compressing folders

[pgfreak]

if i want to compress a folder that has a large file or whatever, how do I do that?
I tried using winrar and at best compression but it did nothing to the file size.
I see alot of people's folder icons that has a zipper on it or something, i think that might be what i need to do... help plz

[polokitty]

what are the contents of the folder, video? if so video inst known to compress well.

[pgfreak]

well ya there is a video i took, i made it smaller with an xvid codec though, but in general how would you do this?

[Mikey_]

You can't really compress video files very well. You'd see little to no difference from the original size to the compressed size. The best way to compress video files, would be by using codecs, like Xvid, as you mentioned already.

[SegNin]

Files like jpg's, mp3's and avi's never compress well because they're already compressed.

Try compressing a zip file to rar or vice versa--you'll see very little difference in file size.

[pkt-zer0]

well ya there is a video i took, i made it smaller with an xvid codec though, but in general how would you do this?

XviD is a compression algorithm in itself. Usually re-compressing stuff works better than compressing an already compressed file. In case of videos, this means re-encoding. You could possibly downsample it, use a smaller resolution, etc.

[pgfreak]

hey people, when watching videos, why do some videos not play properly, like the time is way too short but if you drag the slider to a different part its actually a different part of the movie and it gets all messed... even with vlc

[woodman]

Usually because the file has been split, or altered in some way.

[pgfreak]

and yes i know xvid is a compressor, but now i want to know how to compress a folder anyway, if i have like documents in it or something

[Jetsetlemming]

VLC is bad with some video formats with pausing, fast forwarding, and rewinding, mostly divX and Xvid, I find. Nobody ever claimed the program was perfect. It's just close. Use WMP or another third party player for videos VLC doesn't like.
And you can compress a folder with winrar just like any file. Right click on it, and select "add to [foldername].rar"

[Inferno.]

His folder contained a video Jet. So it didn't compress by a lot on "Best" because they don't compress.

[pgfreak]

I find winrar doesnt actually COMPRESS anything within the folder though, maybe by a few KB

[b1gwi11]

I find winrar doesnt actually COMPRESS anything within the folder though, maybe by a few KB

theres plenty of alternatives to winrar tho

7-zip
Winace
WinZip

[Mikey_]

I find winrar doesnt actually COMPRESS anything within the folder though, maybe by a few KB

Well, you did say in one of your last posts that the folder you wanted compressed would perhaps contain 'documents', which would likely be very small sized. There wouldn't really be much of a need to compress that sort of thing anyway.

[Sprung]

I find winrar doesnt actually COMPRESS anything within the folder though, maybe by a few KB

WinRar compresses quite well depending on what you are compressing. Video and music are not really compressable.