What is Compression software? Compression software is a type of software that reduces the size of a file at the same time as it maintains its original properties. How does it work? With compression software, a user can specify what type of file to compress and also what type of compression to use. This will then shrink the file without any loss in quality. The most common types are zip files, window rar, and zip files.
What Is Compression Software?
At its simplest, compression software reduces the size of files to help them load faster. These files can then be stored in the user’s computer instead of being put into a physical hard drive. Compression is used to reduce large file size to a smaller file with the same storage and allows the original file to still be visible, even if the content is reduced. The most common types of compression software are:
- Zip Compression Software
- JIM (Joint Internet Magnification Project) Compression
- RAR (Random Access File) Compression
- Compression doesn’t actually have to do anything with the file itself, it just enables compression of the contents of the file.
- Zip files are basically smaller versions of a file.
How Does Compression Software Work?
First of all, there is a file that is uncompressed or non-compressed. For the compression software to work, it has to know what type of file the user has.
The file is divided into several parts and each part is compressed separately. Each part is saved as a file separately.
After compression, the size of the file is the same but it will be compressed very fast. The compressed size will be much smaller than the original file.
If one wants to add metadata to the compressed file, one can do so by creating a new ‘.md5’ file. This file can then be attached to the compressed file.
Some software also has the option to convert all or part of a compressed file into an uncompressed file.
Compression Software Types
Most of the compression software comes with one or more of the above-mentioned types of compression. The two main ones are “Zlib” and “Gzip”. The latter is more popular and has become the most used compression software.
How Can Compression Software be Used?
The advantage of using compression software is that you can get more with less space. When your file has less space, you can then use that space to store files that you will need. If your compression software doesn’t provide any type of compression, it will use a reduction ratio that you can then check for yourself.
Other Types of Compression Software
Many other types of compression software exist. You can download various free options from them like p7zip, 7zip, and RAR.
Benefits of Using a Compression Software
The benefits of using compression software are:
- It can make the files smaller but not less than 100%.
- It is a complete file manager that does not leave any part of the file open.
- It is able to compress data so much that it can keep it safe from getting lost.
- It does not use up too much disk space.
- It is effective in very large files, and not as useful for small files.
Compression software can compress data on a scale from 0 to 1. 0 is zero compression and 1 is full compression. We will not explain all of these but will mention a few of them.
0: Level 0 compression where you can hardly understand what you are looking at or the quality of the image.
1: Level 1 where the image looks bad or distorted with just a slight change in the settings.
The Best Compression Software List
We have 7 best compression software list below:
Conclusion
With the advent of the internet, the trend of storing files on the internet has significantly increased. As a result, the size of files has increased tremendously over the years. The idea behind using compression software is to reduce the size of the file while keeping it intact, instead of allowing it to shrink to a point where it’s impossible to read it.
Although the chances of compression software being used to file-freeze files are slim, if you want to encrypt your files, there are a number of free, high-level, and complex encryption software you can use. The advantages of using encryption software are that it will protect your data against hackers and others who would want to get into your computer to steal your sensitive information.
