Product Reviews
StuffIt Comes to Windows
Aladdin Systems StuffIt offers an alternative to WinZip, but is it better?
The history of file compression programs is a long one.
Back in the DOS days, the de facto standard was
ARC, from System Enhancement Associates. Then Phil Katz
wrote a faster version of ARC called PKARC, and got sued
by SEA over intellectual property issues. In response,
Katz developed the ZIP format and made the format public
domain, leading ultimately to the current market leader
on Windows computers, WinZip.
Meanwhile, over on the Macintosh platform, Aladdin Systems'
StuffIt became the compression utility of choice. Now,
Aladdin has released StuffIt for Windows, bringing their
compression code to the Microsoft platform. Its web site
makes a number of claims for StuffIt, notably that its
files are "an average of 20 percent smaller files than
Zip." They also claim an easy to use interface and the
most comprehensive set of compression formats in the industry.
To check their claims of file size advantage, I used
StuffIt and WinZip (the most popular engine for the ZIP
format on Windows) to compress a variety of files. The
table shows my results.
Test
|
Original Size
|
StuffIt Size
|
WinZip Size
|
Excel spreadsheet |
16 KB
|
2643 bytes
|
2636 bytes
|
Access database |
360 KB
|
57 KB
|
83 KB
|
Word document |
24 KB
|
169 KB
|
161 KB
|
Mix of 14 documents |
1670 KB
|
607 KB
|
620 KB
|
Mix of 65 executables |
24.5 MB
|
11.1 MB
|
10.0 MB
|
So, in my tests, the "20 percent better" claim just doesn't
hold up. In only one case did StuffIt achieve 20 percent
better compression than WinZip, and in some cases it did
substantially worse. I couldn't find any details on Aladdin's
web site as to how the company calculated its "average"
claim.
As far as user interface goes, I think it's a wash. StuffIt
does offer a lot of flexibility, from a full Explorer-style
interface through drag-and-drop compression and expansion
to context menu extensions. But WinZip offers drag-and-drop
and context menus, and there are other zip utilities for
Windows implemented in Explorer fashion. One thing missing
from StuffIt is a step-by-step "Wizard" interface, though
I'm skeptical that most users advanced enough to want
file compression would use such an interface.
StuffIt does come through on support for multiple types
of compression. While the current release of WinZip offers
support for zip, tar, gz, UUencode, BinHex, MIME, LZExpand,
and cab files. StuffIt covers all of these formats, and
adds support for sit, lha, hqx, arj, and more. Particularly
if you need to share files with Mac users from your Windows
system, you'll find this extended support valuable.
|
StuffIt for Windows offers a
choice between Explorer-style and drag-and-drop interfaces. (Click image to view larger version.)
|
I doubt that StuffIt (or any other program) can do much
to whittle down the hold the zip file format has on Windows.
The StuffIt application does offer useful flexibility
for those working with heterogeneous clients, but you
definitely need to take Aladdin's marketing claims with
a grain of salt.
About the Author
Mike Gunderloy, MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, is a former MCP columnist and the author of numerous development books.