TechAirlines: Technology Tips

File compression is very useful for storing or sending large files or distributing multiple files in one download package. The most popular compression format would be Zip however that is in no way the only format available.

Ubuntu supports many different archive formats natively with the Archive Manager and additional plugins and packages provide support for even more formats seamlessly with the Archive Manager. However, Windows Explorer only supports zip files and opening any other archive format requires additional software.

First Class Flyer is a weekly series being published every Friday comparing two or more free software products. This week, we are looking at two free file compression utilities for Windows, 7-Zip and IZArc.

Background

Have you ever downloaded a file and noticed it was an RAR file? Now how would you go about opening this without being forced to buy proprietary products like WinZip and WinRAR. As Windows users, its hard to remember that WinZip isn’t the only compression utility out there. In addition, there are even free products providing a similar feature set to premium products.

Download and Install Size

Both provide essentially the same features and no one likes waiting very long to download something, especially those on suffering network connections. 7-Zip’s download is approximately 1 MB and IZArc comes in at 4 MB. Both decently small.

The final installation 7-Zip comes in at around 4 MB and IZArc comes in at around 14 MB.

Generally, 7-Zip is a smaller utility providing similar features as IZArc.

7-Zip: 5
IZArc: 2.5

Unpacking Archives Format Support

How many formats does each product support reading and unpacking (or extracting) from?

7-Zip officially supports 7Z, ARJ, BZ2, BZIP2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, DMG, GZ, GZIP, HFS, ISO, LHA, LZH, LZMA, RAR, RPM, SPLIT, SWM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TBZ2, TGZ, TPZ, WIM, XAR, Z, and ZIP, which makes 29 formats.

IZArc officially supports 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, and ZOO, which makes 47 formats.

What do I mean by officially support? Both programs can force open formats that it does not support including some self-extracting archives (EXE) and even Microsoft Office documents (DOC, DOCX, etc…).

For the score in this round, we will take the total number of officially supported formats and divide it by 3 and that’s the score.

7-Zip: 9.6 (14.6 total)
IZArc: 15.6 (18.1 total)

Packing Archives Format Support

In addition to extracting files from an archive, users need to be able to create archives.

7-Zip officially supports packing 7Z, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, and ZIP, making 5 formats. However, I tried compressing something with an RAR format and it still worked perfectly because it compressed it as a Zip file and then renamed the extension rather than making it an official RAR compression.

IZArc officially supports packing 7Z, BH, BGA, BZIP2, CAB, JAR, LZH, TAR-GZ, ZIP, and YZ1, making 10 formats. However, similar to 7-Zip, users can name the new file any extension and it will still compress fine. When I selected New Archive, it just opened up a Browse Windows Explorer window and asked for an archive name including file extension.

With both programs, any file extension for compression would work fine except it would still use the selected compression method and format. For example, in 7-Zip, I chose Gzip, however the name I chose had an RAR extension and while the final file was RAR, the compression was still Gzip.

7-Zip: 2.5 (17.1 total)
IZArc: 5 (23.1 total)

Quick Archives Creation

With 7-Zip, simply right click on any file and click the Add to Archive option to get Advanced Options or add to ‘Filename.zip’ to instantly compress it without any further dialogs.

IZArc also provides context menu options, but not as many or detailed as 7-Zip. The quick archive format can be set in the options.

7-Zip: 5 (22.1 total)
IZArc: 2.5 (25.6 total)

Advanced Compression Options

Want to fine tune your compression settings for an individual archive?

7-Zip provides options to change the compression format, method, dictionary size, an option to create a SFX or self-extracting archive (EXE), password encryption (for 7z and Zip files only), and more.

IZArc provides options to change the compression format, method, and password encryption methods.

7-Zip: 5 (27.1 total)
IZArc: 3.5 (28.6 total)

Compression Ratio

To perform this test, I used the full WordPress 2.9.2 extracted download (7.29 MB) and compressed it with Zip and 7z with the same options set.

Options Set:

• Compression: Maximal/Ultra
• Method: Deflate (Zip) and LZMA (7z)

Zip Compression

• Original Folder: 7.26 MB (Original Zip was 2.39 MB)
• 7-Zip: 2.31 MB (31.6%)
• IZArc: 2.35 MB (32.2%)

7z Compression

• Original Folder: 7.26 MB
• 7-Zip: 1.52 MB (20.9%)
• IZArc: 2.15 MB (29.6%)

During both tests, 7-Zip had a better compression ratio than IZArc did. Of course, 7-Zip may have had an advantage with 7z since its the official 7-Zip format.

7-Zip: 5 (32.1 total)
IZArc: 3.5 (32.1 total)

Compression Speed

How long did it take to compress the files in the above test?

Zip Compression

• 7-Zip: 4 seconds
• IZArc: 6 seconds

7z Compression

• 7-Zip: 8 seconds
• IZArc: 8 seconds

7-Zip: 5 (37.1 total)
IZArc: 4.5 (36.6 total)

Self-Extracting SFX Archives (EXE)

What happens if you want to send a file to a friend, but they might not have the proper program to open it? This is where a self-extracting archive comes in. It works like a regular compressed file, except the file extension is EXE and when a user clicks on it, the files automatically extract without additional software.

7-Zip creates SFX archives directly from the advanced options supporting Zip and 7z formats.

IZArc has advanced options for creating self-extracting archives including having commands run after the extraction.

7-Zip: 3 (40.1 total)
IZArc: 5 (41.6 total)

IZArc is in the lead right now, but we’re not done yet. You know what time it is! It’s time for…

Bonus Points!

File Management

7-Zip is more than a compression utility. It can used as a full file manager complete with system menus and display methods.

7-Zip: +3 bonus points (43.1 total)

Junkware Alert!

Offering random junk during installation is a popular method software developers make money.

IZArc offers to install a trial of Kapersky Internet Security 2010 during installation. Luckily, this is both opt-in and opt-out. User interaction is required, but users cannot continue without selecting an option.

IZArc: -2 bonus points (39.6 total)

Let’s tally up the scores.

7-Zip has a final score of 43.1 points and IZArc has a final score of 39.6 points, which means our winner is…

7-Zip!

I highly recommend both applications as they share similar features, both support a wide range of archive formats, and best of all, they’re completely free of charge.

Which application do you prefer? 7-Zip, IZArc, or another compression utility (free or paid)? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

7-Zip Official Site
IZArc Official Site

Be sure to join us next Friday for the next edition of First Class Flyer.