Stuffit Expander & Compression

[iCe Cube]

Hello

I have the free stuffit expander! It can unzip loads of files for me. However, can I compress (zip) files if I want to send them to someone using Stuffit Expander?

If not, are there any free Stuffit apps that compress?

If not (!) do no know any really good (and free) zip and unzip apps?

 

[grapes911]

Control click on the file or group of files and go to 'Create Archive of ...'. Works great. OS X natively unzips files.

 

[iCe Cube]

oh thanks, but I am confused. If Mac OS X can already unzip and zip files, what is the point of Stuffit Expander?

 

[grapes911]

oh thanks, but I am confused. If Mac OS X can already unzip and zip files, what is the point of Stuffit Expander?

Are you using Tiger? Pre-Tiger can't unzip file (not that I know of anyway). I use StuffIt for .sit files.

 

[iCe Cube]

Are you using Tiger? Pre-Tiger can't unzip file (not that I know of anyway). I use StuffIt for .sit files.

Yes I have Tiger. So Stuffit Expander is for expanding other file formats?

btw, I archived a 30 mb folder into a zip file and reduced its size by 5 mb. Is this normal?

 

[dubbz]

Yes I have Tiger. So Stuffit Expander is for expanding other file formats?

btw, I archived a 30 mb folder into a zip file and reduced its size by 5 mb. Is this normal?

Depends competely on the type of files that the folder contains. Files that's already compressed (eg: MP3s and JPGs) can't be compressed much more. Things like text files can be compressed very well.

 

[grapes911]

Yes I have Tiger. So Stuffit Expander is for expanding other file formats?

btw, I archived a 30 mb folder into a zip file and reduced its size by 5 mb. Is this normal?

Its mostly for other formats, but some prefer it over osx for .zips. Its up to you. Compression varies from file to file. It depends on the sequence of bytes in the file and the algorithm used. 30mb to a 25mb file seems about right.

How Stuff Works has a great article on compression:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/file-compression.htm

 

[MisterMe]

Hello

I have the free stuffit expander! It can unzip loads of files for me. However, can I compress (zip) files if I want to send them to someone using Stuffit Expander?

If not, are there any free Stuffit apps that compress?

If not (!) do no know any really good (and free) zip and unzip apps?

Stuffit Expander expands files in large number of archive formats. It is free. Expander handles .as, .bin, .hqx, .lha, .sit, .sitx, .sea, .tar, .uu (.uue), .bz2, .gz, .Z, and .zip. Allume produces DropStuff for file compression. It is not free, but it is reasonable. DropStuff is available as demoware in the Stuffit Standard bundle. It is also included as part of Stuffit Deluxe.

 

[HiRez]

Stuffit is a once-great app that is now something of a dinosaur. I prefer OS X's built-in .zip or .dmg for compressing my own files (.zip is also cross-platform). However, you will still see a lot of Mac software distributed in .sit (Stuffit) format, so you need to have Expander anyway, unfortunately. On my system, compressing and decompressing .zip is also much, much faster than .sit (although .sit usually results in slightly smaller archives).

 

[yellow]

Are you using Tiger? Pre-Tiger can't unzip file (not that I know of anyway).

The built-in zipping and unzipping of files/archives was introduced in Panther.

 

[7on]

I like using .sit mainly because some .zip attachments are blocked by mail server or if buddies of mine are on OS9. I use .zip for sending stuff to Windows users.

 

[MisterMe]

I like using .sit mainly because some .zip attachments are blocked by mail server or if buddies of mine are on OS9. I use .zip for sending stuff to Windows users.

The .sit format won't disappear until about two weeks after the PICT graphics format goes. In other words, it's going to be around for a long time to come.