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 compressor efficiency

Pos	Program	Switches used	TAR	Q6600	Compressed	Compression	Comp time	Decomp time	Efficiency
					Size (bytes)	Ratio (%)	(sec)	(sec)	lower is better
000	TESTSET		N	Y	316355757	0.00	0	0	0
001	FreeARC 0.51	-m3	N	Y	83696252	73.54	33.8	19.2	561
002	FreeARC 0.51	(none)	N	Y	79353360	74.92	65.4	33.8	648
003	FreeARC 0.51	-m2	N	Y	93194056	70.54	12.7	11.9	747
004	FreeARC 0.51	-mx	N	Y	78503975	75.18	92.9	38.7	783
005	NanoZip 0.06a	(none)	N	Y	78675134	75.13	113	35.2	898
006	NanoZip 0.06a	-cD	N	Y	91924759	70.94	24.4	10.7	926
007	CCM 1.30c	6	Y	Y	77926922	75.37	107	103	1171
008	WinRK 3.1.2	Normal	N	Y	78882890	75.07	157	33.5	1181
009	CCM 1.30c	(none)	Y	Y	78598980	75.15	102	98	1202
010	SBC 0.970 rev3	-b9	N	Y	85740265	72.90	60	33	1235
011	WinRAR 3.80	Normal solid 4096Kb	N	Y	90403315	71.42	46.2	9.6	1243
012	SBC 0.970 rev3	(none)	N	Y	86245288	72.74	57	33	1264
013	WinRAR 3.80	Best solid 4096Kb	N	Y	86669541	72.60	58	28.1	1267
014	WinRK 3.1.2	Fastest	N	Y	90821411	71.29	30.9	23.7	1274
015	CCMx 1.30c	6	Y	Y	77079949	75.64	130	126	1300
016	WinRAR 3.80	Normal	N	Y	91995331	70.92	39.4	9.8	1308
017	NanoZip 0.06a	-cO	N	Y	75971902	75.99	264	57	1441
018	7-Zip 4.65	Norm LZMA 16Mb ws=32	N	Y	88470477	72.03	74	13.4	1571
019	7-Zip 4.65	Ultra LZMA 64Mb	N	Y	87224108	72.43	92	14.6	1669
020	SBC 0.970 rev3	-m3 -b62	N	Y	84736176	73.21	102	40	1686
021	WINZIP 12	Optimize for best comp.	N	Y	86277920	72.73	95	31.7	1786
022	WinACE 2.69	Norm solid ace20	N	Y	89742715	71.63	74	12.3	1787
023	DURILCA light 0.5	-m800 -t1	N	Y	81666474	74.19	155	76	1951
024	NanoZip 0.06a	-cc -m800m	N	Y	70074653	77.85	438	408	1974
025	WinACE 2.69	Max 4096Kb solid ace20	N	Y	88485215	72.03	108	12.3	2166
026	ACE 2.6	-m5 -d4096	N	Y	88486031	72.03	109	12.9	2195
027	SQUEEZ 5.61	Ultra 32Mb M E Solid	N	Y	83563002	73.59	181	30.2	2202
028	StuffIt 12.0	Method=2 L3 E25 bm=on	N	N	85892062	72.85	144	32	2376
029	CTXf 0.75	(none)	N	N	90038884	71.54	66	48	2439
030	DGCA 1.10	(none)	N	N	89834304	71.60	83	34	2447
031	SQUEEZ 5.61	Norm 4Mb M E Solid	N	Y	94082622	70.26	54.1	19.8	2477
032	COMPRESSIA 1.0b	sol dict 15 Mb	N	N	88152784	72.13	86	62	2568
033	CTXf 0.75	-me	N	N	88357992	72.07	83	64	2610
034	Tornado 0.4a	(none)	Y	Y	105742922	66.57	13.9	8.1	2690
035	RZM 0.07h	(none)	Y	N	84030374	73.44	230	19	2734
036	SLUG X	(none)	Y	Y	112286383	64.51	4.4	6.9	2857
037	FlashZIP 0.94	-m1 -s1	Y	Y	102937323	67.46	16.8	15.4	2884
038	SQUEEZ 5.61	Max 8Mb M E Solid	N	Y	87693302	72.28	155	20.1	2888
039	UHARC 0.6b	(none)	N	Y	84954506	73.15	209	33	2945
040	UHARC 0.6b	-mx -md32768 -mm+	N	Y	78344876	75.24	278	234	2991
041	WINIMP 1.21	1 Normal MM 4Mb B=600Kb	N	Y	99638862	68.50	34.2	14.1	3000
042	BSSC 0.95a	(none)	Y	N	95811218	69.71	52	25	3127
043	JAR 1.02	(none)	N	N	101169071	68.02	37	9	3386
044	UHARC 0.6b	-mz -md32768 -mm+	N	Y	99251157	68.63	28.6	36	3843
045	DURILCA 0.5	-m800 -t1	N	Y	72175578	77.19	738	657	4109
046	WINIMP 1.21	1 BEST MM 16Mb B=1020Kb	N	Y	97237727	69.26	72.3	14.1	4110
047	GRZipII 0.2.4	-b8m -a	Y	N	97484136	69.19	48	43	4449
048	LZTurbo 0.94	-43	Y	Y	113907557	63.99	5.9	9.3	4601
049	CMM4 0.2b	26	Y	N	82435458	73.94	250	256	4655
050	WinRK 3.1.2	High	N	Y	69003458	78.19	1311	980	4745
051	THOR 0.96	e5	Y	Y	112275112	64.51	12.6	6.2	4747
052	StuffIt 12.0	Method=5 E26 bm=on	N	N	96069139	69.63	55	61	4847
053	BMA 1.35b	(none)	N	N	98728900	68.79	54	40	5277
054	Ultra7z Opt 0.05	(none)	N	Y	84932335	73.15	406	40.2	5416
055	WinTurtle 1.60	(none)	N	N	103567658	67.26	28	30	5571
056	WinTurtle 1.60	Solid	N	N	103129672	67.40	31	33	5856
057	LZPX(J) 1.2h	(none)	Y	N	92075183	70.90	110	111	5927
058	LZPX(J) 1.2h	-8	Y	N	91451359	71.09	119	118	5931
059	Blizzard 0.24b	(none)	Y	N	98296282	68.93	60	52	5992
060	Tornado 0.4a	-11	Y	Y	99959838	68.40	87	8.1	6120
061	BIT 0.7	(none)	Y	Y	83321888	73.66	305	298	6121
062	LPAQ8	8	Y	N	78704186	75.12	508	511	6195
063	BMA 1.35b	-m16m -ax -mx	N	N	95284418	69.88	101	61	6204
064	BA 1.01	(none)	Y	N	99873098	68.43	59	40	6310
065	PPMonstr J	-m800 -o32	N	Y	77699686	75.44	587	593	6417
066	LZTurbo 0.94	-59	Y	Y	93097744	70.57	210	10.9	6637
067	PPMonstr J	(none)	N	Y	78443862	75.20	568	573	6739
068	DURILCA light 0.5	(none)	N	Y	96823565	69.39	71	80	6861
069	PPMd var J rev.1	-m256 -o16	N	Y	96737515	69.42	73	80	6885
070	DARK 0.51	(none)	N	N	100877062	68.11	60	38	6983
071	BIX 1.00 b7	(none)	N	Y	99694432	68.49	101	11.7	7042
072	DARK 0.51	-b128m	N	N	100785450	68.14	61	39	7053
073	GRZipII 0.2.4	(none)	Y	N	101686370	67.86	48	45	7249
074	StuffIt 12.0	Method=3 E25 bm=on	N	N	98017538	69.02	93	50	7418
075	BALZ 1.15	ex	Y	Y	99123753	68.67	108	21.3	7584
076	MNZIP	(none)	Y	N	98488045	68.87	111	28	7597
077	RINGS 1.5c	5	Y	N	105800703	66.56	31	31	7630
078	BZP 0.3	(none)	N	N	111485802	64.76	16	17	7634
079	BIX 1.00 b7	-mdG -s	N	Y	97079141	69.31	152	11.5	7642
080	PIM 2.90	Best + filters	N	Y	89639939	71.66	299	90	7962
081	PPMVC 1.2	(none)	N	N	97152520	69.29	82	101	8624
082	Quark 0.95r	(none)	Y	N	84741314	73.21	702	37	8782
083	BioArc 1.9	Ultra	N	N	99699058	68.49	66	76	8878
084	BioArc 1.9	Normal	N	N	100012777	68.39	64	74	8933
085	PKZIP 2.50	(none)	N	Y	114501263	63.81	16	11.7	8955
086	VuZip 1.8	Default	N	N	115261129	63.57	19	7	9145
087	PPMd var J rev.1	(none)	N	Y	102743525	67.52	49	56	9204
088	GZIP 1.2.4	(none)	Y	Y	115442964	63.51	15.5	10.2	9224
089	File2Pack 2.0	(none)	N	Y	115305901	63.55	16.3	10.2	9368
090	CABARC 1.00.0106	-m LZX:17	N	Y	103148256	67.39	89	13.2	9370
091	7-Zip 4.65	Max PPMD 64Mb ws=16	N	Y	97573744	69.16	89	104	9530
092	EAZEL 1.0	(normal)	N	N	115309762	63.55	20	7	9549
093	RZIP 2.1	(none)	Y	N	105417723	66.68	56	25	9554
094	PKZIP 2.50	-exx	N	Y	114022347	63.96	19.8	12.4	9871
095	YBS 0.03f	(none)	Y	N	105074083	66.79	57	30	9878
096	THOR 0.96	e3	Y	Y	124588656	60.62	3.8	6.3	10005
097	CABARC 1.00.0106	-m LZX:21	N	Y	97691444	69.12	187	13.4	10026
098	DZip 2.90	(none)	N	Y	115269882	63.56	18.4	10.6	10211
099	DURILCA 0.5	(none)	N	Y	77604453	75.47	947	951	10213
100	AIN 2.32	(none)	N	Y	115587115	63.46	17.7	10.5	10285
101	LHARK 0.4d	(none)	N	Y	113439063	64.14	26.5	10.1	10517
102	RZIP 2.1	-9	Y	N	105305418	66.71	65	26	10600
103	Slim 0.23d	(none)	N	Y	73781972	76.68	1555	1486	10706
104	WinHKI 1.74	HKI1 max	N	N	106391218	66.37	64	18	10776
105	Slim 0.23d	-m800 -o64	N	Y	73664683	76.71	1574	1529	10783
106	QUAD 1.12	(none)	Y	N	108215434	65.79	44	24	10942
107	BZIP2 1.0.5	(none)	Y	N	107720923	65.95	56	16	10966
108	UC II 3.05	-TT	N	Y	106370880	66.38	73	11.1	11027
109	SZIP 1.12	(none)	Y	N	106567179	66.31	55	30	11390
110	ESP 1.92	(none)	N	Y	115164577	63.60	22.3	11.1	11623
111	PPMVC 1.2	-o16 -m256	N	N	96525071	69.49	128	147	12087
112	WinHKI 1.74	HKI2 norm	N	N	100208006	68.32	91	94	12238
113	BCArchive 1.08.7	(none)	N	N	115821124	63.39	19	14	12352
114	AIN 2.32	-m1	N	Y	115178082	63.59	22.6	13.2	12477
115	ALZip 7.0b1	(normal)	N	N	118492877	62.54	17	8	12588
116	EPC 1.0	(none)	Y	N	101258666	67.99	83	91	12934
117	M99 2.2.1	-m 512m	Y	N	101746662	67.84	86	79	12948
118	UFA 0.04b1	(none)	N	N	94175638	70.23	350	42	13275
119	QUAD 1.12	x	Y	N	106968291	66.19	71	24	13310
120	WinXP (Built-in Zip)	(none)	N	Y	116324011	63.23	15.1	18.6	13338
121	WINZIP 12	Enhanced Deflate	N	Y	111503290	64.75	48.4	9.7	13466
122	DST 0.91b	-me	Y	N	93568347	70.42	243	183	13486
123	M99 2.2.1	(none)	Y	N	108294876	65.77	53	31	13636
124	WinHKI 1.74	HKI2 max	N	N	98771075	68.78	123	126	14043
125	ARJ32 3.15	(none)	N	Y	116107265	63.30	25.8	10.6	14064
126	VuZip 1.8	Max	N	N	114679608	63.75	37	7	14509
127	GZIP 1.2.4	-9	Y	Y	114857977	63.69	35.1	9.9	15136
128	DST 0.91b	(none)	Y	N	103386376	67.32	113	48	15156
129	CODEC 3.21	(none)	N	N	114767275	63.72	27	20	15650
130	BCM 0.07	(none)	Y	Y	102416454	67.63	103	85	15892
131	WinUDA 0.291	mode-0	N	Y	79710669	74.80	1178	1180	16031
132	M1 0.3b-1	text2.txt	Y	Y	104377676	67.01	75	79	16184
133	EAZEL 1.0	(best)	N	N	114728370	63.73	41	8	16246
134	YBS 0.03f	-m16m	Y	N	107462346	66.03	73	37	16280
135	FlashZIP 0.94	-m2 -s7	Y	Y	99414301	68.58	257	14.9	16470
136	EPM r9	-m800	Y	N	81934909	74.10	963	970	16822
137	LHARK 0.4d	-tob	N	Y	111870915	64.64	59	11.1	16924
138	EPM r9	(none)	Y	N	82727852	73.85	898	907	17153
139	TC 5.2 dev2	(none)	Y	N	89464778	71.72	429	431	17264
140	QazaR 0.0 pre5	(none)	Y	N	108165979	65.81	63	45	17283
141	ARJ 2.85	(none)	N	Y	116109612	63.30	35	10.2	17469
142	LZPM 0.16	(none)	Y	Y	95525051	69.80	448	20.8	18441
143	UDA 0.301	(none)	Y	Y	71478767	77.41	3369	3412	18487
144	DZip 2.90	-9	N	Y	114688490	63.75	44.5	11.7	18551
145	UHBC 1.0	(none)	Y	N	100990062	68.08	143	117	18760
146	TarsaLZP 21Aug2007	(none)	Y	N	110994614	64.91	39	47	18839
147	WINZIP 12	SuperFast	N	Y	125279057	60.40	9.6	8.1	18930
148	TURTLE 0.07	(none)	Y	N	112646749	64.39	37	35	18947
149	BruteCM 0.1d	(none)	Y	N	100902600	68.10	107	160	19078
150	UC II 3.05	(max compress)	N	Y	105625496	66.61	157	10.5	20218
151	UFA 0.04b1	-mg -mx -mu32	N	N	93428292	70.47	521	138	20540
152	PPMN 1.00b1 km	-O9 -M:50 -DA	Y	N	95513817	69.81	263	264	20704
153	QC 0.050	(none)	Y	N	99055044	68.69	259	99	20838
154	SEMONE 0.6 b2	(none)	Y	N	111442686	64.77	81	14	21871
155	Bee 0.7.9 bld 0316	-m2 -d8	N	N	93103491	70.57	362	368	21947
156	Quark 0.95r	-l7 -d25	Y	N	83673567	73.55	2095	38	22513
157	UHBC 1.0	-b4m -m3	Y	N	100623220	68.19	180	156	23276
158	SR3a	(none)	Y	N	118183199	62.64	23	26	23839
159	ZPAQ 1.00	max.cfg	N	Y	76292858	75.88	2578	2577	23981
160	LZTurbo 0.94	-22	Y	Y	132773381	58.03	3.6	6.5	24819
161	DeepFreezer 1.06	(none)	N	N	123350351	61.01	20	9	25038
162	WinUDA 0.291	mode-3	N	Y	73735574	76.69	3663	3691	25756
163	DACT 0.8.41	-b1000000	Y	N	103176088	67.39	283	17	27590
164	MAR	-g	N	N	112554786	64.42	100	7	27871
165	DACT 0.8.41	(none)	Y	N	103378718	67.32	286	19	28688
166	PPMN 1.00b1 km	(none)	Y	N	101181370	68.02	196	199	29112
167	PPMX 0.05	(none)	Y	Y	101397643	67.95	191	200	29517
168	PIMPLE2	(none)	Y	N	79628157	74.83	2195	2207	29654
169	QLFC 6.6w	(none)	N	N	102938276	67.46	343	30	33410
170	PACKET 0.90b	-m4 -s9	Y	N	104524024	66.96	302	11	33432
171	KGB 1.1 (PAQ6)	(normal)	N	Y	86878458	72.54	1133	1157	34498
172	WinRK 3.1.2	Maximum	N	Y	64294243	79.68	14265	13985	34692
173	Bee 0.7.9 bld 0316	-m3 -d8 -s	N	N	92003980	70.92	654	658	34912
174	Chaos Comp 3.0	(none)	N	N	123681560	60.90	31	8	34932
175	PAQ8P	-7	N	Y	62683172	80.19	17976	16653	35562
176	777 0.04b1	-mg -mu32	N	N	90229477	71.48	1067	591	36231
177	ASD 0.2.0	(none)	N	N	109101360	65.51	158	56	37992
178	HOOK 1.4	800	Y	Y	107788942	65.93	128	124	38673
179	777 0.04b1	(none)	N	N	90544382	71.38	1215	633	41820
180	PAQ8px	-7	N	Y	62443738	80.26	23427	22019	45446
181	LZ2A	-Cb12 -Szd26	Y	N	113588897	64.09	138	19	45869
182	LZ2A	(none)	Y	N	115298983	63.55	120	20	49452
183	QazaR 0.0 pre5	-d9 -l7	Y	N	104867105	66.85	358	102	51040
184	CHILE 0.3d	(none)	Y	N	106072542	66.47	345	63	51752
185	QC 0.050	-8	Y	N	98510933	68.86	720	225	51780
186	ABC 2.4	(none)	Y	N	103669744	67.23	465	78	52751
187	PAQ8JC	-6 (dir /oen)	N	N	66191139	79.08	18908	16212	53237
188	QLFC 6.6w	BS=8388608	N	N	101217544	68.01	693	33	53722
189	SZIP 1.12	-b41 -o40	Y	N	105793183	66.56	373	77	55336
190	BOA 0.58b	(none)	N	N	96857515	69.38	596	620	55457
191	LZXQ 0.4	normal	Y	N	114492987	63.81	71	108	57817
192	BOA 0.58b	-m15 -s	N	N	95080468	69.95	773	786	58372
193	HYPER 2.5	(none)	N	N	128439870	59.40	24	15	59241
194	CHILE 0.3d	-b=2048	Y	N	106165564	66.44	423	65	62542
195	KGB 1.1 (PAQ6)	(very good)	N	Y	75341375	76.18	7830	7889	65796
196	QuickLZ 1.40b9	mode3	N	Y	133973909	57.65	10.1	13.6	66541
197	ZZIP 0.36c	(none)	N	N	103845404	67.17	706	41	73998
198	HA 0.999b	a21	N	N	107637414	65.98	373	141	77566
199	SAR 1.0	(none)	N	N	122067423	61.41	94	11	78621
200	ACB 2.00c	u	N	N	95055289	69.95	1056	1107	80761
201	AR 1.0	(none)	Y	N	122147342	61.39	96	11	80833
202	QPress 0.35b	-L3	Y	Y	141194607	55.37	4.3	8.8	81980
203	PAQAR 4.5	-7e (dir /oen/b)	N	N	68435715	78.37	21322	21410	83103
204	PAsQDa 4.4	-7e	N	N	69109187	78.15	21101	21173	88594
205	Ocamyd 1.66 test1	-m8 -s0	Y	N	82880385	73.80	4666	4664	90177
206	M03	(none)	Y	N	99934651	68.41	1356	221	101205
207	ASH 07	-m800 -o60	Y	Y	86225632	72.74	3641	3639	102003
208	aPLib 0.43	(none)	N	N	117596762	62.83	253	7	118523
209	LZOP 1.02rc1	-9	Y	Y	129601733	59.03	64	6	120966
210	ARX 1.0	(none)	N	N	133464199	57.81	35	11	122047
211	ZZIP 0.36c	-mx -a -6m	N	N	102392643	67.63	1598	41	138179
212	ShipInBottle 1.0 b17	alg:lz	N	N	114051091	63.95	481	22	154691
213	QPress 0.35b	-L2	Y	Y	148070672	53.19	3.6	8.2	158417
214	Bicom 1.01	(none)	Y	N	103940513	67.14	826	838	166586
215	THOR 0.96	e1	Y	Y	151936954	51.97	3.1	6.3	193836
216	CA-ZIP 3.4	(none)	Y	Y	140247762	55.67	32.4	7.5	224784
217	BriefLZ 1.04	(none)	N	Y	151611876	52.08	5.2	7.9	260559
218	HPACK 0.79a	(none)	N	N	120702014	61.85	377	31	262535
219	ASD 0.2.0	-m5 -mdg	N	N	105109740	66.77	2425	163	294995
220	LZOP 1.02rc1	-1	Y	Y	154993814	51.01	6	5.8	341629
221	LZOP 1.02rc1	(none)	Y	Y	155389089	50.88	5.7	6.5	369052
222	KZIP 14-APR-2007	(none)	N	Y	110694932	65.01	1778	11.3	379128
223	LZC 0.08	2	Y	N	149651909	52.70	16	8	384025
224	Ocamyd 1.66 test1	(none)	Y	N	124262690	60.72	203	202	386932
225	ShipInBottle 1.0 b17	alg:ppm :mem:128	N	N	106742422	66.26	1620	1635	444745
226	QuickLZ 1.40b9	mode1	N	Y	156840006	50.42	2.7	15.9	660978
227	Secura Archiver 1.7	(none)	N	N	139876348	55.79	131	6	740640
228	COMPRESSIA 1.0b	max sol dict 15 Mb	N	N	80698340	74.49	803	99999	764699
229	BWMonstr 0.01	(none)	Y	Y	103073407	67.42	6010	3372	853058
230	SRANK 1.0	(none)	Y	Y	164110929	48.12	7.3	7.8	1202732
231	SYMBRA 0.2	-m5	Y	N	122120558	61.40	1110	670	1340701
232	BBB ver1	m512	Y	N	106364761	66.38	12294	511	1677772
233	ENC 0.15	abies -d256	N	N	87955590	72.20	3498	99999	1757147
234	ENC 0.15	-d256	N	N	89750528	71.63	1440	99999	2101919
235	EPC 1.0	-m256 -o18	Y	N	98797159	68.77	150	99999	5664733
236	DC 0.99.307b	-b4096	N	Y	99546590	68.53	107	99999	6153492
237	LZW 0.2	(none)	Y	N	153289520	51.55	251	9	6229951
238	LCSSR 0.2	-l9 -b6	Y	N	126378787	60.05	2918	2785	6891230
239	DC 0.99.307b	(none)	N	Y	101314224	67.97	101	99999	7487039
240	AI 1.1	-mt	N	N	107365151	66.06	27097	37736	9492408
241	CTW 0.1	(none)	Y	N	134687380	57.43	2661	2851	16751159
242	CODER 1.1	-ew 4194304	N	N	158788621	49.81	330	108	19323559
243	WinXP (NTFS)	(none)	N	Y	190822529	39.68	5.4	7.4	19775154
244	AMG 2.2	(Max Compression)	N	N	114662758	63.76	97	99999	32945907
245	AI 1.1	(none)	N	N	140259735	55.66	3523	5846	52852078
246	BigCrunch 0.4a1	(none)	N	N	157502600	50.21	546	1476	77338794

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, FreeARC, SBC 0.970 and CCM 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.