by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

Zip and 7-Zip


I think the most popular file compression format is ‘zip’, the program WinZip and the least known is 7-zip and the 7z format.  In spite that WinZip is not a free product, while 7-Zip is a free and Open Source application, people flock to WinZip.

I had started using 7-Zip sometime in 2005 and have stuck on to it ever since – why pay money for something when you can get a *similar* one for free?  There are also people who twist this around and try to ‘get’ the *exact* product for free – to me, it is a no-no. 

I mean either
  • use a free or open source application, or
  • if you can’t find one, then pay for the commercial product, or else
  • do not attempt that particular work or job.
Thus whenever my advice for PC selection or troubleshooting is requested, I always install 7-Zip instead of WinZip or WinRar.

It is disgusting that I find the same PC with both 7-Zip and WinZip or WinRar subsequently.  My recommendation of 7-Zip is not based on my ‘like’ for free/open source products.  It is just that 7-Zip is far better utility for compression than the commercial products.

For one, with 7-Zip, I can edit and update an archive – change or update a file within the zip file.  With WinZip, I will have to extract, edit/update and zip it back.  Watch 7-Zip in action, when I add ‘enjoy :-)’ as last line to the ‘make file list.txt’ file in the ‘XPonlyOS.zip’.

7-Zip in action

For another, with 7-Zip I can open the zip file contents and while they are open, close the 7-Zip itself.  With others, you have to keep the ‘parent’ application too alive.

Last, there is the format itself.  As we can see from Keep WinXP updated – the easy way, the original XPonlyOS folder is 76.9 MB.  When compressed as Zip (by 7-Zip) it becomes 75.24 MB.  When compressed as 7z (by 7-Zip), it is an impressive 42.28 MB!
:-D

Oh, BTW 7-Zip is free for all – personal AND commercial.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, that's why I advised my sister for a universal file viewer because different document formats can confuse her. A big amount software for installation is almost 100% possibility to download a virus, and the computer will be slow or break down eventually. In order to understand more about how to open rar file https://wikiext.com/rar I would draw your attention to a specific article that will answer all questions concerning archiving and unpacking files.

    ReplyDelete

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