do prefer having flac or another non-lossy format for future encoding to lossy formats/bitrates of choice.
Hmm, can't seem to find a "free" PowerArchiver 2019 yet, only 2018 versions. It actually has a Dark theme option Bandizip I'll make into a ssApp. It's dual-arch but it's a combined installer and doesn't have a portable option. PeaZip does and I probably need to update those. PKZIP, I can't find it for free either -- but then it can't even create .7z archives (the format isn't an option) so I think I'll pass on that anyway. It appears to be enterprise oriented, because they make server editions for Windows and various Linux flavors, etc. I'll try some out on this list, despite my prejudices
Besides 7-Zip, is there any archivers that can create/compress using 7z? I know WinRAR doesn't -- just extracts 7z.
I'm not sure, but I did see that someone over at MSFN updated their copy of Bandizip with the latest files from 7-Zip v19, which started my latest interest of archiving programs (he also referenced the link in the OP), but I don't know if that was for encoding, or just decoding, I guess probably the latter. EDIT: Bandizip CAN create 7z files. How well, and where to "update" the program I haven't found, yet. EDIT2: It ends up he, the MSFN guy, was using Bandizip v5.23 (2019-02-23) on XP. It doesn't look to me that the the newer versions of Bandizip can be updated with files from 7-Zip, at least if it can, I can't see how. On the other hand, that implies that they are doing the 7-Zip compression and de-compression on their own? -- Confirmed. See - https://www.bandisoft.com/bandizip/help/7z/ But it doesn't look like Bandizip can create RAR files, only de-compress them.
BandiZip, PeaZip, and HaoZip can create .7z files, I just checked it. WinRAR, indeed, cannot. BTW: The official English language installer for HaoZip is 3.x, but I've had a modded 4.1.x version with English lang files included and set to default. Current version is 5.x but the older lang files don't work all the way anymore and they have not made an English version past 3.x, sadly. Thanks, BP! I'll check it out.
While looking around LastOS, I ran across an old, similar thread I made a number of years ago - Archiving comparison Be sure to check out the - the comparison tables at maximumcompression.com - and the - Summary of all single file-type lossless data compression tests - is also interesting, including the notes at the bottom. It hasn't been updated since late 2011, but still lists MANY, MANY archiving apps I haven't heard of. It seems that FreeArc was very good at one time, open source I believe and still available, along with early releases of it's next-gen product FreeArc Next, but it seems neither have been updated in a number of years, so are now quite dated.
