Which one you like: RAR, ZIP, 7z, TAR?

pinoy

Limp Gawd
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Dec 8, 2010
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I'm looking to compress my files and upload it to Google Drive. Which format do you use that's proven to be reliable and secure? Windows 7 has a built-in zip software but I am leery of it. I've used it to decompress a bios file which seemingly went OK until I actually tried to update my motherboard bios. The motherboard complained the bios file was incompatible. I then used Winzip to decompress the same file and my motherboard accepted the bios file. How do you explain that?
 
TAR isn't compression, it just neatly puts files and directories into a single file. Normally one would then compress it with zip, 7z, gzip, etc.

If you're sticking with Windows, to keep it simple, just use zip, 7z or gzip. It's possible that the file that was written from the Windows decompressor was damaged somehow, and that Winzip either corrected the error or decompressed the file properly.
 
I like 7zip. It has the best combination of speed and compression.
 
I like 7z myself...usually compresses better than zip or rar (IME).
 
I use 7zip as my compressed file handler but generally compress to .zip with typical default deflate method because most people just use Window's built-in handler.

If I'm compressing something for my own purposes/storage then I'll switch the compression to ultra. Since the only thing I ever really zip is plaintext code, it smashes things down pretty seriously.

Not sure how to explain the decompressed file being an issue for your mobo. Did you happen to diff the good and bad files to see what differences there were in them? I'd say Dark Shade's assessment is accurate, winzip may have corrected something.
 
If I want something decently compressed I compress it on a medium setting with 7zip using .zip, so I can extract it on any PC. Of I want something heavily compressed, I use a high setting with 7zip, .7z.

My methods may be completely retarded though, in which case of appreciate it if you told me what I should do.
 
I use both 7zip and Winrar.

I find Winrar a tad bit better with unraring archives (standard)...I like the system menu better than 7zip, though they are very similar.
 
Another 7zip user.

Normal every day use, I just use the stop .zip settings. But if I'm storing something, I'll use the .7z format on ultra.

I used to be a fan of winrar... can't even really say why I switched, but 7zip has everything you need built into it, and it's free.
 
Rar... simply because I've been using it since the MSDOS command line days (it took over pkzip/pkunzip because it supported multi-file archives). WinRar is a solid, lightweight and powerful tool... even though it's proprietary. I also like the context menu integration.

7Zip is OK, but I'm not a huge fan of the UI... likely only because I'm so accustomed to the WinRar UI.
 
I use 7zip. Based on a review I read that checked the speeds/compression rates of 7zip are the best/fastest. Plus it's free and doesn't bother you about buying it.
 
7Zip is OK, but I'm not a huge fan of the UI... likely only because I'm so accustomed to the WinRar UI.

I frequently see people knock 7z on the UI, and my question to that is "you use the UI?".

Right click - unzip here. The only part of the UI of 7z (or any other compression app) that I see 99% of the time is the little popup window when it decompresses a file.
 
I use 7zip or gzip I fucking hate winrar because it only works with winrar I only use 7zip because it opens just about anything for actual compressing I just use standard zip for portability
 
I frequently see people knock 7z on the UI, and my question to that is "you use the UI?".

Right click - unzip here. The only part of the UI of 7z (or any other compression app) that I see 99% of the time is the little popup window when it decompresses a file.

I agree. You rarely need to ever use the UI outside of the windows context menus... but in the rare instances where you do, I prefer WinRar.

If I wasn't so accustomed to WinRar, I'd likely use 7Zip but like I said.... been using WinRar for as long as I can remember and have no real reason to switch at this point. It's just more familiar to me
 
I frequently see people knock 7z on the UI, and my question to that is "you use the UI?".

Right click - unzip here. The only part of the UI of 7z (or any other compression app) that I see 99% of the time is the little popup window when it decompresses a file.

And you can customize that pop-up, too.
 
I use ZIP when for transferring files to clients when I'm not sure what they have. RAR is good for general compression and most people have it making it a good choice for most situations. 7z isn't used as often, but it's generally similar to RAR. I think it may be a bit better, but most people don't have it.
 
I use 7zip or gzip I fucking hate winrar because it only works with winrar
I use WinRAR, it unpacks every archive you give to it (even new .zipx format that is superior for compressing jpeg's) and context meny is great, love the GUI and light weight... It looks like you forget to add file type associations in WinRAR settings...
 
When you use Winzip to create a rar file for instance, would that file be compatible with 7zip or Winrar when decompressing? May be that's what happened to my bios file. It was archived using a different software not compatible with the Windows unzipper.
 
while I joked about .tar.gz, on Windows I use 7-Zip as my tool but I always use .ZIP as my format for compatibility reasons.
 
I use 7-zip as my main extractor, as I find the dual-pane layout invaluable (does any other program do this?).

However, I keep WinRAR around for archiving items which will be uploaded to a certain place which shall not be named.
 
Also 7z here. Really nice/reliable/predictable file manager, I find myself doing most file/folder management with it instead of Windows Explorer. Thank God for its 'No to All' option. :)
 
I use both, but for different reasons. If it's something I'm archiving WinRAR because you can have it generate par files in case something gets corrupt. 7zip is good for compressing things that are highly redundant though, like game roms. RAR seems to do better with multimedia though.

Edit: I also like how it's possible to still get data from a damage/partial RAR file too.
 
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