Special User Sections > What's the Best?

Best file archiver/compresser

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yksyks:
Rar is indeed the archiver of choice for software pirates.-Innuendo (March 17, 2010, 08:01 PM)
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I was unaware of this... I wonder why?
-Darwin (March 17, 2010, 11:20 PM)
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The reason is probably the RAR's option to encrypt not only the contents, but also the folder structure and filenames, so without the password you can't see anything. In an encrypted ZIP archive you can see the filenames inside, although you can't decrypt them. This might be an important option not only for software pirates.

Innuendo:
I was unaware of this... I wonder why?-Darwin (March 17, 2010, 11:20 PM)
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You haven't heard? WinRAR really whips the llama's ass.

No, but seriously...RAR became the standard way back in the day before everyone had a high-speed internet connection. Having a high-speed connection in your home was unheard of. That is, if you had even heard of the internet at all. High-speed connections were reserved for business or, if you were lucky, you were a college student who had access to the university's connection.

Back then ZIP and RAR were roughly equivalent, but where RAR pulled ahead by a large margin was error recovery. When you were on dial-up and and downloading that hot state-of-the art game (that shipped on 6 floppy disks! :D ) the game was always broke down into multi-archives with one part comprising each disk. With ZIP if one of those parts were compromised during the download due to transmission errors you were stuck re-downloading the entire part again which took a long time. The key feature that ensured RAR's success with the pirate crowd was the recovery records feature. RAR could almost always repair the files saving a lengthy repeat download.

edbro:
I've used Winrar for ages, and not just because of compression ratios. I just like Winrar's interface and configurable context menu. I also like the multiple formats it handles. With a lifetime license, I see no need to change.

With a terabyte hd costing under $100 and broadband connections ubiquitous, I don't even look at the compression ratio. I'm not that worried about a few bytes, although, I'd wager that rar is one of the better formats for compression ratios.

Innuendo:
I've used Winrar for ages, and not just because of compression ratios. I just like Winrar's interface and configurable context menu. I also like the multiple formats it handles. With a lifetime license, I see no need to change.-edbro (March 18, 2010, 10:32 AM)
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I won a free license for WinRAR here on DC (I think everyone else that month were gunning for the glamorous, glitzy programs) & while that's a lifetime license I still opened my wallet and paid for PowerArchiver Pro. With the Windows 7 integration, modern ribbon GUI interface, quick file preview, etc. it just makes every other archiver on the market seem primitive by comparison.

(Of course it didn't hurt that I bought PA Pro on sale, either, and the PA licenses are lifetime as well.)

Target:
Doh! Why didn't I think of that  :-[-Darwin (March 18, 2010, 01:41 AM)
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I think you might be pulling my (arrrr...wooden?) leg...
-Target (March 18, 2010, 01:56 AM)
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So you decided to stick around, ha? You must have BALZ
-PhilB66 (March 18, 2010, 03:19 AM)
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stick? STICK!!  enough with the wooden leg jokes already...

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