7zip and nanozip

Best data on different compressors:
http://compressionratings.com/

check best compression programs/algorithms based on many variables such different arguments or the result your looking for such as compression ratio which directly relates to final file size, also compression speed and decompression speed and time: http://compressionratings.com/sort.cgi?rating_sum.brief+4n

7zip compress

more on compression and command line options: http://7zip.bugaco.com/7zip/MANUAL/switches/method.htm

pro: can apt-get
pro: common and known
pro: fast
con: not as good of compression

to install

# apt-get install p7zip-full

 to compress

NOTE: in the example below I will be 7zipping up a tar file, but you could zip up folders if you want, or a list of folders and a list of files. (remember tar files arent zipped up at all, they are concattenation of files essentially, with their metadata included like path of the file etc.) In fact this might be important to remember, sometimes when you feed a list of files and folders to 7zip it might fail if the a couple of the folders you picked have the same subfiles/subfolders. 7zip doesnt do absolute folder paths like tar. So I recommend first tarring your list of files and folders, and then 7ziping the tar file. Dont forget to remove the tar file after.

Here is an example, this same list of files might fail with 7zip, but it wont with tar, so first tar it up and then use 7zip on it:

tar -cvf /root/test.tar /bin /sbin /lib /lib64 /var /etc/

Now lets take that /root/test.tar and 7zip with different methods that have different compression settings (the higher the compression settings the more ram they use – if you only have 512MB of ram, I would use -mx3, if you have more then use -mx5 or -mx9.. Equally -mx=3 and -mx=5 and -mx=9 have the same results – so you can include the = sign or not)

7zip has simple syntax:

# 7z a <new archive name> <file list to compress>
# 7z a <options> <new archive name> <file list to compress>

ex1: default compression – (mx5 is the default compression)

# 7z a /root/testmx9.7z /root/test.tar

ex2: ultra compression – more ram

# 7z a -mx=9 /root/testmx9.7z /root/test.tar

or also (can leave out the = sign)

# 7z a -mx9 /root/testmx9.7z /root/test.tar

if not enough ram, the process will be killed mid way

ex3: alot less ram (use -mx3, it will offer less compression but less ram will be used)

# 7z a -mx=3 /root/testmx3.7z /root/test.tar

or also (can leave out the = sign)

# 7z a -mx3 /root/testmx3.7z /root/test.tar

For complete list of options that will be set with different -mx settings, look at the -m help page on 7zip online manual, then scroll down to 7z (as 7z support many formats, you need to look at the default one, 7z):

http://sevenzip.sourceforge.jp/chm/cmdline/switches/method.htm

to compress without any compression (copy/store)

mx=0 copy method also called store in the GUI. This is useful to compress/store files which are already compressed (pictures, videos, other archives)

# 7z a -mx0 /root/testmx0.7z /test/*7z

Here we compress into testmx0.7z every 7z file in the test folder. this procedure will be as quick as your drives read and write. minimal cpu and memory usage.

To uncompress to current dir

# 7z x <archive name>

ex1: your in /root, archive is /root/test.7z, you want to extract to /root/ (get into /root)

# cd /root
# 7z x test.7z

To uncompress elsewhere

# 7z x -o<directory> <archive name>

Make sure directory is touching the -o

ex2: your in /root, archive is /root/test.7z, you want to extrat to /root/inside/folder/ (folder will be made if its missing)

relative paths for extraction (notice end slash is optional):

# 7z x -oinside/folder test.7z
# 7z x -oinside/folder/ /root/test.7z

absolute path for extraction (notice end slash is optional):

# 7z x -o/root/inside/folder test.7z
# 7z x -o/root/inside/folder/ /root/test.7z

 

any of the 4 above methods will work

 

nanozip

pro: higher compression
pro: popular can apt get
con: much slower
con: in alpha

to install

# mkdir /root/src
# cd /root/src
# wget nanozip.linux64.zip
# unzip nanozip.linux64.zip

if you want to use it. you have to be in the directory /root/src and call upon nz with ./nz. To install it into your system, just copy it nz to one of your system paths (to see your sys paths: echo $PATH). ex: cp /root/src/nz /bin/

to compress using highest settings

./nz a <options> <new archive name> <file list to compress>
./nz a -m<ram to use> -cc <new archive name> <file list to compress>

its recommended to specify amount of ram to use for the operation. if you dont have enough ram it will try, but it will complain, and i assume get killed if runs out of ram

256mb or 1/4g gig ram to use (less ram, less compression):

# ./nz a -m.25g -cc /root/testcc.nz /root/test.tar

512mb or half gig ram to use:

# ./nz a -m.5g -cc /root/testcc.nz /root/test.tar

NOTE: if you use to much it will complain

NOTE: similar use to 7z

NOTE: if your over writing answer question with “yes” not “Yes”

to extract to current dir

./nz x /root/testcc.nz
./nz -o/other/paths x /root/testcc.nz

Note: decompression/extraction is much faster

 

---

 Update: compressing folders recursively with nanozip and 7zip & list

Above cases looked at just zipping up 1 file, what about a folder and all of its contents? with nanozip you have to tell it to -r recurse thru a folder to grab all of the subfolders, with 7zip it automatically does it (even though 7zip has the option for recursion it seems to be on all the time). To list the contents of 7zip and nanozip files you use the “l” (As in lima as in lowercase L) options.

Also here is some more information on nanozip (note its highest compression based on many benchmarks is -cc option which i have been using throughout this article, and also just to use 512mb of ram, which doesnt seem like that much compared to what I see with freearc 2gb and how 7zip can ask for high ram values like 768mb – of course you can manually ask nanozip to use as much ram as you want, its winning scores are achieved only with 512mb of ram) – look into those links below

Sites benchmarking compressors

http://www.maximumcompression.com/data/summary_mf2.php#data

http://heartofcomp.altervista.org/MOC/APP1/MOCA.htm
http://compressionratings.com/rating_sum.html
http://www.squeezechart.com/

Theses sites rank nanozip as best compressosr when final size is needed to be smallest. Also freearc is nice (look into it here: FREEARC – freearc can use up to 2 gig of ram for its highest compression) Where as Nanozip in most exmaples and benchmarks is only asked to use max 512 mb of ram, and with that nanozip achieves its high marks.

7zip is all round best for speed and compressibily and decompression

NANOZIPPING RECURSIVE AND LISTING

About recursive zipping nanozip doesnt add files recursively. So when compressing directories with subfolders (and you intend the subfolders to be compressed) use this:

# nz a -r -cc -m256m archive.nz /folder-to-compress
# nz a -r -cc -m512m archive.nz /folder-to-compress

NOTE: even though we ask to use 256 or 512 mb of ram, if we zip only little amount of stuff it might not need to use that much ram

without -r it will only compress whats on the root of /folder-to-compress. so always use -r (unless you really only need the stuff on the root of the folder)

To look at whats in the zipped nanozip file:
# nz l archive.nz

Here is how it looks like when you compress with and without -r, looking into contents with l option

# nz a -r -cc -m256m src-with-r.nz src/
# nz l src-with-r.nz
NanoZip 0.09 alpha/Linux64 (C) 2008-2011 Sami Runsas www.nanozip.net
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1240 V2 @ 3.40GHz|3477 MHz|#1+HT|224/512 MB
Archive: src-with-r.nz
checksum perm yyyy-mmm-dd hh:mm:ss size file
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:30 5 B src/hey/123
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:30 5 B src/hey/234
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:30 5 B src/hey/2344
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:09 5 B src/hi/123
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:13 5 B src/hi/234
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:15 5 B src/hi/2344
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:34 5 B src/hi/hey/123
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:34 5 B src/hi/hey/234
d9d118ee 0644 2014-Feb-04 05:01:34 5 B src/hi/hey/2344
f1e18a2b 0755 2011-Nov-04 22:40:14 1258 KB src/nz
8f3f0813 0644 2011-Nov-04 22:37:02 120 KB src/nz_w32c.sfx
a52758fb 0644 2011-Nov-04 22:37:02 371 B src/readme.txt
5f57eefe 0644 2011-Nov-04 22:37:02 9 KB src/changes.txt
a691ef9f 0644 2011-Nov-04 13:40:21 765 KB src/nanozip-0.09a.linux64.zip
Total of 14 files, 2 204 611 bytes.

 

# nz a -cc -m256m src-without-r.nz src/
# nz l src-without-r.nz
NanoZip 0.09 alpha/Linux64 (C) 2008-2011 Sami Runsas www.nanozip.net
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1240 V2 @ 3.40GHz|3478 MHz|#1+HT|222/512 MB
Archive: src-without-r.nz
checksum perm yyyy-mmm-dd hh:mm:ss size file
f1e18a2b 0755 2011-Nov-04 22:40:14 1258 KB src/nz
8f3f0813 0644 2011-Nov-04 22:37:02 120 KB src/nz_w32c.sfx
a52758fb 0644 2011-Nov-04 22:37:02 371 B src/readme.txt
5f57eefe 0644 2011-Nov-04 22:37:02 9 KB src/changes.txt
a691ef9f 0644 2011-Nov-04 13:40:21 765 KB src/nanozip-0.09a.linux64.zip
Total of 5 files, 2 204 566 bytes.

 

7ZIP RECUSRIVE AND LISTING

7zip will recurse into folders even if you dont tell it to, its strange that it has the option to be told to be recursive, it works the same with it on or off (maybe it has other uses…)
For highest compression with 7zip, which uses alot of ram ( if your zipping not alot of stuff doesnt get to using alot of ram )

To have highest 7zip compress (-mz9) with recursion (-r):

# 7z a -r -mx9 archive.7z /folder-to-compress

To have highest 7zip compress (-mz9) without recursion option (omit -r) – note it still does recursion:

# 7z a -mx9 archive.7z /folder-to-compress

To list contents:

# 7z l archive.7z

examples below im using highest compression, but notice that with -r option there or not the results are the same

notice how the subfolders hi and hey are captured with and without -r, thus showing me that by default 7zip uses recursion

also from other times/experiences using 7zi in command line i know that it uses recursion by default without asking form it

# 7z a -r -mx9 src-with-r.7z src
# 7z l src-with-r.7z
7-Zip [64] 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18
p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=C,Utf16=off,HugeFiles=on,8 CPUs)
Listing archive: src-with-r.7z
--
Path = src-with-r.7z
Type = 7z
Method = LZMA BCJ2
Solid = +
Blocks = 2
Physical Size = 1368602
Headers Size = 408
Date Time Attr Size Compressed Name
------------------- ----- ------------ ------------ ------------------------
2014-02-04 05:01:09 ....A 5 850071 src/hi/123
2014-02-04 05:01:30 ....A 5 src/hey/123
2014-02-04 05:01:34 ....A 5 src/hi/hey/123
2014-02-04 05:01:13 ....A 5 src/hi/234
2014-02-04 05:01:30 ....A 5 src/hey/234
2014-02-04 05:01:34 ....A 5 src/hi/hey/234
2014-02-04 05:01:15 ....A 5 src/hi/2344
2014-02-04 05:01:30 ....A 5 src/hey/2344
2014-02-04 05:01:34 ....A 5 src/hi/hey/2344
2011-11-04 13:40:21 ....A 783642 src/nanozip-0.09a.linux64.zip
2011-11-04 22:37:02 ....A 9713 src/changes.txt
2011-11-04 22:37:02 ....A 371 src/readme.txt
2011-11-04 22:37:02 ....A 122880 src/nz_w32c.sfx
2011-11-04 22:40:14 ....A 1287960 518123 src/nz
2014-02-04 05:01:34 D.... 0 0 src/hi/hey
2014-02-04 05:01:34 D.... 0 0 src/hi
2014-02-04 05:01:30 D.... 0 0 src/hey
2014-02-04 05:01:30 D.... 0 0 src
------------------- ----- ------------ ------------ ------------------------
2204611 1368194 14 files, 4 folders

 

# 7z a -mx9 src-without-r.7z src 
# 7z l src-without-r.7z
7-Zip [64] 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18
p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=C,Utf16=off,HugeFiles=on,8 CPUs)
Listing archive: src-without-r.7z
--
Path = src-without-r.7z
Type = 7z
Method = LZMA BCJ2
Solid = +
Blocks = 2
Physical Size = 1368602
Headers Size = 408
Date Time Attr Size Compressed Name
------------------- ----- ------------ ------------ ------------------------
2014-02-04 05:01:09 ....A 5 850071 src/hi/123
2014-02-04 05:01:30 ....A 5 src/hey/123
2014-02-04 05:01:34 ....A 5 src/hi/hey/123
2014-02-04 05:01:13 ....A 5 src/hi/234
2014-02-04 05:01:30 ....A 5 src/hey/234
2014-02-04 05:01:34 ....A 5 src/hi/hey/234
2014-02-04 05:01:15 ....A 5 src/hi/2344
2014-02-04 05:01:30 ....A 5 src/hey/2344
2014-02-04 05:01:34 ....A 5 src/hi/hey/2344
2011-11-04 13:40:21 ....A 783642 src/nanozip-0.09a.linux64.zip
2011-11-04 22:37:02 ....A 9713 src/changes.txt
2011-11-04 22:37:02 ....A 371 src/readme.txt
2011-11-04 22:37:02 ....A 122880 src/nz_w32c.sfx
2011-11-04 22:40:14 ....A 1287960 518123 src/nz
2014-02-04 05:01:34 D.... 0 0 src/hi/hey
2014-02-04 05:01:34 D.... 0 0 src/hi
2014-02-04 05:01:30 D.... 0 0 src/hey
2014-02-04 05:01:30 D.... 0 0 src
------------------- ----- ------------ ------------ ------------------------
2204611 1368194 14 files, 4 folders