which is the best compression to use for big files

[congobongo]

i have many files that are at least 650 mb each, and would like to compress them as much as possible so i can store them in my hard drive for hard copies and in a dvd disc for soft copies.

one more thing, will using self extraction method reduce the size even greater?

[Josh]

The best compression is 7-zip. Self extraction makes the files larger because it also has to store the information on how to uncompress the file. That can be an extra couple of megabytes.
You can get 7-zip at http://www.7-zip.org/.
It is also free.

[Howie]

.zip sucks IMHO. Try raring your files, works great for me.

[Josh]

rar isn't as good as 7-zip. My friends, I, and many other people have had better results with 7zip then rar in ALL tests.

[Howie]

I tried it. A .bin file, 688 MB Results:

ZIP: 543
RAR: 489
7S: 471

Too bad 7S is not a pop program. I'll use this program to compress my big files, thanks the-man-who-knows-it

[Grim Reaper]

The guy who created 7zip suck ass, but you can't argue with the results.

[avtor]

hm.. uHA is by far the best compressor at the moment

http://free.pages.at/borschdfresser/public/menu.html

[mj_1107]

i tried 7-zip and i was not impressed with it..it takes to damn long. plus u cant use it in conjuction with other formats(.zip,.rar,.ace)which i use on a daily basis. i think ill stick with winrar cause im just used to it and im old school. i also heard about a program called picozip or something like that..i heard it has a decent compression rate for both big and small files..can anyone verify that? thnx to whoever does

[Calintz]

hey reaper relaxs a bit
but 7-zip is indeed not that great and 20 bucks for technical support is way to much
but this topic is not about wether 7-zip sux or not
it's about the best compressor so just post the compressor thats best acording to you

[Grim Reaper]

Originally posted by Calintz
hey reaper relaxs a bit
but 7-zip is indeed not that great and 20 bucks for technical support is way to much
but this topic is not about wether 7-zip sux or not
it's about the best compressor so just post the compressor thats best acording to you

Obviously winrar, great compression speeds, great compression.

[Dark Neighbour]

ill second that Grim, Winrar is the way to go

[Ace]

What the best program would be totally depends on what you are compressing, the results totally varry, like 7-zip would be the best to use for roms, which saves me a gigantic amount of space compared to rar, but rar is better for other stuff. Just depends on what you're compressing.

[mj_1107]

thnx for clearing that up ace

[chrono8921]

UHARC actually has the best compression, but there is virtually no
GUI, and 7zip comes second, but it has a slow compression speed and lousy GUI. I would recommend Winrar, as it has good compression and speeds. Then again, it all depends on what type of files you're compressing, as if you're compressing a compressed format, such as JPEGs or AVIs, there would be little difference in size.