David Geer Talks Tech
<$BlogItemFeedLinks$>
Monday, August 01, 2005
Estimating how much zing you'll get out of .zip Courtesy of http://www.GeerCom.com.
Geer Communications - your on time technology writer!
Welcome!
A comment has been posted to a previous blog on .zip files asking:
"I wonder, if I can estimate the resulted .zip file size before compressing large folder? If I know I will not save any space then I will not spend my time for zipping! Please, advise. Thank you!" – Anonymous.
As you'll note from the WinZip FAQ linked above, it depends on the file type. If the file is a type that is already by nature a compressed file, you won't get much if any compression by putting it into a .zip file.
These file types include media files, certain encrypted data and database files and, of course, .zip files. There are exceptions such as the Bitmap file type, .BMP.
The good news is that most file types can be compressed a lot.
Your solution: see how many files of types that don't .zip well are in the folder. If the majority of them are, don't expect the world, though significant compression may still be possible on the files that do compress well. You can also try removing all files of the type that don't compress well from the folder, giving them their own folder, and compressing the folder from which you have removed those files.
Best,
David Geer - your on time technology writer!
Geer Communications
Geer Communications - your on time technology writer!
Welcome!
A comment has been posted to a previous blog on .zip files asking:
"I wonder, if I can estimate the resulted .zip file size before compressing large folder? If I know I will not save any space then I will not spend my time for zipping! Please, advise. Thank you!" – Anonymous.
As you'll note from the WinZip FAQ linked above, it depends on the file type. If the file is a type that is already by nature a compressed file, you won't get much if any compression by putting it into a .zip file.
These file types include media files, certain encrypted data and database files and, of course, .zip files. There are exceptions such as the Bitmap file type, .BMP.
The good news is that most file types can be compressed a lot.
Your solution: see how many files of types that don't .zip well are in the folder. If the majority of them are, don't expect the world, though significant compression may still be possible on the files that do compress well. You can also try removing all files of the type that don't compress well from the folder, giving them their own folder, and compressing the folder from which you have removed those files.
Best,
David Geer - your on time technology writer!
Geer Communications
