What is your most used zip compression utility?

[yoda313]

THANKS TO ALLY68 FOR THIS POLL IDEA!

What is your most used zip compression utility?

WinZip
WinRAR
7zip
Jzip


I guess my use is almost 50/50 with winrar and winzip.

How about you?

[retpyrc]

I don't understand why anyone would use WinZip, what can it do that WinRAR, 7 Zip, or JZip cannot?

[gadgetguy]

I don't do much file compression anymore. Transport and backup media is large enough to not require it these days, so on the rare occasion I need to zip something up I use pkzip.

[stiltman]

WinRAR for me. I too don't do much compressing anymore, but I do use it to open zips. I also like to open ISOs with it. That and Winimage are all I use

[johns0]

I use winrar most of the time then 7-zip for archives that winrar doesnt open with right click,ditched winzip years ago,does less than others.

[yoda313]

You know now that I think about it I mainly use winrar on my vista pc. I think its the default zip program on that one. My emachine is setup with winzip. So all in all its still about 50/50 for the two of them. Just 100% of the time on any given computer.

However I almost NEVER zip anymore. Most of the time I use them is for unzipping downloaded files - drivers and what-not.

[G)-(OST]

Winrar, but a little heavy on the resources IMHO.

[freebird73717]

7zip for me.

[PuzZLeR]

Wow, I've just noticed with this thread that it's been like 5 - 10 years already since I've even cared to update my app for this, or care for another one. Why bother? My needs for this are less and less as well for similar reasons as others here.

And that tool is still an old version of WinRAR that I own - never had a single problem with it. And it will probably be the one I keep using still probably for another long, long time yet it appears. There's no need. It's solid as is and there's nothing to update for.

I still use it for minor stuff today:

Email attachments - for example who the heck wants to upload 20 .xls files instead of one convenient .zip file?

And yeah, I do need to unzip drivers, etc, too that I download.

BTW - WinZip was old already years ago IMO.

[redwudz]

7Zip most all the time with me. I still use WinRAR, but only with RAR archives. The only irritation I have with Zip extraction is Windows trying to butt in with it's wimpy and slow Zip extractor.

[JohnnyBob]

UltimateZip 2007
It was still free back then...

[johns0]

7Zip most all the time with me. I still use WinRAR, but only with RAR archives. The only irritation I have with Zip extraction is Windows trying to butt in with it's wimpy and slow Zip extractor.

I never have windows trying to butt in and unzip files,did you make 7-zip the default zipper when you installed it?

[darkknight145]

it use to be WinZip closely followed by WinRar,
But since zipping of files can now be done by Windows itself it's now
Windows followed by WinRar. I only use WinRar to uncommpress RAR files downloaded ex the net

[redwudz]

I never have windows trying to butt in and unzip files,did you make 7-zip the default zipper when you installed it?

'Butt in' is probably the wrong way to put it. I just don't want Windows to even have a Zip decryption choice on the context menus.

When I do use the Windows program, it dithers for several long seconds, checking with the OS to see if there might be problems and checking with Defender and asking if this might be a security problem. 7zip decrypts the file in a 1/4 of the time or less. My anti-malware programs have already checked the file and cleared it. Try both programs and see the decryption time difference for yourself.

[johns0]

'Butt in' is probably the wrong way to put it. I just don't want Windows to even have a Zip decryption choice on the context menus.

I checked and i dont have windows on my context menu to unzip files,maybe its a bit different on vista 64 compared to vista 32.

[Ai Haibara]

C'mon, there's more archiver programs out there than that.

I use IZArc and 7-Zip, for the most part.

[lordhutt]

winrar 99.9% of the time.
Never even heard of the others you listed except winzip...which I didn't think anyone used anymore.

Once in a while I download something that needs to use HJSplit which is not on the list.

[Baldrick]

winrar and 7zip.

[Des]

I use camunzip, which can also zip. On the rare occassions I need to compress somthing. Mostly it's to bundle a folder up for easier transport or emailing.

--dES

[Ally68]

WinRAR for me

[GKar]

IZArc by Ivan Zahariev

[Bulldog57]

winrar and 7zip

[jimmalenko]

Winzip mostly.

[AlanHK]

Winrar (or actually the command line , just "rar", integrated into FAR, the file utility made by the same guys, that looks like the old Norton Commander).

I make rar archives of all kinds of projects for backup, video -- all the little AVS, GFD, text and image files, except for the actual videos -- and for work, stuff for DTP, a whole book in one convenient file, my email mailboxes.


And when I have a few MB free on a DVD I stash some of these backups on it -- using encrypted RARs, which are effectively uncrackable, except by dictionary attack. So my friends have my backups on the DVDs I give them, in case of disaster.

[lordsmurf]

WinRAR

[noemi7]

Total Commander with internal zip/rar engine.

[Jim44]

Winzip here, mainly 'cause I've been a user (paid) of it for ~10 years. I did use pkzip in the early '90s.

[PuzZLeR]

Since this is a video forum, if I may comment here, anybody notice that you can get some compression with bigger formats like DV when you archive it with a tool like WinRAR? It comes in handy when you want to archive more on a data disc. Neat. But the process feels like an encode since it takes a bit of time...

It doesn't do much for MPEG-1/2/4 though since they are already highly compressed. I think DivX even recommends against doing this for their format (but not sure if it's because it's lossy or because they assume you'd think it would play on stand-alones this way...).

[El Heggunte]

Bad habits: I use Winzip for opening zips, and WinRAR for opening
RARs and .7Zs. The worst part: my favorite compressor still is cabarc.exe.

[AlanHK]

Since this is a video forum, if I may comment here, anybody notice that you can get some compression with bigger formats like DV when you archive it with a tool like WinRAR? It comes in handy when you want to archive more on a data disc. Neat. But the process feels like an encode since it takes a bit of time...

It doesn't do much for MPEG-1/2/4 though since they are already highly compressed. I think DivX even recommends against doing this for their format (but not sure if it's because it's lossy or because they assume you'd think it would play on stand-alones this way...).

Rar certainly is not lossy.
It saves barely any space when compressing video but it's highly recommended for uploading as it has error checking that will tell you if the the file is incomplete or damaged. Rar can split archives into any convenient size, and you can add recovery to correct small errors.

RAR has very strong encryption: The only way to crack a passworded RAR is dictionary attack.

And another really nice use: making image archives:
Take a batch of any kind of image (jpg, gif, png, tif) and put them in a rar archive, change the extension to .cbr.
It won't be much smaller than the individual files, but now you can transport them in one file, and read them directly from the file using CDisplay or compatible tools.
Originally designed for comic book scans (thus "CB") and also works for for zips (.cbz for those).

And a similar tool for playing video from RAR Files:
Dziobas Rar Player
Don't use this myself, but it looks interesting.
Works even on incomplete rar sets: just part 1 and the final part, and want to know if it's what you really want, or to check quality. Uses MPlayer.