what is the best compression tool?

There are tens of software titles that compress files in zip format.
I'm looking for the one that gives the smallest file size. Did anyone come across a place which compares diffrenet compression tools in regard to this?
do you know of a better one? I use windows, winzip and winrar. Is there a better one, in regards to .zip format?

 

Nobody cares much about this subject. They just use compression when needed and want it to be easy.

In my opinion, there isn't a nickel's worth of difference in any of them as far as compression is concerned.

Given that, I try to use the one that covers most of the bases and is the least trouble; that always seems to be Winzip for me.

It seems to be the soup de jour so I trust it to keep me on the edge of any new technology in the field.

As a side comment I must say I appreciate companies that have a great product, yet allow unlimited free usage on a trial basis. If you don't reward such folks, you're a jerk.

 

sallam--You have used more compression programs than most people. Which one do you like best? Which gives you the smallest files? Which is easiest to use?
I think you already have the answer to your question.

 

I wish I did. 3 tools are nothing compared to tens of tools out there. You see, I run a website in which I offer free downloads of my works, mostly html documents. I'm trying to sqweeze the download size to the minimum I could get. So I appreciate it if someone really has something useful to say to me in this regard. Thanks

 

Compression benchmarks @

http://www.davesite.com/computers/compress.shtml

 

acb.

 

Funny thing, I've always wondered how I was expected to open a compression software download when it was offered in a compressed format.

Yogi might say, I don't have it yet but I got it so now I need it.

 

I think you have the wrong reason for compression.

Most modem hardware does some form of compression anyway, in some minor cases downloading an already compressed file can actually be slower !

Broadband ignores compression as it has reached the speed where hardware intervention would only slow it down.

Most web stuff is pre-compressed; executable binaries (exe), images (jpeg, gif, tiff), sound/movies (avi, mpeg, wmv), java script, etc, but the key factor is the speed at which they can decompress, which is where I think you need to look, for most of these files further compression is a waste of time.

Personally I would stick with a regular ZIP format as this is pretty much standard for Windows XP and free ZIP managers are quite common.