My push for going with 7z is that: 1) we use it as a company on all our Windows boxes and 2) the other company involved in my project also uses it
The trick is to get it running on my UNIX box (or rather, getting my UNIX Admin to get it loaded and working). If the difference between a zip and a 7z file were just a few percentages, I would not be pushing so hard for 7z. But 50% compression (with zip) vs. 90% compression is worth investigating. Thanks for all replies. JRI -----Original Message----- From: u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org [mailto:u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org] On Behalf Of Tony Gravagno Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 11:59 AM To: u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Subject: Re: [U2] Compressing PDFs In addition to 7-Zip (the software, not just the compression algorithm), consider WinRAR. They're both based on the same UnRAR decompression. They both support multiple platforms, multiple compression methods, multiple volumes, security, etc. I hope I don't start a war by suggesting that anyone spend money for software or anything, but WinRAR is shareware for $30 and has Windows extensions for a UI that make it worth it to some people. You don't need to pay for it, and I'd guess most people do not, but it's a good thing to do, especially for a company. There is a tiny nag on file opens which is easy to dismiss. I've been using WinRAR for almost a decade and swear by it for all compression needs. For some people the choice is just a matter of personal preference where most other comparisons are similar. You'll see arguments out there about 128bit AES vs 256, or how many CPU cores are utilized, or whether you get 80% compression vs 85%. At some point it just comes down to "feel". I'd recommend that you do not provide your trading partners with software, but tell them the compression mechanism you use and why, and then point them to a couple websites from which they can make their own choices. Otherwise you could get stuck providing support because YOU told them to use brandX. As to your local storage, consider delivering files to your trading partners in a format that's easy for Them to manipulate, but re-compress/store files in a way that's easy for You to manipulate. The content is ultimately the same and file transport/unpacking issues are rare and easy to remedy. HTH T > From: Israel, John R. > There are several issues here that I am dealing with for this project. > > #1 The company that we are sending the PDFs to is Windows based, so I > am limited as to the formats they can accept (zip and 7z being two of > them). > > #2 In my testing, I have found that 7z gives significantly more > compression. In my test, I took a single PDF that was 17k in size. I > made 3 copies of it for a total of 17 x 4 = 68k. Using a traditional zip, I > was able to compact these 4 PDFs down into a 33k file (about half). > HOWEVER, after compressing it down with 7z, those same 4 PDFs went > down to only 8K! That is a SIGNIFICANT difference. > > #3 I wrote a program we all use that archives the intended file, then > transmits the archive to the 2nd party. That way, if they did not get it, I > can re-send it from the archive w/o having to try to re-create the data > (which may have changed). Also, if there are any issues, I can look at > the archive file and determine exactly what they got and then > determine if the problem was mine or theirs. > From: Israel, John R. > > HPUX, UniData & SB: > > After a bunch of work, I have a UNIX directory that has a bunch of > PDFs. > > I wish to bundle these PDFs up into a 7zip formatted compressed file. I > see that there is a ported version of the Windows version of 7zip for > UNIX called p7zip. > > Has anyone installed p7zip and if so, what else needed to be installed > with it? Is it stand-alone or is it dependent on other software packages > being loaded first? > > OR > > Does anyone have a simple way for UNIX to run the Windows command line > version of 7zip against my UNIX PDF directory? _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
