This test is designed to model 'real-world' performance of lossless data compressors. The test set contains a mix of different file types which are chosen with 'What do people use archivers for the most' in mind. The testset should contain data, weighted (in both type and proportion of files in the set) by how often these files are used for compression by normal users using compression software. So for example there will be more txt files then .ocx files in the set (yes, this is arbitrary). The set contains 100's of files and has a total size of over 300 Mb. The idea of a large collection is filtering out the 'noise'. A compressor might perform bad on 1 or 2 filetypes, but on a very large collection it will not hurt as much.

Some programs like CCM and BZIP2 can only compress one file at a time. For these programs a single TAR-file is created containing all files. The files in this TAR-file are ordered alphabetically on suffix, then name. Results of these compressors are marked with an 'Y' in the tarred column.

The testset consists of the following file types :

Considering the fact it's supposed to be a 'real-world' test I will not look at the best possible (command-line or gui) switch combination to use for optimal compression, but only test a limited set as 'normal users' would do. For 7-zip this means for example I will use the GUI and select the Ultra compression method (which can be easily beaten with some good command line switches), WinRar will be tested with max dictionary size and solid archiving etc. Programs are allowed to use a maximum of 800 Mb memory and must finish the compression stage within 12h. Compressed size must be 50% or less compared to the original size to be listed on MFC.

For my single file tests I got lots of requests to add the compression time to the tables. I did not do this for the reasons stated in the single file summary file, but I'm planning to measure compression times for this multiple file test!. I also decided to make this testset 'non public', so it's harder for developers to tune their program towards this specific test. I think this is the most fair way to get 'real life' performance tests.

Scoring system: The program yielding the lowest compressed size is considered the best program. The most efficient (read:use full) program is calculated by multiplying the compression + decompression time (in seconds) it took to produce the archive with the power of the archive size divided by the lowest measured archive size. The lower score the better. The basic idea is a compressor X has the same efficiency as compressor Y if X can compress twice as fast as Y and resulting archive size of X is 10% larger than size of Y. (Special thanks to Uwe Herklotz to get this formula right)

score_X = POWER(2; ((size_X / size_TOP) - 1) / 0,1) * time_X

with  score_X     efficiency score for a certain compressor X
      time_X      time elapsed by compressor X (comp + decomp time)
      size_X      archive size achieved with compressor X
      size_TOP    archive size by top archiver (smallest benchmark result)

"0,1" represents 10% and power of 2 ensures that for each 10% worse results (compared
with top) the time is doubled, so any archiver (except top compressor) will get a
penalty on time. The score of top compressor is always equal to its time value.

Results sorted on Compression ratio.

Pos	Program	Switches used	TAR	Q6600	Compressed	Compression	Comp time	Decomp time	Efficiency
					Size (bytes)	Ratio (%)	(sec)	(sec)	lower is better
001	PAQ8px	-7	N	Y	62443738	80.26	23427	22019	45446
002	PAQ8P	-7	N	Y	62683172	80.19	17976	16653	35562
003	WinRK 3.1.2	Maximum	N	Y	64294243	79.68	14265	13985	34692
004	PAQ8JC	-6 (dir /oen)	N	N	66191139	79.08	18908	16212	53237
005	PAQAR 4.5	-7e (dir /oen/b)	N	N	68435715	78.37	21322	21410	83103
006	WinRK 3.1.2	High	N	Y	69003458	78.19	1311	980	4745
007	PAsQDa 4.4	-7e	N	N	69109187	78.15	21101	21173	88594
008	NanoZip 0.07a	-cc -m800m	N	Y	70056781	77.86	440	407	1972
009	UDA 0.301	(none)	Y	Y	71478767	77.41	3369	3412	18487
010	DURILCA 0.5	-m800 -t1	N	Y	72175578	77.19	738	657	4109
011	Slim 0.23d	-m800 -o64	N	Y	73664683	76.71	1574	1529	10783
012	WinUDA 0.291	mode-3	N	Y	73735574	76.69	3663	3691	25756
013	Slim 0.23d	(none)	N	Y	73781972	76.68	1555	1486	10706
014	KGB 1.1 (PAQ6)	(very good)	N	Y	75341375	76.18	7830	7889	65796
015	NanoZip 0.07a	-cO	N	Y	75987375	75.98	267	56	1453
016	ZPAQ 1.09	max.cfg 1	N	Y	76020518	75.97	2033	2022	18302
017	CCMx 1.30c	6	Y	Y	77079949	75.64	130	126	1300
018	DURILCA 0.5	(none)	N	Y	77604453	75.47	947	951	10213
019	PPMonstr J	-m800 -o32	N	Y	77699686	75.44	587	593	6417
020	CCM 1.30c	6	Y	Y	77926922	75.37	107	103	1171
021	UHARC 0.6b	-mx -md32768 -mm+	N	Y	78344876	75.24	278	234	2991
022	FreeARC 0.60	-mx	N	Y	78405762	75.22	83.6	32.3	682
023	PPMonstr J	(none)	N	Y	78443862	75.20	568	573	6739
024	CCM 1.30c	(none)	Y	Y	78598980	75.15	102	98	1202
025	NanoZip 0.07a	(none)	N	Y	78659594	75.14	113	32.7	881
026	LPAQ8	8	Y	N	78704186	75.12	508	511	6195
027	WinRK 3.1.2	Normal	N	Y	78882890	75.07	157	33.5	1181
028	FreeARC 0.60	(none)	N	Y	79387853	74.91	61.6	27.3	583
029	PIMPLE2	(none)	Y	N	79628157	74.83	2195	2207	29654
030	WinUDA 0.291	mode-0	N	Y	79710669	74.80	1178	1180	16031
031	COMPRESSIA 1.0b	max sol dict 15 Mb	N	N	80698340	74.49	803	99999	764699
032	DURILCA light 0.5	-m800 -t1	N	Y	81666474	74.19	155	76	1951
033	EPM r9	-m800	Y	N	81934909	74.10	963	970	16822
034	CMM4 0.2b	26	Y	N	82435458	73.94	250	256	4655
035	EPM r9	(none)	Y	N	82727852	73.85	898	907	17153
036	Ocamyd 1.66 test1	-m8 -s0	Y	N	82880385	73.80	4666	4664	90177
037	BIT 0.7	(none)	Y	Y	83321888	73.66	305	298	6121
038	SQUEEZ 5.63	Ultra 32Mb M E Solid	N	Y	83565058	73.59	181	29.6	2196
039	Quark 0.95r	-l7 -d25	Y	N	83673567	73.55	2095	38	22513
040	FreeARC 0.60	-m3	N	Y	83710266	73.54	32.1	12.8	476
041	RZM 0.07h	(none)	Y	N	84030374	73.44	230	19	2734
042	SBC 0.970 rev3	-m3 -b62	N	Y	84736176	73.21	102	40	1686
043	Quark 0.95r	(none)	Y	N	84741314	73.21	702	37	8782
044	Ultra7z Opt 0.05	(none)	N	Y	84932335	73.15	406	40.2	5416
045	UHARC 0.6b	(none)	N	Y	84954506	73.15	209	33	2945
046	SBC 0.970 rev3	-b9	N	Y	85740265	72.90	60	33	1235
047	ASH 07	-m800 -o60	Y	Y	86225632	72.74	3641	3639	102003
048	SBC 0.970 rev3	(none)	N	Y	86245288	72.74	57	33	1264
049	WINZIP 14	Zipx Best Method	N	Y	86276462	72.73	95	27.5	1726
050	WinRAR 3.91	Best solid 4096Kb	N	Y	86669536	72.60	48.6	26.3	1102
051	KGB 1.1 (PAQ6)	(normal)	N	Y	86878458	72.54	1133	1157	34498
052	7-Zip 9.10	Ultra LZMA2 64Mb	N	Y	87209288	72.43	92	9.5	1586
053	SQUEEZ 5.63	Max 8Mb M E Solid	N	Y	87695358	72.28	155.7	19.2	2885
054	ENC 0.15	abies -d256	N	N	87955590	72.20	3498	99999	1757147
055	COMPRESSIA 1.0b	sol dict 15 Mb	N	N	88152784	72.13	86	62	2568
056	CTXf 0.75	-me	N	N	88357992	72.07	83	64	2610
057	WinACE 2.69	Max 4096Kb solid ace20	N	Y	88485215	72.03	108	12.3	2166
058	ACE 2.6	-m5 -d4096	N	Y	88486031	72.03	109	12.9	2195
059	7-Zip 9.10	Norm LZMA2 16Mb ws=32	N	Y	88580415	72.00	49.5	8.2	1050
060	StuffIt 14.0	Auto Inline L9 M30 BP E	N	Y	89310142	71.77	35.4	89.8	2471
061	TC 5.2 dev2	(none)	Y	N	89464778	71.72	429	431	17264
062	PIM 2.90	Best + filters	N	Y	89639939	71.66	299	90	7962
063	StuffIt 14.0	BWT L3 M23 BP	N	Y	89683391	71.65	32.3	78.2	2273
064	WinACE 2.69	Norm solid ace20	N	Y	89742715	71.63	74	12.3	1787
065	ENC 0.15	-d256	N	N	89750528	71.63	1440	99999	2101919
066	DGCA 1.10	(none)	N	N	89834304	71.60	83	34	2447
067	CTXf 0.75	(none)	N	N	90038884	71.54	66	48	2439
068	StuffIt 14.0	Auto filetype L16 M30 BP E	N	Y	90125515	71.51	30.1	67	2098
069	777 0.04b1	-mg -mu32	N	N	90229477	71.48	1067	591	36231
070	WinRAR 3.91	Normal solid 4096Kb	N	Y	90402898	71.42	36.3	6.1	945
071	777 0.04b1	(none)	N	N	90544382	71.38	1215	633	41820
072	WinRK 3.1.2	Fastest	N	Y	90821411	71.29	30.9	23.7	1274
073	LZPX(J) 1.2h	-8	Y	N	91451359	71.09	119	118	5931
074	FlashZIP 0.99b5	-m2 -c7	N	Y	91812247	70.98	166	16.8	4762
075	NanoZip 0.07a	-cD	N	Y	91924759	70.94	24.2	7.8	844
076	WinRAR 3.91	Normal	N	Y	91995231	70.92	29.6	6.1	949
077	Bee 0.7.9 bld 0316	-m3 -d8 -s	N	N	92003980	70.92	654	658	34912
078	LZPX(J) 1.2h	(none)	Y	N	92075183	70.90	110	111	5927
079	CSC 3.1	-m3	Y	Y	92605950	70.73	114.7	8.6	3508
080	Bee 0.7.9 bld 0316	-m2 -d8	N	N	93103491	70.57	362	368	21947
081	FreeARC 0.60	-m2	N	Y	93194048	70.54	11.8	6.8	565
082	UFA 0.04b1	-mg -mx -mu32	N	N	93428292	70.47	521	138	20540
083	DST 0.91b	-me	Y	N	93568347	70.42	243	183	13486
084	LZTurbo 0.95	-59	N	Y	93646784	70.40	126	7.2	4254
085	SQUEEZ 5.63	Norm 4Mb M E Solid	N	Y	94082622	70.26	54.3	19.2	2463
086	UFA 0.04b1	(none)	N	N	94175638	70.23	350	42	13275
087	ACB 2.00c	u	N	N	95055289	69.95	1056	1107	80761
088	BOA 0.58b	-m15 -s	N	N	95080468	69.95	773	786	58372
089	BMA 1.35b	-m16m -ax -mx	N	N	95284418	69.88	101	61	6204
090	PPMN 1.00b1 km	-O9 -M:50 -DA	Y	N	95513817	69.81	263	264	20704
091	LZPM 0.16	(none)	Y	Y	95525051	69.80	448	20.8	18441
092	BSSC 0.95a	(none)	Y	N	95811218	69.71	52	25	3127
093	FlashZIP 0.99b5	-m1 -s1	N	Y	96125017	69.61	19.5	12.7	1354
094	PPMVC 1.2	-o16 -m256	N	N	96525071	69.49	128	147	12087
095	PPMd var J rev.1	-m256 -o16	N	Y	96737515	69.42	73	80	6885
096	DURILCA light 0.5	(none)	N	Y	96823565	69.39	71	80	6861
097	BOA 0.58b	(none)	N	N	96857515	69.38	596	620	55457
098	BIX 1.00 b7	-mdG -s	N	Y	97079141	69.31	152	11.5	7642
099	PPMVC 1.2	(none)	N	N	97152520	69.29	82	101	8624
100	WINIMP 1.21	1 BEST MM 16Mb B=1020Kb	N	Y	97237727	69.26	72.3	14.1	4110
101	GRZipII 0.2.4	-b8m -a	Y	N	97484136	69.19	48	43	4449
102	7-Zip 9.10	Max PPMD 64Mb ws=16	N	Y	97573744	69.16	89.7	102	9466
103	CABARC 1.00.0106	-m LZX:21	N	Y	97691444	69.12	187	13.4	10026
104	Blizzard 0.24b	(none)	Y	N	98296282	68.93	60	52	5992
105	MNZIP	(none)	Y	N	98488045	68.87	111	28	7597
106	QC 0.050	-8	Y	N	98510933	68.86	720	225	51780
107	BMA 1.35b	(none)	N	N	98728900	68.79	54	40	5277
108	WinHKI 1.74	HKI2 max	N	N	98771075	68.78	123	126	14043
109	EPC 1.0	-m256 -o18	Y	N	98797159	68.77	150	99999	5664733
110	QC 0.050	(none)	Y	N	99055044	68.69	259	99	20838
111	BALZ 1.15	ex	Y	Y	99123753	68.67	108	21.3	7584
112	UHARC 0.6b	-mz -md32768 -mm+	N	Y	99251157	68.63	28.6	36	3843
113	DC 0.99.307b	-b4096	N	Y	99546590	68.53	107	99999	6153492
114	WINIMP 1.21	1 Normal MM 4Mb B=600Kb	N	Y	99638862	68.50	34.2	14.1	3000
115	BIX 1.00 b7	(none)	N	Y	99694432	68.49	101	11.7	7042
116	BioArc 1.9	Ultra	N	N	99699058	68.49	66	76	8878
117	BA 1.01	(none)	Y	N	99873098	68.43	59	40	6310
118	M03	(none)	Y	N	99934651	68.41	1356	221	101205
119	Tornado 0.4a	-11	Y	Y	99959838	68.40	87	8.1	6120
120	BioArc 1.9	Normal	N	N	100012777	68.39	64	74	8933
121	WinHKI 1.74	HKI2 norm	N	N	100208006	68.32	91	94	12238
122	UHBC 1.0	-b4m -m3	Y	N	100623220	68.19	180	156	23276
123	DARK 0.51	-b128m	N	N	100785450	68.14	61	39	7053
124	DARK 0.51	(none)	N	N	100877062	68.11	60	38	6983
125	BruteCM 0.1d	(none)	Y	N	100902600	68.10	107	160	19078
126	UHBC 1.0	(none)	Y	N	100990062	68.08	143	117	18760
127	JAR 1.02	(none)	N	N	101169071	68.02	37	9	3386
128	PPMN 1.00b1 km	(none)	Y	N	101181370	68.02	196	199	29112
129	QLFC 6.6w	BS=8388608	N	N	101217544	68.01	693	33	53722
130	EPC 1.0	(none)	Y	N	101258666	67.99	83	91	12934
131	DC 0.99.307b	(none)	N	Y	101314224	67.97	101	99999	7487039
132	PPMX 0.05	(none)	Y	Y	101397643	67.95	191	200	29517
133	GRZipII 0.2.4	(none)	Y	N	101686370	67.86	48	45	7249
134	M99 2.2.1	-m 512m	Y	N	101746662	67.84	86	79	12948
135	ZZIP 0.36c	-mx -a -6m	N	N	102392643	67.63	1598	41	138179
136	BCM 0.10	-b16	Y	Y	102667296	67.55	85	66	13124
137	PPMd var J rev.1	(none)	N	Y	102743525	67.52	49	56	9204
138	QLFC 6.6w	(none)	N	N	102938276	67.46	343	30	33410
139	BWMonstr 0.01	(none)	Y	Y	103073407	67.42	6010	3372	853058
140	WinTurtle 1.60	Solid	N	N	103129672	67.40	31	33	5856
141	CABARC 1.00.0106	-m LZX:17	N	Y	103148256	67.39	89	13.2	9370
142	DACT 0.8.41	-b1000000	Y	N	103176088	67.39	283	17	27590
143	DACT 0.8.41	(none)	Y	N	103378718	67.32	286	19	28688
144	DST 0.91b	(none)	Y	N	103386376	67.32	113	48	15156
145	WinTurtle 1.60	(none)	N	N	103567658	67.26	28	30	5571
146	ABC 2.4	(none)	Y	N	103669744	67.23	465	78	52751
147	ZZIP 0.36c	(none)	N	N	103845404	67.17	706	41	73998
148	Bicom 1.01	(none)	Y	N	103940513	67.14	826	838	166586
149	M1 0.3b-1	text2.txt	Y	Y	104377676	67.01	75	79	16184
150	PACKET 0.91a	-m6 -s9	Y	Y	104545891	66.95	153	7.6	17195
151	QazaR 0.0 pre5	-d9 -l7	Y	N	104867105	66.85	358	102	51040
152	YBS 0.03f	(none)	Y	N	105074083	66.79	57	30	9878
153	ASD 0.2.0	-m5 -mdg	N	N	105109740	66.77	2425	163	294995
154	RZIP 2.1	-9	Y	N	105305418	66.71	65	26	10600
155	RZIP 2.1	(none)	Y	N	105417723	66.68	56	25	9554
156	UC II 3.05	(max compress)	N	Y	105625496	66.61	157	10.5	20218
157	Tornado 0.4a	(none)	Y	Y	105742922	66.57	13.9	8.1	2690
158	SZIP 1.12	-b41 -o40	Y	N	105793183	66.56	373	77	55336
159	RINGS 1.6	5	Y	Y	105796514	66.56	28.8	28.4	7036
160	CHILE 0.3d	(none)	Y	N	106072542	66.47	345	63	51752
161	CHILE 0.3d	-b=2048	Y	N	106165564	66.44	423	65	62542
162	BBB ver1	m512	Y	N	106364761	66.38	12294	511	1677772
163	UC II 3.05	-TT	N	Y	106370880	66.38	73	11.1	11027
164	WinHKI 1.74	HKI1 max	N	N	106391218	66.37	64	18	10776
165	SZIP 1.12	(none)	Y	N	106567179	66.31	55	30	11390
166	ShipInBottle 1.0 b17	alg:ppm :mem:128	N	N	106742422	66.26	1620	1635	444745
167	QUAD 1.12	x	Y	N	106968291	66.19	71	24	13310
168	AI 1.1	-mt	N	N	107365151	66.06	27097	37736	9492408
169	YBS 0.03f	-m16m	Y	N	107462346	66.03	73	37	16280
170	HA 0.999b	a21	N	N	107637414	65.98	373	141	77566
171	BZIP2 1.0.5	(none)	Y	N	107720923	65.95	56	16	10966
172	HOOK 1.4	800	Y	Y	107788942	65.93	128	124	38673
173	QazaR 0.0 pre5	(none)	Y	N	108165979	65.81	63	45	17283
174	QUAD 1.12	(none)	Y	N	108215434	65.79	44	24	10942
175	M99 2.2.1	(none)	Y	N	108294876	65.77	53	31	13636
176	ASD 0.2.0	(none)	N	N	109101360	65.51	158	56	37992
177	KZIP 14-APR-2007	(none)	N	Y	110694932	65.01	1778	11.3	379128
178	TarsaLZP 21Aug2007	(none)	Y	N	110994614	64.91	39	47	18839
179	SEMONE 0.6 b2	(none)	Y	N	111442686	64.77	81	14	21871
180	BZP 0.3	(none)	N	N	111485802	64.76	16	17	7634
181	WINZIP 14	Enhanced Deflate	N	Y	111503290	64.75	47.9	6.5	12609
182	LHARK 0.4d	-tob	N	Y	111870915	64.64	59	11.1	16924
183	THOR 0.96	e5	Y	Y	112275112	64.51	12.6	3.8	4141
184	SLUG X	(none)	Y	Y	112286383	64.51	4.4	5.2	2427
185	MAR	-g	N	N	112554786	64.42	100	7	27871
186	TURTLE 0.07	(none)	Y	N	112646749	64.39	37	35	18947
187	LHARK 0.4d	(none)	N	Y	113439063	64.14	26.5	10.1	10517
188	LZ2A	-Cb12 -Szd26	Y	N	113588897	64.09	138	19	45869
189	LZTurbo 0.95	-43	Y	Y	113898203	64.00	6.7	6.5	3991
190	PKZIP 2.50	-exx	N	Y	114022347	63.96	19.8	12.4	9871
191	ShipInBottle 1.0 b17	alg:lz	N	N	114051091	63.95	481	22	154691
192	LZXQ 0.4	normal	Y	N	114492987	63.81	71	108	57817
193	PKZIP 2.50	(none)	N	Y	114501263	63.81	16	11.7	8955
194	AMG 2.2	(Max Compression)	N	N	114662758	63.76	97	99999	32945907
195	VuZip 1.8	Max	N	N	114679608	63.75	37	7	14509
196	DZip 2.90	-9	N	Y	114688490	63.75	44.5	11.7	18551
197	EAZEL 1.0	(best)	N	N	114728370	63.73	41	8	16246
198	CODEC 3.21	(none)	N	N	114767275	63.72	27	20	15650
199	GZIP 1.2.4	-9	Y	Y	114857977	63.69	35.1	9.9	15136
200	ESP 1.92	(none)	N	Y	115164577	63.60	22.3	11.1	11623
201	AIN 2.32	-m1	N	Y	115178082	63.59	22.6	13.2	12477
202	VuZip 1.8	Default	N	N	115261129	63.57	19	7	9145
203	DZip 2.90	(none)	N	Y	115269882	63.56	18.4	10.6	10211
204	LZ2A	(none)	Y	N	115298983	63.55	120	20	49452
205	File2Pack 2.0	(none)	N	Y	115305901	63.55	16.3	10.2	9368
206	EAZEL 1.0	(normal)	N	N	115309762	63.55	20	7	9549
207	GZIP 1.2.4	(none)	Y	Y	115442964	63.51	15.5	10.2	9224
208	AIN 2.32	(none)	N	Y	115587115	63.46	17.7	10.5	10285
209	BCArchive 1.08.7	(none)	N	N	115821124	63.39	19	14	12352
210	ARJ32 3.15	(none)	N	Y	116107265	63.30	25.8	10.6	14064
211	ARJ 2.85	(none)	N	Y	116109612	63.30	35	10.2	17469
212	WinXP (Built-in Zip)	(none)	N	Y	116324011	63.23	15.1	18.6	13338
213	aPLib 0.43	(none)	N	N	117596762	62.83	253	7	118523
214	SR3a	(none)	Y	N	118183199	62.64	23	26	23839
215	ALZip 7.0b1	(normal)	N	N	118492877	62.54	17	8	12588
216	HPACK 0.79a	(none)	N	N	120702014	61.85	377	31	262535
217	SAR 1.0	(none)	N	N	122067423	61.41	94	11	78621
218	SYMBRA 0.2	-m5	Y	N	122120558	61.40	1110	670	1340701
219	AR 1.0	(none)	Y	N	122147342	61.39	96	11	80833
220	DeepFreezer 1.06	(none)	N	N	123350351	61.01	20	9	25038
221	Chaos Comp 3.0	(none)	N	N	123681560	60.90	31	8	34932
222	Ocamyd 1.66 test1	(none)	Y	N	124262690	60.72	203	202	386932
223	THOR 0.96	e3	Y	Y	124588656	60.62	3.8	3.9	7628
224	WINZIP 14	SuperFast	N	Y	125279057	60.40	9	6.4	16470
225	LCSSR 0.2	-l9 -b6	Y	N	126378787	60.05	2918	2785	6891230
226	HYPER 2.5	(none)	N	N	128439870	59.40	24	15	59241
227	LZOP 1.02rc1	-9	Y	Y	129601733	59.03	64	4.7	118720
228	Zhuff 0.2	(none)	Y	Y	132430590	58.14	3.2	6.6	23183
229	LZTurbo 0.95	-22	Y	Y	132773818	58.03	2.7	5	18922
230	ARX 1.0	(none)	N	N	133464199	57.81	35	11	122047
231	QuickLZ 1.40b9	mode3	N	Y	133973909	57.65	10.1	4.7	41553
232	CTW 0.1	(none)	Y	N	134687380	57.43	2661	2851	16751159
233	Secura Archiver 1.7	(none)	N	N	139876348	55.79	131	6	740640
234	CA-ZIP 3.4	(none)	Y	Y	140247762	55.67	32.4	7.5	224784
235	AI 1.1	(none)	N	N	140259735	55.66	3523	5846	52852078
236	QPress 0.38b	-L3	Y	Y	141194607	55.37	4.3	3.6	49438
237	QPress 0.38b	-L2	Y	Y	148070672	53.19	1.8	3.6	72496
238	LZC 0.08	2	Y	N	149651909	52.70	16	8	384025
239	BriefLZ 1.04	(none)	N	Y	151611876	52.08	5.2	7.9	260559
240	THOR 0.96	e1	Y	Y	151936954	51.97	1.9	3.6	113415
241	LZW 0.2	(none)	Y	N	153289520	51.55	251	9	6229951
242	LZOP 1.02rc1	-1	Y	Y	154993814	51.01	3.7	3.4	205556
243	LZOP 1.02rc1	(none)	Y	Y	155389089	50.88	3.7	3.5	217801
244	QuickLZ 1.40b9	mode1	N	Y	156840006	50.42	2.1	5.6	273631
245	BigCrunch 0.4a1	(none)	N	N	157502600	50.21	546	1476	77338794
246	CODER 1.1	-ew 4194304	N	N	158788621	49.81	330	108	19323559
247	SRANK 1.0	(none)	Y	Y	164110929	48.12	7.3	7.8	1202732
248	WinXP (NTFS)	(none)	N	Y	190822529	39.68	5.4	7.4	19775154
249	TESTSET		N	Y	316355757	0.00	0	0	0

Remarks:
Ten programs so far crashed during compressing:
- Emilcont 0.3a
- RKC 1.02
- PPMZ2 0.81
- HIPP 0.5819
- OrangeArchiver 1.05
- PPMT 1.0
- HIP beta1
- LZ 1.0
- HuffComp 1.3
- Chile 0.5

- Some programs fail to correctly decompressing the archive created. Those programs are marked with a red penalty time of 99999 seconds. Do *not* use these programs to backup your data!.

- (De)compression time of ACB 2.00c is an approximation as ACB only runs under Win98 (which is installed on the 1800+ machine only). Measured time on the 1800+ is devided by the approximate ratio of compression speed on both machines.

- The command-line version of Squeez 5 seems to get different compression then the GUI version. The switch combination '-m5 -MD32768 -uxx9 -ME -MM -s' gets it down to 83.384.794 bytes...

- Stuffit 12.0 contains recompression techniques for several file types like JPG, GIF, BMP and PDF. For the MFC test I disabled PDF recompression as it appears to be "pixel perfect" rather then "bit-perfect" for most PDF files. This hurts compression a bit, but prevents the decompressed file to be slightly different than the original. This would be fine for normal users, but this is a lossless compression test. It would be unfair towards the lossless "bit perfect" compressors to include these result.

Conclusions and observations:
- Top performers (based on compression) in this test are PAQ8 and WinRK (PWCM). They are able to compress the 300+ Mb testset to under 62 Mb (80% reduction in size) but take a minimum of 8,5 hour to complete the test. The number one program (PAQ8P) takes almost 12 hours and number four (PAQAR) even 17 hours to complete the test. WinRK, the program with the 2nd best compression (79.7%) takes about 8,5 hours. Not surprisingly all mentioned programs make use of a PAQ(-like) engine for compression. If you have files with embedded images (e.g. Word DOC files) use PAQ8, it will recognize them and separately compress them, boosting compression significantly. All mentioned programs (except the current number 2, WinRK) are free of charge.

- WinRAR but especially NanoZip and FreeARC score very well on efficiency, they have good compression and are reasonably fast. FreeARC and NanoZIP are capable of compressing the testset down to 79 Mb in under 3 minutes. CCM takes just under 5 minutes. SBC compresses to about 85 MB but only needs 2 minutes for that. People looking for good (but not ultimate) and fast compression should have a look at those programs. Of the mentioned programs NanoZIP and CCM have the best compression, SBC and FreeARC are the fastest (FreeARC being both faster and the better compressor). Best 'super' compressor with a not to dramatic compression time is NanoZip, compressing then MFC testset to under 69 MB in 18 minutes using CM-mode.

- The speed-kings in this test are THOR, QuickLZ, SLUG and LZOP, the first two compress the total testset of 300+ MB in under 3.4 seconds (which generates a total data stream of 300 MB input + 150 MB output / 3.5 sec = 128 MB/s). At this speed IO/harddisk performance has a large impact on the compression speed, when compression from-to memory probably even higher compression speeds are possible. As a consequence of this speed compression ratio is not very high (barely 50%). Other fast compressors, with a bit better compression, are the oldies Pkzip, Arj and Gzip. If you are looking for a fast compressor with still good compression, consider UHARC 0.6b using LZP-mode (-mz) or FreeARC in m1 or m2 mode.

- Decompression speeds are usually a lot faster then compression speeds except for the compressors using a PPM or PAQ-engine. Decompression times of 5-7 seconds seem to be the systems (IO/hardisk) limit; compressing to ramdisk (or /dev/null) should probably be even faster...

- Normally I would expect 7-Zip to outperform WinRAR, but in this case I suspect WinRAR beats 7-Zip because there are (embedded) multimedia files (wav,bmp etc) which can be handled by WinRAR's multimedia filter. 7-Zip still lacks such a filter. I included multimedia files because many games are distributed in compressed form (games typically have lots of bmp and wav-like files).

- The higher the fraction of pre-compressed files the smaller the difference between the top and the other compressors. Because the testset contains files like chm,gif,jpeg the difference between the compressors looks rather small. I will probably make a 2nd testset with easy to compress non-multimedia data later on.