[Cialug] Good File Compression Format For The Muggles?

[Don Cady]

On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 2:20 PM, Scott Yates <Scott at yatesframe.com> wrote:

> You are probably stuck with .zip for the everyday windows user.  Even then
> they likely don't understand that it is not really a folder of files, as
> windows presents it that way.
>

^This^
I was recently asked to figure out why someone's copy/moves where going so
slow for them. Observing what they were doing showed them moving files in
and out of a zip "folder" across their network. The icon for zip files is
too small and similar for it to be discernible for them.
It may seem paradoxical, but the older/longer people have been using
computers, the more likely they understand the concept of archives. There
was a good decade or more where many windows users knew what winzip was and
what it was for. If you find yourself talking to someone in that cohort,
you may be able to explain the situation.
There are so many compressors and options it can make your head spin. It's
hard to make apples to apples comparisons unless you go test them all out
on the dataset and hardware you're using. Personally, for general use I've
been liking bzip2 & xz , then get them to install Peazip. It's prettier and
more comfy for them. You could also try self-extracting 7z's. If none of
this works, yeah avoid non-default options.

Don