I did a few quick tests on some random files while I was testing compression of VMware images. Basically I just grabbed 100MB of files from the sets that I normally archive regularly and tried them on the programs I had available. The file set was small enough that most programs completed in a couple of minutes (except WinRK which took more than an hour each time). Raw results and batch file here
I tested 7zip, BZip2, GZip and WinRK. The interesting thing for me was that none of them is really worth using for the compression side. For converting a pile of files into one file that can be moved and archived easily any of them except WinRK will do fine.
A random collection of installers.
| MB | % | Filename |
|---|---|---|
| 116.950 | 1.000 | installset.tar |
| 115.319 | 0.986 | install-mx1.7z |
| 115.268 | 0.986 | install-mx9-0-32.7z |
| 115.266 | 0.986 | install-mx9-0-64.7z |
| 115.204 | 0.985 | installset.tar-1.bz2 |
| 115.199 | 0.985 | installset.rk |
| 115.038 | 0.984 | installset.tar-7.bz2 |
| 115.014 | 0.983 | installset.tar-9.bz2 |
| 114.986 | 0.983 | installset.tar-5.bz2 |
| 114.911 | 0.983 | installset.tar-8.bz2 |
| 114.865 | 0.982 | install-mx5.7z |
| 114.695 | 0.981 | install-mx7.7z |
| 114.622 | 0.980 | install-mx9-n.7z |
| 114.622 | 0.980 | install-mx9.7z |
| 114.485 | 0.979 | install-mx9-1-32.7z |
| 114.483 | 0.979 | install-mx9-2-32.7z |
| 114.482 | 0.979 | install-mx9-2-255.7z |
| 114.482 | 0.979 | install-mx9-1-64.7z |
| 114.481 | 0.979 | install-mx9-2-96.7z |
| 114.481 | 0.979 | install-mx9-2-128.7z |
| 114.477 | 0.979 | install-mx9-2-64.7z |
| 114.348 | 0.978 | installset-1.tar.gz |
| 114.207 | 0.977 | installset-5.tar.gz |
| 114.192 | 0.976 | installset-9.tar.gz |
| 114.172 | 0.976 | install-zip5.zip |
| 114.158 | 0.976 | install-zip9.zip |
I just grabbed about 60 files as they came out of my Canon 300D, roughly 3MP JPEG files shot with minimal JPEG compression.
| MB | % | Filename |
|---|---|---|
| 184.594 | 1.000 | photo-mx9-0-32.7z |
| 184.593 | 1.000 | photo-mx9-0-64.7z |
| 184.345 | 0.999 | photo-mx1.7z |
| 184.156 | 0.998 | photo-mx5.7z |
| 183.855 | 0.996 | photo-mx7.7z |
| 183.576 | 0.994 | photoset.tar-1.bz2 |
| 183.467 | 0.994 | photo-mx9.7z |
| 183.467 | 0.994 | photo-mx9-n.7z |
| 183.277 | 0.993 | photo-mx9-2-255.7z |
| 183.271 | 0.993 | photo-mx9-2-128.7z |
| 183.264 | 0.993 | photo-mx9-1-64.7z |
| 183.263 | 0.993 | photo-mx9-1-32.7z |
| 183.260 | 0.993 | photo-mx9-2-64.7z |
| 183.260 | 0.993 | photo-mx9-2-32.7z |
| 183.252 | 0.993 | photo-mx9-2-96.7z |
| 183.162 | 0.992 | photoset.tar |
| 183.057 | 0.992 | photo-zip5.zip |
| 183.055 | 0.992 | photo-zip9.zip |
| 182.954 | 0.991 | photoset-5.tar.gz |
| 182.952 | 0.991 | photoset-9.tar.gz |
| 182.942 | 0.991 | photoset-1.tar.gz |
| 182.774 | 0.990 | photoset.tar-5.bz2 |
| 182.645 | 0.989 | photoset.tar-7.bz2 |
| 182.586 | 0.989 | photoset.tar-8.bz2 |
| 182.553 | 0.989 | photoset.tar-9.bz2 |
| 179.670 | 0.973 | photoset.rk |
I zipped my local copy of www.mozbike.com since it's small. It's all plain HTML with most of the volume being small jpegs.
| MB | % | Filename |
|---|---|---|
| 37.601 | 1.000 | webset.tar |
| 36.308 | 0.966 | web-zip5.zip |
| 36.303 | 0.966 | web-zip9.zip |
| 36.272 | 0.965 | webset.tar-1.bz2 |
| 36.088 | 0.960 | webset-1.tar.gz |
| 36.039 | 0.958 | webset-5.tar.gz |
| 36.033 | 0.958 | webset.tar-5.bz2 |
| 36.027 | 0.958 | webset-9.tar.gz |
| 36.008 | 0.958 | webset.tar-8.bz2 |
| 36.006 | 0.958 | webset.tar-7.bz2 |
| 35.992 | 0.957 | webset.tar-9.bz2 |
| 35.981 | 0.957 | web-mx1.7z |
| 35.240 | 0.937 | web-mx5.7z |
| 35.159 | 0.935 | web-mx7.7z |
| 34.894 | 0.928 | webset.rk |
| 34.659 | 0.922 | web-mx9-0-32.7z |
| 34.659 | 0.922 | web-mx9-0-64.7z |
| 34.433 | 0.916 | web-mx9-1-64.7z |
| 34.432 | 0.916 | web-mx9-1-32.7z |
| 34.432 | 0.916 | web-mx9-2-32.7z |
| 34.432 | 0.916 | web-mx9-2-128.7z |
| 34.432 | 0.916 | web-mx9-2-255.7z |
| 34.432 | 0.916 | web-mx9-2-96.7z |
| 34.431 | 0.916 | web-mx9-n.7z |
| 34.431 | 0.916 | web-mx9.7z |
| 34.431 | 0.916 | web-mx9-2-64.7z |