Better compressor; WinZip or WinRar?

Which program does a better job of compressing large files? And I mean, large files. I'm backing up a lot of programs that I bought and downloaded, and some of these are large programs that I probably should have paid the extra few bucks for a CD for. One I'm backing up right now is over two gigs. So what I'm doing is zipping them to make it as small as possible, then burn to CD. Or in this case, DVD.

What is a better compression utility for large files? WinZip or WinRar? I also have 7-Zip installed. If there is a better compressor out there, please let me know.

 

JPaterson000--Some of the articles here may help.
http://www.google.com/search?source...,GGLG:2006-33,GGLG:en&q=compare+WinZip+WinRAR
But if you have already bought both WinZip and WinRAR, you could test easily enough as Steve R Jones has suggested.
I think WinRAR makes a smaller, more compressed, file and handles a few more file types than does WinZip. However, if you plan to send the RAR compressed file to others, they may have to use some other program (such as 7-zip) to open a RAR file unless they have also purchased WinRAR.
WinRAR offered a freebie to version 3.51 (which is now superceded by v3.60) about a month ago. You can still download version 3.51,
http://www.tucows.com/preview/194276
but you will need the Registration Key (which was the actual freebie) to use WinRAR for more than 40 days.
I have attached what I think is the registration key (in the form of a .zip file), but no guarantees. (Supposedly the freebie Registration Key was the same for everyone.)
Once you install WinRAR 3.51, you extract the WinRAR.key from the .zip file (assuming you have WinZip or 7-Zip) and click on the key. The installed WinRAR then opens the key and registers your installation of WinRAR.