Compression comparison



Test cases


Multi Install (4.498.669 bytes):
ACE: 1.735.790 (38,6% of original size)
RAR: 1.930.238 (42,9% of original size)
ZIP: 2.565.461 (57,0% of original size)

The game Unreal Tournament (548.174.043 bytes)
ACE: 287.930.803 (52,5% of original size)
RAR: 293.905.623 (53,6% of original size)
ZIP: 334.590.178 (61,0% of original size)

System32 files and sub folders (489.108.080 bytes)
ACE: 121.732.511 (24,9% of original size)
RAR: 128.530.876 (26,3% of original size)
ZIP: 209.790.599 (42,9% of original size)


(ACE/RAR/ZIP files were compressed with maximum compression settings)
(ACE files were compressed with WinAce2 compression)



Conclusion


These tests clearly show that zip is a clear looser. Do not use zip files unless space is not an issue - and why compress then? Well, for some reason zip is still very widely used.

The choice is between ACE and RAR.
ACE compresses slightly better which means that if you are making a 650 mb cd with ACE compressed files you will get room for about 25 mb extra files... not bad!

Go ACE


2001-05-09 | Posted by D-ilusion

winrar why ?? the frontend in winace2 is slow and pedantically...i need a packer and unpacker not a file manager



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2001-06-03 | Posted by Matt

Done a few tests myself - POWERARCHIVER CAB using LZX compression is almost as good as WinACE2 - and fully supported by about 3 freeware programs.