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best archiving/compression program


breadandbubbles

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IzArc is the best free archiver. Extracts ISO and RAR and plenty of other formats. Compress to 7z and MS CAB notably albeit it does not support creating 7z solid archives which offers in some circumstances (many similar files) amazing compression ratios. You'll need 7-Zip for that. I have got both installed.

For ISO, IMG, NRG, etc, the best is to use Isobuster.

Edited by eidenk
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im curious though...is there a free version of winrar?

keep in mind im NOT asking for a crack or illegal copy. i am just one of those suckers who has made a personal choice to fully support software by purchasing it (though i dont care whatsoever whether everyone else steals it, thats their choice)

and i say im a sucker because three time snow ive purchased software and when attempting to activate it with a key, ive received those wonderful little "key already in use" messages.*sigh* but thats for a different topic...

no, what im asking here is whether or not winrar has officially released any freeware version of their product.

though i wonder...do i even need it? ive been using winrar for far more days then the evaluation gives me. are there any limits to functionality that im not yet aware of?

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WinRar is a fairly inexpensive pay-for program. And its worth it. WinRar could easily beat 7zip's compression if it allowed the insane dictionary sizes and one other (block setting?) that 7zip allows. Settings that use upwards of 300-2gigs or more of RAM during compression and a significant amount during decompression.

To obtain the 2-5% crunch that 7zip can obtain also takes upwards of double to triple the time frame of a rar. WinRar can also make those SFX installers that 7zip seems to be so popular for.

And it has the best Interface, even better than PowerArchiver or WinZip. 7zip's interface looks and feels and performs like a 1st generation freeware app, its best to just use it from line command if at all. (Not to rag on Free, for free its wonderful :whistle: but slick interfaces definitely spoil you).

WinRar has a 40 day uncrippled trial, which is better than most any other program that trials.

I also couldn't stand IZarc's interface, nor most any other of the so called "great" archivers. even the last freeware version of PowerArchiver 6.0 something is better than a lot of other current ones.

Edited by Crash&Burn
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my vote will definately go with winrar. by far the most functional archiving program ive some across. 7z does offer Slightly better compression but the compressing/decompressing times are just ridiculous and u dont really gain much extra compression from it. A good free archiver is TugZip

Edited by ScubaSteve
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