ECM -- Error Code Modeler (Better Compression)

[Inferno.]

CD Data Sectors

To understand what ECM does and how it works, you must first understand the sectors in a CD and what they're made of.

A typical data CD consists of thousands of 2352-byte sectors. Each sector looks like this (drawings not to scale):



Only 2048 bytes in each sector are used for actual data. The rest are:

# Sync - A special code used by the drive to tell where the sector begins
# Address - This tells the drive which sector it's looking at
# EDC - Error Detection Code, used to detect if the data is corrupt
# ECC - Error Correction Code, used to correct the data if it is corrupt

When you create BIN/CUE files from a data CD, the BIN contains all of this data - all 2352 bytes from each sector.

The light-colored areas in the diagram (sync, address, data) are usually easy to compress. However, the dark areas (EDC, ECC) look like noise, and are nearly impossible to compress with conventional tools such as WinRAR. When you compress a BIN file in WinRAR, each sector ends up looking something like this:



Sync, address, and data compress okay, but EDC and ECC just sit there like bricks taking up space. And they usually don't even need to be there!

Filtering Sectors Through ECM First

ECM selectively strips the sync, EDC and ECC codes from each sector, whenever possible. Once a BIN file has been run through ECM, the resulting sectors look like this:



That process, in itself, doesn't reduce the BIN size very much. But notice how the only parts left are the light-colored (easy to compress) parts! Now, when you run the ECM file through WinRAR, you'll get much better results than before:



But wait a minute, don't I need those ECC codes? Doesn't that make it less reliable?

You get the EDC/ECC codes back when you convert from ECM back to BIN
(which is required before burning - you can't currently burn a ECM file directly).

When you're archiving or transmitting files in a format such as RAR, you already have error detection built in. WinRAR doesn't particularly care about the CD sector EDC/ECC codes, and just handles BIN files like any other file.

So no, you're not losing any reliability by converting BIN files to ECM, as long as you make sure to convert them back before burning.

What about copy protection? Don't they use bogus ECC data? Wouldn't ECM ruin that?

ECM only eliminates EDC/ECC data for sectors where it's verifiably possible to recreate that data. If the ECC is bogus, ECM will preserve that bogus data.

You won't lose any data by converting a file to ECM and back again. The process is completely lossless.

So when you use ECM to compress the BIN file, then 7zip it you can save a hell of a lot of space.

Download from Offical site

edit: There's also a n00b friendly version, that decompresses the .ecm with a double click. Download

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Originally Posted by TBG

-associates unecm.exe with .ecm file extension
-double clicking .ecm file will decompress it
-gives the .ecm extension a nice little icon
-option to associate image formats with ecm.exe
-optionally double clicking image formats will create an ecm
-copy of the source is installed to *:\Program Files\ECM as well
-comes with an uninstaller

I've personally used this to save a lot of space on PC games. I know they aren't allowed here, but I was just trying it. With one game I cut down the ISO by 400mb+ using ECM and then compressing the ecm with 7zip -ultra. It can be quite the bandwidth saver.

Here is the example:
Red outline is the size of the .img.ecm uncompressed
Silver outline is the compressed size total.

[SegNin]

This has more to do with Emulation then Computers.

So, I moved it to Everything Emulation, specifically to the Emulation FAQS.

[The Joker]

can you ECM then RAR it and a good effect?

[Inferno.]

Originally Posted by The Joker

can you ECM then RAR it and a good effect?

Yes. You're just likely to save a bit more space with 7zip. But Winrar will be almost as good.

[SegNin]

Originally Posted by Inferno.

Yes. You're just likely to save a bit more space with 7zip. But Winrar will be almost as good.

Correct, but that depends mainly on how much RAM you have.

7-Zip at its maximum compression setting uses 1381 MB of RAM, or nearly 1.35 GB.

I'm not sure how much WinRar uses at its maximum, but its less than 1.35 GB.

So, if you have 1 or 2 GB of RAM, you can get a considerable decrease in compression size using 7-Zip over WinRar, depending also on what file(s) you're compressing.

[Inferno.]

Also note files with CDDA audio compress better with winrar than they do with 7zip.

[The Joker]

i have 256mb of ram in my pc, lol.

also
the DL link doesnt work mr.disco inferno

The file /downloads/ecm100.zip cannot be hotlinked from a different web site. This message is appearing because your browser didn't provide a proper "referer" line when attempting to download the file.

If you followed this link from a different site, try using the menu on the left to find the program you're looking for.

If you followed this link from this site, and you're still having trouble downloading it, try the following:
Use a standard web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla and its derivatives, Opera, Safari, etc.
Disable any download accelerator, personal firewall, or proxy software you're using, or reconfigure it so it doesn't modify the HTTP "referer" line.
If you're the webmaster of a site that links to mine: Many downloadable files on this site are freely redistributable, and I encourage you to include these files on your site. However, please provide your own storage space and bandwidth for the files rather than directly linking them here. Thank you.

disco inferno, your noob friendly link doesnt work either.

Not Found
The requested document was not found on this server.

[Inferno.]

The link I provided leads you to the official page, where you can download ECM.
http://www.neillcorlett.com/ecm/

And yeah the n00b friendly version does seem to be dead.

[The Joker]

how do i decompress it now?

nights sampler.bin.ecm
The King of Fighters [T-3101G].bin.ecm

[SegNin]

Use unecm.exe, with this syntax:

unecm ecmfile [outputfile]

It tells you how to do it in the unecm readme.

[The Joker]

can't believe i didn't figure that out. also it's drag and drop for me on win xp not cmd line.

[Evans]

Originally Posted by The Joker

can't believe i didn't figure that out. also it's drag and drop for me on win xp not cmd line.

I found it works the same in 2000, but by pure accident.

[Inferno.]

You can also write a batch file (.bat)

unecm.exe gamename.img.ecm (example)

save it and double click.

comes in handy for the n00bs that've never used ecm before