Benefits of file compressors.

In addition to freeing up space, this type of software also allows you to better organize your files. That is, you can include 10, 100, 1000 in a single compressed file. Or on the contrary, you can split a large file into smaller ones to be able to store them or transmit them on the Internet more efficiently.

Another of its capabilities, less known among the public, but no less important, is the ability to encrypt these files. In this way, we will be able to save or share them securely. On the other hand, some of them allow you to automate, customize and schedule compression tasks. They also include functions to transfer files using the FTP protocol directly from the interface. Other functions range from emailing and direct recording to optical media. To the connection with cloud storage services.

This type of software must be able to compress or decompress files interchangeably. There are paid and free solutions that support various archive formats, including the three most widespread ZIP, RAR and TAR. Similarly, there are factors that affect their selection:

• The support for handling formats;
• The speed of compressing and decompressing;
• The usability or attractiveness of the interface
• Encryption functions

Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting ones.

7-Zip

Free and open-source software, it is the great reference for those who are looking for a completely free application of this type. It uses its own 7z file format by default. However, it supports others such as ZIP and RAR for both decompression and compression. As with most of the rest, it can decompress RAR files, but not create them. 7z uses a variety of compression algorithms such as bzip2, LZMA and LZMA2. In addition, it has auto-extract capability, drag-and-drop support and a powerful archive manager.

7-Zip is available for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit systems, where it integrates with context menus. It has command line and versions for Linux or macOS. Its interface is not the most intuitive, but if you are looking for free file compressors, you will not find anything better.

WinZip

The great classic of the .zip format started as a graphical user interface for PKZIP. However, it ended up becoming a commercial product for Windows. Under an attractive interface and with a powerful wizard, it offers a lot of the functions mentioned above:

• 256-bit AES encryption,
• Direct burning to DVD, thumbnail view,
• Auto extraction,
• Automatic compression selection

It handles any ZIP feature and supports other formats such as ARC, ARJ and LZH with external programs. It also supports 7z, TAR and RAR file extraction. Furthermore, it also handles audio with improved compression of WAV files. WinZip offers free trial for Windows. However, it is commercial software and is sold in several standard and Pro versions starting at 36 euros as a one-time payment. If you use this format a lot, you have to admit that there is nothing better for handling the ZIP format on Windows.

WinRar

The big name around the RAR format, a great alternative to the ZIP format, but closed. It offers incredible levels of compression (better than zip). Plus lightning fast speeds when compressing or decompressing and a pretty good 128-bit AES encryption tool. Besides being the only application capable of creating archives in this format, it can handle virtually all others, zip, 7z, TAR, iSO and so on. It can also create self-extracting archives (EXE) for which no other decompression software is needed.

WinRAR is commercial software and is distributed for 64-bit Windows in several versions for personal or professional use for a one-time fee. A 40-day free trial is offered. On the other hand, the UNRAR variant (only for decompressing this format) is released for other systems and is integrated or can be installed on GNU/Linux distributions.

PeaZip

A free and open-source solution that provides a more attractive and usable interface for the ordinary consumer than the one offered by 7-zip. Remember that it uses it as a base for its free software distribution. It allows compressing and decompress in 200 formats such as 7z, Tar and Zip. In addition, it can decompress RAR and also compress, although for this, you have to have WinRAR installed. It implements a powerful and complete file manager to edit, view, browse, and search files. It also includes an extensive set of data security features with strong AES encryption, encrypted password manager, optional two-factor authentication, secure deletion and file hashing tools.

PeaZip is available for Windows, Linux, BSD or ARM 32-bit and 64-bit. If you are looking for a 7-Zip with a modern and attractive user interface, this application is for you.

B1 Free Archiver

Less known among file compressors, it uses a native open source B1 format. With an attractive interface (it also works on command line), it allows you to compress/decompress formats such as B1 and Zip. Although it only allows compressing RAR. It offers password-protected archives encrypted with 256-bit AES algorithm.

B1 Free Archiver is available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and also has an online version.

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Compress files in Android.

A great advantage provided by the operating system is that it is possible to manage compressed files natively. In other words, there is no need to download third-party tools. However, it is good to clarify that if the management of compressed files will be frequent, then it is advisable to download special tools. If not, then Android provides everything needed to work with compressed files. Well, to compress files we will use the File Manager application. This app is present in most Android devices. Please note that this app can be different on computers with a custom interface. This happens on Samsung devices, the EMUI layer or the MIUI interface. However, the functionality is almost the same.

To compress the files, just launch the File Manager application. Once there, select the files with a long touch.

Then, click on the menu and select the option Compress

The wizard will assign a default name related to the files. However, you can choose any name. In addition, the file will be saved in ZIP format.

At the end of the process, you’ll see the zip file. The only drawback of this method is that all files must be in the same folder.

Decompressing files on Android.

To decompress the files, the process is as simple as the previous one. The first thing you have to do is open the File Manager application, and select the compressed file. Immediately a menu will be displayed with the file options. It is possible to unzip the file in the same location or in another folder. In this case, we’re going to decompress the file in a different location.

Then the file explorer will show the folders present in the system. Just choose one, and click on Extract.

After the decompression is completed, a folder will be created with the files in the selected location. Please enter it to see the unzipped files.

Conclusion

As has been noted, the procedure for compress and decompress files on Android is very simple. However, as we warn, if you are going to work with a lot of compressed files, then it is advisable to download third-party tools. Some of the most efficient ones are RAR, WinZip, and 7Zipper. All right, that’s it for now. Before I say goodbye, I invite you to check out our post about encrypting USB drives on Windows 10.

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In this article you will learn that how to use tar command for data archive and its compression using (tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2).

We will use below tar tools.

1- Tar
2- Gzip
3- Bzip2

Create tar Archive File

So, in below example we will create a tar archive file data.tar for a directory /boot in current working directory.

tar -cvf data.tar /boot

ls

c – Creates a new .tar archive file.
v – Verbosely show the .tar file progress.
f – File name type of the archive file.

Untar (Un-Compress) Archive File

Now, we will un-compress data.tar archive file in current working directory using below command.

tar -xf data.tar

x to extract archive file.

So what if you want to Un-compress archive in different path or directory. use -C (Capital C) in command and specify your path to un-compress it, Please see below example command.

tar -xf data.tar -C /media
ls /media

You can see in above image that boot directory is uncompressed in /media directory.

Create tar.gz (gzip) Archive File

If you want to compress a file/folder with gzip, then you have to use “z” in tar command and make archive extension as .tar.gz

z – To create a compressed gzip archive file

Run below command

tar -czf data.tar.gz /boot

Un-compress gzip archive file

tar -xf data.tar.gz

Then, you can also un-compress gzip file in your desired directory

tar -xf data.tar.gz -C /media

Create tar.bz2 Archive File

The bz2 feature is used to highly compress and create archive. Its archive size is small then gzip archive. The bz2 compression takes more time to compress and decompress files as compared to gzip which takes less time.

j – To create highly compressed tar file, Use following command

tar cj data.tar.bz2 /boot

Un-compress bz2 archive file

tar -xf data.tar.bz2

Now, un-compress it in another directory

tar -xf data.tar.bz2 -C /media

List Content of Archive File

t – it is used to list archive data without extract it.

tar -tvf data.tar
tar -tvf data.tar.gz
tar -tvf data.tar.bz2

That’s it.

The post Use tar command to archive/compress files/folders in Linux appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

Now, let’s take a look how to compress files into the following format.

Compressing files

• ZIP

Zip is definitely one of the most popular compressed file formats. It’s widely used in all the platforms and really powerful for basic usage.

For compressing, ZIP uses the following structure:

zip {.zip-filename} {filename-to-compress}

If you want to compress a directory using ZIP, run this command:

zip -r {.zip-filename} {directory-to-compress}

In this example, I’m going to compress my Thunderbird profile. It’s also an awesome trick for backing up your Thunderbird profile.

zip -r thunderbird-backup.zip ~/.thunderbird

For decompressing the ZIP file, run this command:

unzip thunderbird-backup.zip

• TAR

It’s a really powerful tool for compressing and decompressing the file(s) and directory. It’s more widely used as it offers more support for advanced compressing formats like TAR.BZ2. For compressing a file or directory using TAR command, follow the following structure:

tar -zcvf {.tgz-file} {files/directory} [using gzip compression method]
tar -jcvf {.tbz2-file} {files/directory} [using bz2 compression method]

For example, I’ll be compressing my “~/.thunderbird” directory. If you want to compress the file(s), just exchange the later part of the command.

tar -jcvf thunderbird-email-profile.tar.bz2 .thunderbird

For decompressing the file, run this command:

tar -xvf thunderbird-email-profile.tar.bz2

There’s also another file type called XZ. This one follows extreme compression method and used for compressing lots of small files into one, tight archive.

For turning into XZ archive, use the following command structure:

tar -cvJf filename.tar.xz /directory/*

• GZIP & BZIP2

These tools also come pre-installed in most of the Linux distros. They’re not used as frequently as they lack the ability to compress directory. These are generally there for serving as the algorithm source for other software like TAR. However, you can still use them in the same way. The command line structure is quite same.

gzip {filename}
bzip2 {filename}

For decompressing a compressed file, use the following commands:

bzip2 -d {.bz2-file}
gzip -d {.gz file}

Voila! Enjoy the powerful compression feature of Linux!

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