File compression in OSX

hypoluxahypoluxa
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hey all,



Im trying to find a better file compression utility, that REALLY compresses multiple files down real well. the drop stuff/ zip app that comes with OSX 10.4 isint compressing down as much as I would like. Does anyone know of anything better? thanks for any info

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    boukmanboukman Posts: 93member
    You could try Betterzip or 7zx with the 7zip file option which generally produces smaller files.
  • Reply 2 of 17
    tag me backtag me back Posts: 121member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hypoluxa


    Hey all,



    Im trying to find a better file compression utility, that REALLY compresses multiple files down real well. the drop stuff/ zip app that comes with OSX 10.4 isint compressing down as much as I would like. Does anyone know of anything better? thanks for any info



    As a side note, compressed formats such as jpeg, mpeg, mp3 etc, do not compress much further under any scheme.



    -t
  • Reply 3 of 17
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,320moderator
    I'd go with bzip2. Betterzip above supports that format. There is a limit to how well you can compress stuff but I've always found bzip2 to be the best.
  • Reply 4 of 17
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    bzip2 is indeed the best format.
  • Reply 5 of 17
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Not necessarily. RAR and LZMA (7z) surpass it in some cases.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,320moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    Not necessarily. RAR and LZMA (7z) surpass it in some cases.



    Yeah that's true as shown here:



    http://farrokhi.net/blog/archives/000409.html



    I find that rar is quite slow though and it seems to make the system really sluggish after decompressing large files.



    Having said that, it has built in ways to split files and it has a really good recovery mechanism for broken archives. Plus there are programs that allow you to view images stored inside rar archives without decompressing.



    So definitely a format to consider. More often than not, I use dmg these days because decompression happens on the fly. I just wish it used bzip2 or similar instead of LZW (I think) by default.
  • Reply 7 of 17
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    As of Tiger, you can use bzip2 with DMG.



    Code:


    UDRW - UDIF read/write image

    UDRO - UDIF read-only image

    UDCO - UDIF ADC-compressed image

    UDZO - UDIF zlib-compressed image

    UDBZ - UDIF bzip2-compressed image (OS X 10.4+ only)

    UFBI - UDIF entire image with MD5 checksum

    UDRo - UDIF read-only (obsolete format)

    UDCo - UDIF compressed (obsolete format)

    UDTO - DVD/CD-R master for export

    UDxx - UDIF stub image

    UDSP - SPARSE (grows with content)

    RdWr - NDIF read/write image (deprecated)

    Rdxx - NDIF read-only image (Disk Copy 6.3.3 format)

    ROCo - NDIF compressed image (deprecated)

    Rken - NDIF compressed (obsolete format)

    DC42 - Disk Copy 4.2 image



  • Reply 8 of 17
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,320moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    As of Tiger, you can use bzip2 with DMG.



    Code:


    UDRW - UDIF read/write image

    UDRO - UDIF read-only image

    UDCO - UDIF ADC-compressed image

    UDZO - UDIF zlib-compressed image

    UDBZ - UDIF bzip2-compressed image (OS X 10.4+ only)

    UFBI - UDIF entire image with MD5 checksum

    UDRo - UDIF read-only (obsolete format)

    UDCo - UDIF compressed (obsolete format)

    UDTO - DVD/CD-R master for export

    UDxx - UDIF stub image

    UDSP - SPARSE (grows with content)

    RdWr - NDIF read/write image (deprecated)

    Rdxx - NDIF read-only image (Disk Copy 6.3.3 format)

    ROCo - NDIF compressed image (deprecated)

    Rken - NDIF compressed (obsolete format)

    DC42 - Disk Copy 4.2 image





    Ah, I don't know why they don't update Disk Utility to allow you to select the option through the GUI, I always forget the hdiutil commands. I'll probably stick with the default for compatibility but it's good to know the option's there.
  • Reply 9 of 17
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    tar -jvf something.tbz something
  • Reply 10 of 17
    krispiekrispie Posts: 260member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hypoluxa


    Hey all,



    Im trying to find a better file compression utility, that REALLY compresses multiple files down real well. the drop stuff/ zip app that comes with OSX 10.4 isint compressing down as much as I would like. Does anyone know of anything better? thanks for any info



    If you don't mind lossy compression, 'rm' is unbeatable.
  • Reply 11 of 17
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by krispie


    If you don't mind lossy compression, 'rm' is unbeatable.



    But the compression artifacts are horrible!!
  • Reply 12 of 17
    hypoluxahypoluxa Posts: 694member
    what I want is a compression utility that compresses (really well) multiple file types .. into one small archived file for emailing purposes.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hypoluxa


    what I want is a compression utility that compresses (really well) multiple file types .. into one small archived file for emailing purposes.



    File types that aren't already compressed?
  • Reply 14 of 17
    hypoluxahypoluxa Posts: 694member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    File types that aren't already compressed?



    No, that are allready compressed, optimized-whatever you want to call it.. I just want to combine them into one nicely zipped package for emailing use.
  • Reply 15 of 17
    project2501project2501 Posts: 433member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hypoluxa


    No, that are allready compressed, optimized-whatever you want to call it.. I just want to combine them into one nicely zipped package for emailing use.



    You do realize that already compressed files won't compress too much anymore, there is only a limited amount of data that can be removed, without loss. I think all the options presented here would do what you want. I would be more worried about the file format, instead of wanting to run around the web to find right de-compressor, I would rather receive a packet in known format, may it be little bigger. If your problem is quota limit in receivers email box, have you considered that there are many more convenient ways to transfer data than emailing it. Many compressors can also make many small archives, that can be sent separately, so that receiver can empty his/her inbox before sending next chunk.
  • Reply 16 of 17
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,320moderator
    One thing you should also consider is using the postal system. A lot of the time, I find it easier to burn a DVD and mail it for next day delivery than try and email a big file.
  • Reply 17 of 17
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R


    bzip2 is indeed the best format.



    BZIP2 is the best compression format when considering both speed and compression ratio. It tends to be within five to ten percent of much more costly statistical compression methods.



    Plus, I'm not sure if it has been done yet, but BZIP2 uses a transform algorithm which means that it can be easily optimized for SIMD and multi-core chips. I can't think on any other compression algorithm that so easily allows for this. It won't be long before BZIP2 is the fastest compression algorithm, if it isn't already.
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