Most efficient WinRAR settings?

[Gweedo]

I download .rar files then go through them and clean out unnessesary files and stuff and then recompress them, but the new file is bigger than the original. I was wondering if there was a special way to set the settings to get the most efficient compression.

[memNOC]

umm you probably have the compression at 'normal' whereas the original file most likely had it on 'maximum'..

rar v3 is the highest compression algorithm commercially available.. (Y)

[BxBoy]

i always go with maximum compression..

[Gweedo]

I do set them to maximum or 'Best.' Can anybody tell me what the dictionary sizes do?

[Andrew179]

you can also set it to make a solid archive

[MxxCon]

Size of the dictionary used by the compression algorithm. If your computer has at least 64MB, 4096KB dictionary size will be optimal. Otherwise you need to set a lower value to decrease memory usage.

memNOC, rar3 is NOT "highest compression algorithm commercially available". that are compression program that compress much better.

[m0]

Maximum here :yes:

How much longer does it take to extract on each level of compression typically? or does it take longer?

m0.

[Gweedo]

It takes longer to extract depending on the level of compression.

  Quote

memNOC, rar3 is NOT "highest compression algorithm commercially available". that are compression program that compress much better.

What is the best?

[memNOC]

  MxxCon said:

memNOC, rar3 is NOT "highest compression algorithm commercially available". that are compression program that compress much better.

im curious myself, and dont tell me its 7z either.. like i said, commercially available, as in a consumer product, not the compression used by the govt or something, since im sure they can top rar3.. :rolleyes:

so tell me, what IS the best compression then?

[MxxCon]

heh :(

i've been talking about these sites as long as i have been on neowin and yet people just ignore them

http://compression.ca/

http://compression.graphicon.ru/ybs/#CCT

there was another i lost url for

and what's wrong w/ 7zip?! it's consumer product.

[nicedreams]

Probably the best comparison site for compression programs. Have to check this out:

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?locat...3&var1=4&var2=0

[Gweedo]

Too bad most of the top ones aren't GUI. I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot if a 600KB file is 800KB after recompression when you have 2x200GB HDDs. :D

[DjmUK]

There is no Maximum Setting..! all these posts saying "Maximum", there isn't one - do you people actually use WinRAR or are you getting confused with WinZip..?

The settings are as follows (taken from version 3.20)

Store

Fastest

Fast

Normal

Good

Best

I'm guessing that Best is what we all mean instead of Maximum?

[thingsforjason]

yes. best. maximum. more compression than normal. all the same thing.

[fpd]

make sure dictionary size is 4096 kb and that all necessary advanced settings are used

[John Veteran]

if you make it a "solid" archive, you'll get better compression. but you can't add/delete files from the archive later.

[MxxCon]

you can delete files from solid archive, you'll just have to recompress everything w/o that deleted file.