And one owner of a modern PC or laptop cannot do without an extremely useful application - an archiver that can create an archive from several files or compress information intended for file exchange several times. The most common and versatile tools in this category are generally considered to be Zip and Rar archivers. We offer to compare their functionality and determine the degree of convenience of each of the programs.
The fundamental difference between the Rar archiver is that it does not take up much space in the device's memory. This program is quite easy to restore in case of its forced loss, allows you to create both continuous or self-extracting archives, as well as multi-volume archives, which include a lot of various components. The program provides opportunities for setting a password for a particular information cell. In this case, it will be simply impossible to open a file without entering a code word or character set. The Rar archiver is convenient as an internal file storage, but as a link in the file exchange chain it is no longer so effective, because files in audio or video formats are not very convenient to compress, and the compression speed of voluminous text messages is far from ideal.
In the latest versions of this archiver, there are very convenient dialog boxes that allow you to divide all settings into several categories. This simplifies the process of working with the archive. Also, WinRAR is well equipped with functionality. It supports the function of dearchiving files in ISO, CAB, JAR, ARJ, BZ2, LZH, UUE, ACE, GZip, TAR formats, as well as standard RAR and ZIP formats (with the ability to create archives and other functions, of course). When working with this archiver, you can supplement the archive with comments, informational explanations for recovery, set a lock on the function of making changes to archived files, and divide archives into volumes. In addition, in latest version the user can even create an electronic signature as an access test, which the program will compare with the submitted samples. However, given function works only in the full version after registration with the developer.
More WinRAR archiver it has good ability to compress small files, but archiving large files takes quite a long time. This is not very convenient in the process. It is also inconvenient if it is necessary to compress files of one of the audio / video formats, since the process turns out to be too long, and the result does not always reach the required size.
The Zip archiver is one of the most common options for quickly and efficiently compressing a file in preparation for sending via e-mail. This program is pre-installed in the standard package of Windows operating systems, which means that most computers in the world have it. You do not have to search for it and download additionally, wasting time. The configuration interface in WinZip looks like a single dialog box. There is no path window for specifying the shortest path to the file, which is not always convenient.
This program is mainly focused on working with Zip files. She knows how to create, and send, and unarchive them. With other data formats, everything is not so simple. It will be possible to unpack only files of the most common formatting categories, but there are all the possibilities for working with UUE files. Of course, this is not the most commonly used format, but still some users prefer it to everyone else. The archiver also allows you to encrypt files, or set a user password for archived data. Data security in this case is protected much more effectively than with simple encryption. Difficulties can also arise when setting up the archive itself, as well as when working on creating self-extracting modules. However, not everyone uses them, and such archiving options are not needed very often.
But the WinZip archiver perfectly copes with its main duties. It quickly and efficiently archives files in audio / video formats, easily copes with archiving text files and documents of any size. The resulting compression is also able to satisfy even the most demanding user.
In fact, comparing both archivers, it should be recognized that the purposes of their use are still somewhat different from each other. The Rar archiver is intended rather for internal system work, it is convenient for scientific or journalistic activities, where it is necessary to store information for a long time. Such a program will allow you to clearly classify the files intended for saving, and additional functions, such as creating multi-volume archives, make it easy to find the information you need by the occurrence of time.
The Zip archiver, of course, outperforms its counterpart in popularity and work on archiving various files (isn't this what an archiver is needed on a computer at all?). In carrying out its immediate duties, this program is certainly good - it works quickly and accurately. The file can be sent via the Internet without leaving the archive. This is also very convenient, especially if you need to send the same document to many users in bulk. In general, the benefits are clear. And external "pretty things" and additional functions are unlikely to be needed by those who, basically, download files themselves or exchange information on work. Here, the universal Zip will be much more convenient than the functionally extended Rar.
In general, the choice is yours. In the end, nothing prevents you from installing both archivers on your PC at once and enjoying the fullness of their capabilities at any convenient time. But personally I use the archiver.
The main advantage of the ZIP format is its popularity. For example, most archives on the Internet are in ZIP format. If you want to send someone an archive, but you are not sure that the recipient has the WinRAR program for unpacking the archive, then it is best to use the ZIP format. However, in this case, you can also send a self-extracting (SFX) archive. Such archives are slightly larger than usual, but no program is required to unpack them. A self-extracting archive is an archive to which an executable module is attached. This module allows you to extract files by simply launching the archive as a normal program. Thus, no additional external programs are required to extract the contents of an SFX archive. However, WinRAR can work with an SFX archive like any other, so if you don't want to run an SFX archive, you can use WinRAR to view or extract its contents.
SFX archives, like any other executable files, usually have the .EXE extension.
SFX archives are useful in cases where you need to give someone an archive, but you are not sure that he has the appropriate program to unpack it. You can also use SFX archives to distribute your own programs.
To create an SFX archive from command line, you can use the sfx switch when creating a new archive or the S command to convert an existing archive to SFX.
Another benefit of ZIP is speed. ZIP archives are usually created faster than RAR archives.
RAR archives.
WinRAR is a 32-bit version of the RAR archiver for Windows. This is a powerful tool for creating and managing archives. WinRAR supports the following features:
Full support for RAR and ZIP archives.
The original highly efficient data compression algorithm.
Special multimedia compression algorithm.
Command line interface.
Self-extracting archives and volumes (SFX).
Recovery of physically damaged archives.
Other additional features, such as encryption, locking, adding archive comments (with support for ANSI ESC sequences), error logging, file order listing, volume labels, and others.
WinRAR can be used in two ways: in graphical shell mode with a standard Windows interface and on the command line. To use WinRAR in shell mode, double-click on the WinRAR icon; you can then use the buttons and menus to archive and extract files.
The WinRAR package includes the Rar.exe file. This file is also a 32-bit RAR for Windows, but it only supports the command line interface and works in text mode. Typically, the console version of RAR is used for calling from batch files (BAT and CMD), for launching from a DOS prompt, etc. It supports more commands and options on the command line than WinRAR.
To use WinRAR in command line mode, open the "Run..." dialog or the "Programs/MS-DOS session" window in the "Start" menu and enter the required command. If you start WinRAR from the command line without parameters, the shell will be activated. The general syntax is as follows:
WinRAR<команда> -<ключ1> -<ключN> <архив> <файлы…> <@файл-список…> <путь для извлечения\>
Command line options (commands and switches) are used to create and manage archives. A command is a string indicating that RAR should perform the appropriate action. The keys are used to change the action of the command. The other parameters are the names of the archive and the files to be added to or extracted from the archive.
The following commands apply:
a– add files to the archive.
Example: creates or updates an existing myarch archive, adding all files from the current directory to it:
rar a myarch
c- adding an archive comment. Comments are displayed during archive processing. The comment length must not exceed 62000 bytes.
Examples:
rar c distrib.rar
cf– adding file comments. They are displayed when the v command is processed. The length of a file comment is limited to 32767 bytes.
Example:
rar cf bigarch.txt
cw– write the archive comment to the specified file.
d- delete files from the archive. Please note that if all files in the archive are deleted as a result of this command, then the empty archive is deleted.
f- Refresh files in the archive. Updates the files already contained in the archive only if they are older than the ones being updated.
e- extract files to the current directory.
m[f]– move to archive [only files]. During the move operation, after the archive has been successfully created, the files and directories added to it are deleted. If the f modifier and/or the -ed switch is used, the directories will not be deleted.
To– block the archive.
l[t]– view the contents of the archive [with technical information]. A list of files is displayed, similar to the v command, but without paths, i.e. only filenames are shown. If the t modifier is present in the command, additional technical information will also be displayed.
R- output the file to the standard output device (stdout).
r– restore the archive. Restoring an archive consists of two stages. First, the damaged archive is scanned for information to recover. If the archive contains information for recovery, and the damaged part of the data is continuous and has a size of up to N * 512 bytes (N is the number of sectors with recovery information in the archive), then the chances of successful recovery are very high. After recovery, this step will create a new archive named _RECOVER.RAR.
If there is no recovery information in the damaged archive, or if the archive cannot be completely restored using it due to the severity of the damage, then the second stage of recovery begins. During this phase, only the structure of the archive is reconstructed. Files with incorrect CRC are not restored, but it is possible to restore uncorrupted files that would otherwise be inaccessible due to archive structure corruption.
After the end of this stage, a reconstructed archive is created with the name _RECONST.RAR.
During a restore operation, RAR may ask the user whether to add the found item to the archive.
Click Yes (Y) to add this item to _RECOVER.RAR.
rr[N]– add recovery information. You can add optional (redundant) recovery information to the archive. This slightly increases the size of the archive, but may help when recovering an archive damaged by a floppy disk failure or other. Recovery information can contain up to 8 sectors.
If the data is damaged in one place, then each recovery sector can recover 512 bytes of damaged information, but in case of multiple damage, this number may decrease.
s[name]– convert the archive to SFX. The archive is merged with the SFX module (using the module from the Default.sfx file or specified in this command). In the Windows version, the Default.sfx file must be located in the same directory as Rar.exe, in the Unix and BeOS versions it must be in the user's home directory.
t– test the files in the archive. This command simulates extracting files without writing anything to the output stream to check the specified files.
Examples:
Test archives in the current directory:
rar*
u– update files in the archive. Adds files not yet in the archive and updates only those files in the archive whose versions on disk are newer than those in the archive.
v[t]– a detailed list of archive contents. The following information about files is displayed: full name, file comment, size, compression ratio, date and time latest update, attributes, CRC, compression method, and the minimum RAR version required for extraction. If the t modifier is applied, additional technical information will also be displayed.
To view the contents of all archive volumes, use an asterisk (*) instead of the archive extension or the v switch.
x– extract files with full paths.
Keys (used together with commands):
-?
– display help information about commands and keys. The same information appears if an invalid command is given or RAR is started without commands.
-ac– remove the "Archive" attribute after archiving or extracting the file (Windows version only).
-ag[format] – append the current date and time to the archive name. Adds the date and time the archive was created to the archive name. Useful for regular backups.
The default format "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" can be overridden using the format parameter of this key. The following characters are allowed:
Y - year
M - month
MMM - month as a string (Jan, Feb, etc.)
D - day
H - hours
M minutes (treated as minutes if after hours)
S - seconds
The RAR format provides better compression than ZIP in most cases, especially in continuous archive mode.
Continuous archives.
These are RAR archives packed in a special way, in which all compressed files are treated as one sequential data stream. Continuous archiving is only supported in the RAR format, there is no such type of archive for the ZIP format. The compression method for RAR archives is regular or continuous (user selectable).
Continuous archiving significantly increases the compression ratio, especially when adding a significant number of small, similar files. However, there are some disadvantages of continuous archiving to be aware of:
Continuous archives are slower to update than regular archives.
Extracting a single file from a continuous archive requires parsing all previous archived files, so extracting individual files from the middle of a continuous archive is slower than extracting from a regular archive. However, if all or several first files are extracted from a continuous archive, then in this case the unpacking speed is almost equal to the unpacking speed of a regular archive.
If any file in a continuous archive is damaged, then all the files following it will also fail to be extracted.
Continuous archives are best used when:
The archives are rarely updated.
There is no need to frequently extract one or more files from an archive.
Compression ratio is more important than compression speed.
Files in continuous archives are usually sorted by extension, but an alternative sort order can be specified using the special rarfiles.lst file.
Another important feature of RAR is support for multi-volume archives.
Polyatomic archives.
Volumes are fragments of an archive consisting of several parts. Volumes are only supported in RAR format, ZIP volumes cannot be created. Typically, volumes are used to store a large archive on multiple floppy disks or other removable media.
The first volume in the sequence has the usual .rar extension, and the extensions of subsequent volumes are numbered .r00, r01, r02, and so on. Volumes can also be continuous and self-extracting.
Archive volumes do not allow later additions, updates, or deletions of files.
They are much more convenient and easier to use than the so-called "span disks" ZIP archives. WinRAR does not support such ZIP archives - multi-volume archives can only be created in RAR format.
In addition, the RAR format has several important features that ZIP does not have, such as adding recovery information that allows you to recover a physically damaged file due to floppy disk failure or loss due to any other reason, and locking important archives to prevent them from being accidentally modified. .
It is worth noting that older file systems do not support files larger than 4GB, so when working with such files, the user must use the NTFS file system.
Hi all! Today we will talk: what is the difference between zip and rar archives; consider how to convert rar to zip and vice versa; how to create and extract zip and rar folders. Probably, I will not write about the history of the creation of each of the formats, all this can be found you know where, and without unnecessary water, I will immediately proceed to the topic.
I already wrote the whole article, when suddenly it turned out that some users do not know what an archive is. As a result, I decided to make an insert, and tell, so What same such an archive on a computer. For those who are in the know, go down to the paragraph below, there is the main article. And so, an archive on a computer is a kind of file, like a regular folder, which can contain all kinds of files, sometimes other archives. Its difference from a regular folder is that the archive, to save space, compresses the files placed in it. Thanks to this property, archives have gained great popularity among users, because it has become possible, with the same amount of computer memory, to store a much larger amount of information, as well as less clog the channel when sent over networks (Internet, internal networks). There are various archive formats - gzip, tar, 7z, ISO, but the most popular are still rar and zip (that's what we're talking about today). And now, the article itself.
Benefits of Zip
Zip- an archive format that is supported by many operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Dos, Linux, and more. etc. The main feature of the format is that it can be decompressed by default on all operating systems. In other words, in order to open this archive, a bare OS is enough, without installing archivers (programs for working with archives). And this is a big difference between zip and rar. After all, the latter cannot do without installing its own archiver for work. That is why zip is used in all assemblies of installation files of Operating Systems, as well as when working on almost all hostings, and in cases where files are to be transferred to many users' computers.
Another difference between the zip and rar formats is the speed of compressing files into an archive. Zip compresses faster. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that this advantage becomes apparent only with large amounts of compression (more than 1 GB). Well, or the user has outdated hardware, released, sort of, at the beginning of the 2000s (although I don’t think there are any left).
But, despite the advantages, zip has its disadvantages, which we will discuss in the Rar Advantages section.
Advantages of RAR
rar- like zip, it is able to compress files into an archive and is supported by all major operating systems, including mobile ones (Android and Mac), although, as mentioned above, an archiver program is needed to work with rar. The most popular of them is probably WinRar. True, it is paid. But, for sure, everyone in our country under the name of the USSR, there is a cracked version of it. But, despite the need for additional software, rar is able to compress files much better than zip. You can compress files in rar with selective density. Although, it should be borne in mind that the more the archive is compressed, the longer it will take to compress it.
The second difference between rar and zip is the ability to password-protect the archive. But, it is worth remembering that if you forget your password, then it will be impossible to recover it. The password for rar archives is often used in e-commerce, when the archived product can be downloaded freely, but the password for the archive is sent to the client's mail only after payment.
Another advantage of rar over zip is the ability to archive any amount of information (over 8 million terabytes, however, only on disks with the NTFS system). While zip has certain limitations (for today it is 2 GB).
Also, rar can restore (using special .rev files) damaged or even missing archives, while zip cannot.
How to convert rar to zip and vice versa
In order to convert one format to another, there are several ways, and the first of them:
Online zip and rar converters
There are a lot of such converters on the net, but, unfortunately, most of them only convert rar to zip, and not vice versa. You can find them on request. Transformrar tozip + online(+ online means that even without this word, the search engine output will be relevant (meet the search conditions)) or similar. Despite the fact that their obvious advantage is the absence of the need to have a converter on your hardware, their disadvantage is more than significant - the limitation on the size of the converted file. As a rule, the conversion threshold is set within 50-100 MB (in my opinion, this is ridiculously small). And if you want to convert a file with a large weight, you will either have to pay or subscribe to the mailing list and start receiving spam in the mail (by the way, I wrote here, Very useful article. I advise everyone to read it). That is why I will not advise you on any of the online resources. And I advise you to take a closer look at the second way to convert rar to zip and vice versa:
Stationary ways to convert rar to zip and vice versa
How to convertrar tozip. To do this, there are various programs, both paid and free. I don’t see the need to spend my money here, and therefore I advise you to take a closer look at the free options. There are enough of them in the world wide web. Take at least RAR to ZIP converter (link to the official website of the program).
And here, convertzip torar a little more difficult. There are several paid programs. But, unfortunately, I did not meet free ones. Therefore, I can advise a simple, but effective way- unzip the zip and archive it to rar, using the same WinRar program or any other similar program. By the way, you can do the same to convert rar to zip.
But, in order to unzip or archive files, you need to know how to do it. Therefore, I suggest this now and learn. For example, we will use the same WinRar program (it is assumed that it is installed on your computer).
How to archive files
For example, we will use a document in the format . PDF. The original file size is 33,465 KB. And so, let's transgress. Getting started for creating archives is the same for everyone. We stand on the desired file with the mouse and press the right button. In the window that opens, select WinRAR, then Add to archive.
How to create an archivezip
If we want to create a zip archive, then we select it by making the appropriate mark in the checkbox on the left side in the position Archive format. If desired, you can check the checkboxes and on the right, in the field Archiving Options.
- Delete files after packing means that the archived file will be deleted and will remain only in the created archive.
- CreateSFX archive means that the archive will have the program format (.exe), respectively, and will open as a program, and not as an archive.
- Test files after packaging means the usual check by means of the WinRAR program for errors during archiving.
Along with this, you can choose Compression method from Without compression before Maximum. The default is Ordinary. The higher the compression level you choose, the more compressed the source file will be, but it will also take longer to archive. And so, let's try to archive the test file By high-speed method(method Without compression will not be used, it is clear that there will be no differences from the original file) and Maximum.
The high-speed method compressed the file to 28,918 KB. Thus, the difference from the control sample was 4,547 Kb. The maximum method managed to compress the file to 28,696 KB. The difference from the control sample is 4,769 Kb. The difference between the Maximum and High-speed compression method is 222Kb. But in terms of speed, I did not notice a visual difference, although, of course, it was.
How to create a rar archive
Essentially, everything is the same. In position Archive format check the RAR checkbox. But in the field Archiving Options many more selections will appear. The positions discussed in the section on creating a zip archive will not be considered, they are identical. I'll run through the rest of the positions.
- Create a continuous archive- means that several files placed in the archive will be considered as one indivisible.
- Add an electronic signature– contains the name of the author who created the archive, the name of the archive, the time of the last update, and other parameters. Used to encrypt volumes.
- Lock archive- sets a password. Perhaps this is worth stopping.
How to create an archive passwordrar? Checking the checkbox Lock archive.
Then go to the tab Additionally and press the button Set password.
A window opens Archiving with a password. Enter your password in the appropriate positions, and then click OK.
Now, when you try to open a password-protected document, a window will pop up asking you to enter a password.
Let's talk about compression options for rar archives. Still, let's try to archive the test file By high-speed method And Maximum.
The high-speed method compressed the file to 28,159 KB. Thus, the difference from the control sample was 5306 Kb. The maximum method managed to compress the file to 26,873 KB. The difference from the control sample is 6,592 Kb. The difference between Maximum and High-speed compression method is 1 286Kb. The difference in time between the Maximum and High-speed methods was just over one second.
And here is a graph of archiving comparisons between the zip and rar methods (according to the experiment above).
Greetings!
Files of these types of archives are ubiquitous on the Internet. What is the difference between them, is rar or zip better, and why couldn't it be just one format?
To answer this question, we must turn to history.
The ZIP format dates back to 1989. It was then that this compression format was announced, and the first version of the archiver program appeared.
You just don’t think that no other compression formats existed before, just the ZIP format was quite “mature”, and its developer was eventually able to achieve widespread support from popular operating systems of the time.
This ultimately played a key role in ZIP's popularity, and resulted in a significant lead over the competition.
However, as time went on, the semiconductor industry developed, computing power grew. And if earlier computers were used exclusively for calculations and were a niche product, then over time they became capable of performing multimedia functions.
Naturally, all this spurred the demand for computers on which it became possible to play games, access the Internet, and so on. Against the background of the growing PC market, applications began to appear, among which was WinRAR.
In 1995, the first version of WinRAR for Windows appeared. Already at that time, the developer, who, by the way, is our compatriot, introduced support for features that ZIP did not have: multi-volume support (splitting archives into several parts), the ability to add information to restore a damaged archive, etc.
To this day, WInRAR and its RAR compression standard are developing quite dynamically, the algorithm and the speed of compressing / decompressing archives, etc. are improving.
All this is highly appreciated by users, thanks to which this archiver takes its place "under the sun".
So what is the difference between RAR and ZIP today?
1) Compression in ZIP format is slightly faster, however, the size of the final archive is slightly larger when compared to RAR.
2) RAR has the ability to create a "Permanent Archive", which achieves even greater compression, ZIP does not have this capability.
3) ZIP never learned how to create a multi-volume (an archive split into several files of equal size) archive type, while RAR was able to do this from the very beginning.
4) Restoring a damaged ZIP archive is very difficult; in RAR, this possibility is provided from the very beginning in the algorithm.
5) To this day, any ZIP archiver / archive may have a problem with compressing / decompressing files larger than 2 gigabytes.
6) To unpack / create a RAR archive, you need to unpack / create a ZIP archive in a popular operating system in a regular way.
So we examined in detail the advantages and disadvantages of RAR and ZIP. Finally, I suggest you familiarize yourself with, which allow you to work with most types of archives, including ZIP and RAR.
If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments.
Hello dear readers of my blog. Today I present to you an article about two archivers winzip And winrar. We will find out how they are similar and how they differ. winzip And winrar.
If you have large files, but there is little space left on your computer's hard drive to store them, and it's a pity to throw them away, then you can use the help of special compressor programs. Through a special compression algorithm, the compressor reduces the file size, and you can safely continue to "litter" your computer. Often such programs for reducing the size of files are called “archivers”. Indeed, after compression, the file is not suitable for normal use, but is only suitable for convenient storage on a virtual drive shelf.
Most famous users operating system Windows archivers are considered winzip And winrar. These compressors are among the oldest on the market, and have proven themselves as reliable and trouble-free tools for a long time. Both programs are paid, with a trial period. However, in this case, the concept of “trial period” is so vague that in fact, you can use archivers for years completely free of charge. From time to time (and not very often), the program modestly reminds the user that, they say, it is not Free at all. After that, the user, annoyed, like an annoying fly, closes the pop-up reminder and continues to enjoy the freebie with a calm heart. As you can see, modesty adorns not only a person, but also some programs.
What is the difference between WinZip and WinRar?
Despite the outward similarity, there are still significant differences. First, the creator winrar is a Russian programmer Evgeny Roshal. That's why winrar more tailored to our users and is mainly popular in the former USSR. It is believed that WinRar has a higher degree of compression, but it works more slowly.
Archiver winzip is the work of the hands and brain of the Western scientist Phil Katz. Accordingly, it is more common to meet winzip in foreign countries. By speed winzip surpasses winrar, but inferior in terms of compression. We can say that this is where all the differences end.
Both programs support many interface languages, so there will be no problems using them. By the way, the question of speed and compression ratio is quite relative. Much depends on the file format and size. In some cases, notice a significant difference in the work of archivers winzip And winrar fail.
Why do we need archivers for modern computers with many gigabytes of hard drives?
Indeed, the use of an archiver on a desktop is in most cases inappropriate. You only lose quite a lot of time on the compression procedure, and there is enough space anyway. You will need compressed files to transfer files by email, over the Internet. If you try to send a 15 MB photo email, you will have to wait for the transfer for many minutes. In this case, it is more convenient to compress the photo and send it as an archive.
In addition, modern email clients have built-in spam protection and antiviruses. If you try to email the program (the same winrar) with the .exe extension, the mail client or even the server will not let such a file pass because it is suspicious. To bypass the protection of the mail client, the exe file is compressed and sent as a respectable and harmless archive.