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Freeware, shareware, and trialware files for your PC
Price: $25
Date Added: Mar 2008
Operating Systems: Macintosh, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Requirements: 256MB of RAM, 40 MB of hard disk space, 32-bit OS
Downloads Count: 26580
Author: Smith Micro Software
StuffIt comes with its own compression format. Two formats, actually, .sit and the newer, more efficient .sitx. The StuffItX format is especially impressive when compressing JPEG images. Conventional wisdom says that .jpg files don't compress because they're compressed already. In my casual tests, StuffIt, when creating a .sitx archive, shrank these pictures by about 25 percent.
To extract .sit/.sitx files, non-Stuffit users will need to download and use the free Stuffit Expander utility.
StuffIt also manages .zip files (of course), but SmithMicro takes this beyond simply supporting the old, creaking .zip 2.0 standard. Version 9.5 can decrypt the 256-bit AES encryption that WinZip added in 2003 with version 9 (you'll still need the password, of course). Unfortunately, it can't create WinZip-compatible encrypted files. If you want better security than .zip 2.0's easily defeatable password protection, you'll have to create a .sitx archive (which can hide file names and supports RC4-512, AES-256, BlowFish-448, or DES-64 encryption).
StuffIt also can't segment ZIP archives (split them into multiple files of user-definable size), but it can do so with .sit/.sitx archives.
To make the most of such features, Stuffit Standard 9.5's wizards are a good place to start, and they're equal, if not better, than those of the other programs I looked at. Another nice touch: You can archive and FTP your files over the Internet--a useful tool for long-distance backup.
--Lincoln Spector
You can find the full review for StuffIt 9.5 and performance details for this program, and its competitors, at our Top 5 Compression Utilities chart.
| File Name | Downloads | License | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The most famous of compression utilities boasts some new tricks but forces you to pay extra for certain advanced features.
|
672999 | Trial | May 2008 |
|
Compress and decompress files quickly and free-of-charge.
|
451992 | Free | Sep 2006 |
|
WinRAR is a powerful archive-creation utility that remains the only way to create .rar files.
|
114909 | Trial | Oct 2007 |
|
Recover passwords for Zip files.
|
87710 | Shareware | Mar 2004 |
|
Get features found in $30 archive programs for free.
|
68814 | Free | Sep 2006 |
|
A solid archive tool with an uncluttered interface and excellent Windows Explorer integration.
|
62253 | Trial | Sep 2006 |
|
Our Best Buy, this feature-packed compression utility provides solid compression and encryption options.
|
51515 | Shareware | Feb 2006 |
|
Turn executable install programs into .cab files and extract them individually.
|
32901 | Free | Jan 1998 |
|
Create ZIP compressed archives for free with this handy utility.
|
31425 | Free | Jul 2007 |
|
Review your archives without re-expanding them.
|
29439 | Trial | Jun 2002 |
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