What is the best file compression format for a particular file type?

[piggysmile]

What is the best file compression format for each file type and other file types related to them?

1. Executable (.exe) files
2. Media (.bmp,.jpg,.mp3,.ogg...)
3. Documents (.txt,.doc,.xls,.sxw...)

Please suggest other formats for other file types if you know some.

Thanks.

 

[TheMajor]

Use RAR, although you cannot reallly compress MP3's or JPEG's.

 

[Elbatrop1]

Ya, I use WinRAR, it compresses things good.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

.mp3's are uncompressable, and jpeg's are virtually uncompressable

 

[piggysmile]

sadly, rar is proprietary but it really does compress files better than zip. 7-zip claims to be better than rar but i think zip is even better than it. who has tried it?

 

[emmynem_2005]

WIN RAR IS THE BEST

 

[TheMajor]

I tried 7-zip but didn't like the program. I did not compare it to RAR, but I think RAR has more features. WinRAR can un-7zip them, so I don't care anyways.

 

[killians45]

um, yes you CAN compress mp3's... DietMP3 would be an example... also, another good file compression utility (straying away from mp3) is UHARC.

just added this in: you can also compress .jpg files, although its a little different. Its more info used by advanced image editors not needed by standard image viewers, so its not the image you are compressing, but just getting rid of uneeded fluff in the image.

 

[TheMajor]

Your right. I forgot about UHARC; comes with all those ripped games. At least you won't compress them much with ZIP/RAR (tested myself).

 

[killians45]

UHARC is one hellova compression utility! I was amazed at how much data compression occured with it!