()  A.C.T. - MAR. 1995  ()  Author: JEFF GILCHRIST  ()  Part 1 of 7  ()

*********** ARCHIVE COMPARISON TEST (A.C.T.)  -  MARCH 1995 ***********
*                       Author:  JEFF GILCHRIST                       *
***********************************************************************
*   A.C.T. may be re-posted or distributed only if the contents are   *
*   not changed under any circumstances and the contents are posted   *
*   in their entirety.                                                *
***********************************************************************

## NEW INFO PLEASE READ ##
There are many new things in this edition of A.C.T. including the
ability to join the A.C.T. Mailing List where you will get the
latest edition of A.C.T. emailed to you automagically at the
beginning of each month.  To join the mailing list, send email to:
jeffg@mi.net with the subject:  SUBSCRIBE ACT <your email address>

The following is a little test I did on several archivers to compare
their performance against others.

For the following tests with single file types, I used a 486DX4-75 with
8 megabytes of RAM.  No CACHE was used at all!  For the timing, Ultra
Precision Command Timer v1.6 by Erik de Neve was used.  The operating
system used was DOS 6.22.  I compressed the tested files from my hard
drive to a 2 megabyte RAM drive.


                    ***  PART 1 - SINGLE FILE TESTS  ***


TEXT File Test     -     Uncompressed Size 768,771 bytes


    ARCHIVER        SWITCHES        CREATION TIME     COMPRESSED SIZE
    --------        --------        -------------     ---------------

 B  HA 0.999b       e2               0 m 34.1 sec      235,767 bytes
 O  HAP 3.14e11     3                0 m 14.1 sec      260,103 bytes
 N  QUANTUM 0.96    -c5              9 m 42.6 sec      271,960 bytes
    QUANTUM 0.93    -c5              9 m 47.0 sec      271,960 bytes
    QUANTUM 0.93    (none)           1 m 37.1 sec      287,113 bytes
 N  QUANTUM 0.96    (none)           1 m 37.0 sec      287,179 bytes
    HPACK 0.79a0    -df              0 m 48.5 sec      299,072 bytes
    UC2 v2.0        (Max Compress)   0 m 35.3 sec      302,026 bytes
    ARI 1.12        -n               2 m 20.5 sec      302,200 bytes
    LIMIT 1.2       -mx              0 m 21.2 sec      310,872 bytes
    LIMIT 1.2       (none)           0 m 19.6 sec      311,187 bytes
    AMGC 2.2        -mm              0 m 50.2 sec      311,279 bytes
    UC2 v2.0        (Default)        0 m 16.5 sec      311,884 bytes
    HA 0.999b       e1               0 m 26.4 sec      312,016 bytes
    SQZ 1.08.3      -q(ALT236)       0 m 26.3 sec      312,330 bytes
    INFO-ZIP 2.0    -9 -j            0 m 18.0 sec      312,371 bytes
    PKZIP 2.04g     -ex              0 m 14.8 sec      312,604 bytes
    CODEC 3.10      -c9              0 m 19.7 sec      312,653 bytes
    RAR 1.53        -ep -m5 -s       0 m 30.3 sec      312,726 bytes
    INFO-ZIP 2.0    -j               0 m 14.6 sec      313,466 bytes
    CODEC 3.10      (none)           0 m 16.1 sec      313,787 bytes
    AIN 2.2         /m1              0 m 10.4 sec      314,299 bytes
    SQZ 1.08.3      (none)           0 m 18.2 sec      315,028 bytes
 N  BSArc 1.9.3     (none)           0 m 21.2 sec      315,482 bytes
    RAR 1.53        -ep              0 m 16.9 sec      315,851 bytes
    PKZIP 2.04g     (none)           0 m 10.2 sec      316,113 bytes
    AIN 2.2         (none)           0 m 08.3 sec      317,659 bytes
    ARJ 2.41a       -jm -e           0 m 17.0 sec      318,939 bytes
 N  ARJ 2.42b BETA  -jm -e           0 m 17.0 sec      318,939 bytes
    ARJ 2.41a       -e               0 m 15.7 sec      319,172 bytes
 N  ARJ 2.42b BETA  -e               0 m 15.7 sec      319,172 bytes
    AMGC 2.2        (none)           0 m 16.7 sec      327,646 bytes
    LHA 2.55b       -we:             0 m 17.0 sec      339,110 bytes
 N  AR 0.02         (none)           0 m 30.7 sec      339,118 bytes
    SAR 1.0         (none)           0 m 31.8 sec      339,118 bytes
    ZOO 2.10        h:               0 m 30.1 sec      339,245 bytes
    PUT 3.41        (none)           0 m 21.5 sec      339,642 bytes
    HYPER 2.5       (none)           0 m 09.8 sec      345,887 bytes
 N  PAK 2.51        (none)           0 m 10.9 sec      347,608 bytes
 N  SQWEZ 2.1       /s               0 m 31.3 sec      365,224 bytes
    ARX 1.0         (none)           0 m 10.3 sec      369,545 bytes
 N  DWC 5.01        (none)           0 m 09.0 sec      380,301 bytes
    SQWEZ 1.0       (none)           0 m 31.4 sec      384,670 bytes
    ZOO 2.10        :                0 m 13.0 sec      391,750 bytes
    JRCHIVE 1.02    -v               0 m 09.7 sec      416,982 bytes
 F  ARC 6.02        (none)           0 m 05.3 sec      418,511 bytes

Winner for best compression   :  HA 0.999b B
Winner for fastest compression:  ARC 6.02 F
Winner for best overall       :  HAP 3.14e11 O

N Indicates a new version of the software tested since the last posting
  of these tests.


() Continued In Next Message... ()
