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    • Better handling for protected archives

      BigMike

      Hi,

      I’d like to propose an improvement for password protected archives.

      Actual behavior is:
      If I open an archive, which is password protected and make a typo in the password dialog, I’ll get the message, that the password was wrong and I end up with an empty window. I need to reopen the archive to be able to enter the password again.

      Improved behavior:
      Tell me, that the password was wrong and give me the chance to enter the correct password to decrypt the archive.

      Wishlist
    • ZIPX: Add support for packing JPEG with specialized algorithm

      A

      Hello!
      I know I have been asking for this feature some time ago, but as nothing has changed let me ask again:
      The ZIPX-format offers an algorithm, that compresses JPEG-files by about 20-30%. Please add compression (packing) support for this in ZIPX-archives to Powerarchiver. Extraction of JPEGs packed into ZIPX by this algorithm is already supported by Powerarchiver for a long time, so it should not be difficult? Or is it a licensing problem?
      Thanks!

      Wishlist
    • Better archive type handling with drag & drop

      BigMike

      Hi,

      I’d like to suggest, that the correct archive type is (always) selected, when adding files by drag & drop to an archive.

      This is already happening if the archive has the correct extension. For example, if I’m adding files to test.zip, zip will be selected. If I’m adding files to test.7z, 7z will be selected as format in “Add dialog”.

      But this won’t be working, if the archive has not the “right” extension.
      So XPI files (Firefox addons) for example are ZIP files. PowerArchiver opens them without any problems, but if I try to add file by drag & drop, PowerArchiver won’t auto select “ZIP”, but use the last selected archive format, while PowerArchiver already knows, that I’m trying to add files to a ZIP.

      Wishlist
    • Elevation of UAC in Mounting Images

      F

      I love this, only there is one problem. The UAC elevation feature does not extend to Mount Image option in the add-on software PA provided. It is most annoying whenever I am on highest UAC settings and I mount an ISO, every time I open and create a virtual drive UAC appears. I also do not want to completely disable UAC.

      Is adding UAC elevation for mount image feature possible?

      Wishlist
    • Bulkzip Nanozip (.nz) file format

      D

      The now defunct Bulkzip had Nanozip (nz) as an option this would be great to have for compatibility with my .nz files, so I don’t have to install Bulkzip separately.

      Wishlist
    • Include Virtual Drive as standalone in the installer

      2

      Hi.

      I noticed that when I want to run the Virtual Drive for the first time inside the PowerArchiver Burner it prompts to download it form the internet.

      I was wondering, would it be OK to include this utility straight into the offline installer to be able to set it up locally?

      Thank you!

      Wishlist
    • Suggestion to improve .pa format

      Brian Gregory

      How about recognising a few more (or all) of the file formats that are basically renamed zip files and treating them is if they are zip files.
      For instance Android .apk files are just renamed .zip files.
      Libreoffice/Openoffice ODF documents are all, as far as I am aware, just renamed .zip files. (.odt, .ott, .ods, .ots, .odp, .otp, .odb, .odf etc.)

      Wishlist
    • Folder navigation

      drteeth

      I would like to make a further plea for my mouse’s backwards and forwards keys to work when navigating to and from files, just like they do in explorer. IIRC, I was told that this functionality would be added to v2019.

      Mni tnx.

      Wishlist
    • Quake 1/2 .PAK file support

      AluminumHaste

      I use PA for everything, if I can.
      Would be really nice to maybe get built in support for Quake 1/2 .pak files.
      More info on the format, seems simpler than I thought: https://quakewiki.org/wiki/.pak

      Wishlist
    • Find file in archive.

      Luxor

      Would it be possible at all in some future version perhaps, to have a “find file” function?
      Reason I ask is that I was looking for a certain file I knew existed in an archive, but I had to unzip it then use another tool to find the file. It would have saved that extra step if that function existed in PA itself.

      Wishlist
    • Encrypt files inside archive that has already been created [.zipx]

      2

      Hi.

      Is there a way to enable the user to encrypt the files inside a ZIPX archive that has already been created?

      This could save time for large archives that the user may need to encrypt at a later stage or that he/she has forgotten to enable encryption before creating the archive,

      Thank you!

      Wishlist
    • Fast Extract large files directly to target directory

      2

      Hi.

      I would like to see a new feature implemented: a ‘Fast Extract’ Mode.

      Currently PowerArchiver extracts files to a temporary directory and then moves them to the target directory chosen by the user. At least via drag and drop.

      This can be both time consuming and needs free space on the system drive for large files.

      Is there a way to directly extract files to the target directory with PowerArchiver?
      And if not, can a feature like this be considered for future updates?

      Thanks very much!

      Wishlist
    • Serpent-256 Encryption for PAE/PAE2

      2

      Hello.

      I believe it would be useful to implement Serpent-256 encryption for PAE/PAE2 formats, even though PowerArchiver offers strong encryption ciphers already.

      (deleted part advertising other software - admin)

      Do you think this will be a useful addition?

      Thank you for the consideration!

      Wishlist
    • Make portable version compatible with PortableApps

      A

      Hello!
      I think it would be a great option to make the portable version of PowerArchiver compatible with PortableApps (i.e. adding the necessary files and folders to integrate it smoothly into their structure).
      I own various other commercial programmes which -when installed in portable mode- offer to make the becessary changes without needing an extra installer or the official PortableApps repos.
      Thanks for opinions or perhaps even a realization of this.
      A.Borque

      Wishlist
    • PBS Filenames

      C

      Presently, PowerArchiver 2019 (any build) cannot rename PBS filenames by single clicking on such entry or right-click menu has no “Rename” feature!

      Hmm, even pressing F2 on selected entry does nothing :(

      Wishlist
    • pCloud

      B

      Can you add support for pCloud? thanks

      Wishlist
    • ownCloud / Nextcloud

      M

      Please add support for ownCloud / Nextcloud, thanks.

      Wishlist
    • Setting to keep X number of backups

      ghendric

      There needs to be a setting for the backup feature to set how many backup files to keep.

      Wishlist
    • auto open first level in folder treeview when archive is opened

      spwolf

      …

      Wishlist
    • I think SVG files should be treated as text files.

      Brian Gregory

      SVG files (scalable vector graphics) seem to be special XML files and therefore when added to .pa archives I think they should be compressed as if they were text files.

      Wishlist

    What features do you want in new format?

    Wishlist
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    • spwolf
      spwolf conexware last edited by

      Tell us what features you want from new format…

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • spwolf
        spwolf conexware last edited by

        Strong compression? Fast compression? PDF compression? Encryption? Multivolume? PAR-like recovery???

        TBGBe 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • A
          amh209 last edited by

          PDF compression would be nice. I send a lot of PDF files, so I would benefit from that one.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • TBGBe
            TBGBe @spwolf last edited by

            Are you developing a new compression format OR looking for a new format to be supported in PA :confused:
            @spwolf:

            Strong compression? Fast compression? PDF compression?

            Yes, please. :D
            @spwolf:

            PAR-like recovery???

            Well definitely some form of error recovery. :cool:
            @spwolf:

            Encryption?

            Not so necessary, can use PAE for encryption.
            @spwolf:

            Multivolume?

            Not sure about this. Maybe multiple stand-alone archives based on archive size - but without splitting contents across archives, sort of “best fit to CD/DVD size”.

            Of course, you omitted self extracting and media file optimisation :p

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • spwolf
              spwolf conexware last edited by

              do I always have to do all the work? :-).

              So what would Your perfect format have in terms of features Terry?

              Luxor TBGBe 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Luxor
                Luxor Alpha Testers @spwolf last edited by

                In order of preference.

                Fast compression.
                PDF compression.
                PAR-like recovery.
                Strong compression.

                But I’m easy, I can wait for them all. :p

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • spwolf
                  spwolf conexware last edited by

                  But dont be limited to what I say… JPEG, PNG, GIF, XML, MP3, etc compression?

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • TBGBe
                    TBGBe @spwolf last edited by

                    @spwolf:

                    So what would Your perfect format have in terms of features Terry?

                    I am biased towards Backup function so:-
                    Good loss-less compression
                    Media file compression (minimally video and picture)
                    Error Recovery
                    “Intelligent” Multi-volume
                    No less than O.S. file size limits on source or archive (quantity or size)
                    Ability to extract single/multiple files (so no need to extract whole archive as with solid).

                    Doesn’t have to be super fast, but not slower than Zipx maximum at worst.

                    For general (non-backup) use, then some extras:-
                    Create Self Extracting archives
                    Update existing archive (add/freshen)
                    Strong Encryption

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • spwolf
                      spwolf conexware last edited by

                      what about proper versioning, and byte level differential backups, where literally only differences are stored?

                      D TBGBe 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • D
                        davidsplash @spwolf last edited by

                        how about a repair tool for all archivers and sfx files

                        S spwolf 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          Socrates Banned @davidsplash last edited by

                          My preferences (if doable):
                          Better PDF compression
                          Differential backups

                          spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • TBGBe
                            TBGBe @spwolf last edited by

                            @spwolf:

                            what about proper versioning, and byte level differential backups, where literally only differences are stored?

                            That only works with good error correction :p
                            So version 2.0 :D

                            spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • spwolf
                              spwolf conexware @TBGBe last edited by

                              @TBGBe:

                              That only works with good error correction :p
                              So version 2.0 :D

                              well that part is already almost done :)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • spwolf
                                spwolf conexware @davidsplash last edited by

                                @davidsplash:

                                how about a repair tool for all archivers and sfx files

                                read my post david and then read yours… what does repair tool for “all archives” have to do with brand new format in PowerArchiver?

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • spwolf
                                  spwolf conexware @Socrates last edited by

                                  @Socrates:

                                  My preferences (if doable):
                                  Better PDF compression
                                  Differential backups

                                  yes, but do not be limited to only things I mentioned… what other things would You want there?

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • spwolf
                                    spwolf conexware last edited by

                                    here is the list of possibles for special compression codecs:

                                    jpg
                                    mp3
                                    pdf/ps
                                    avi
                                    mp4/mpeg/mkv
                                    docx/xlsx/pptx
                                    flv/swf
                                    vob/m2ts/ts
                                    zip
                                    cab
                                    setup.exe/data1.cab
                                    html/htm/xml/py/php/css/js
                                    psd
                                    png
                                    gif
                                    bmp
                                    wav
                                    tar/tar.gz/tgz/tar.bz2
                                    exe/dll/obj/lib
                                    rar
                                    c/cpp/h/hpp/cs/pas
                                    hlp/chm
                                    torrent
                                    msi+B20
                                    mdf
                                    dts
                                    iso

                                    All of these require some special form of compression and each will take a lot of time… so better voice your opinions because if you do not, it might be a lot of time before your “wish” is taken into consideration…

                                    D TBGBe 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • D
                                      davidsplash @spwolf last edited by

                                      in response to my anaswer to my last post what i was trying to say we dont want to see new formats that cannot be repaired. should have made my post clearer but when using android mobile not easy.

                                      D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • D
                                        davidsplash @davidsplash last edited by

                                        one format i think we would like to see is sit and sitx decompression.

                                        one i would like to see is .afa
                                        A format that compresses and doubly encrypt the data (AES256 and CAS256) avoiding brute force attacks, also hide files in a AFA file. It has two ways to safeguard data integrity and subsequent repair of the file if has an error (repair with AstroA2P (online) or Astrotite (offline)). The speed of compression / decompression is superior to other systems by making extensive use of multiple processors

                                        one i do like a lot and use is jar the successor to ARJ really good compression rates here

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • spwolf
                                          spwolf conexware last edited by

                                          I dont think David reads our posts too much :)

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • TBGBe
                                            TBGBe @spwolf last edited by

                                            @spwolf:

                                            better voice your opinions because if you do not, it might be a lot of time before your “wish” is taken into consideration…

                                            Maybe you should open a poll?

                                            Anyway Yes, please - :D
                                            jpg
                                            avi
                                            mp4/mpeg/mkv
                                            flv/swf
                                            png
                                            gif
                                            bmp
                                            wav
                                            exe/dll/obj/lib

                                            Lower priority - :cool:
                                            mp3
                                            pdf/ps
                                            docx/xlsx/pptx
                                            html/htm/xml/py/php/css/js
                                            c/cpp/h/hpp/cs/pas
                                            hlp/chm

                                            Meh - :p
                                            psd
                                            torrent
                                            mdf
                                            dts
                                            msi+B20
                                            vob/m2ts/ts
                                            iso

                                            Not sure what you mean with these existing formats (conversion?)-
                                            zip
                                            cab
                                            setup.exe/data1.cab
                                            tar/tar.gz/tgz/tar.bz2
                                            rar

                                            spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • spwolf
                                              spwolf conexware last edited by

                                              like this? :)
                                              http://powerarchiver.idea.informer.com/proj/?show=&show_all=1

                                              TBGBe 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                              • TBGBe
                                                TBGBe @spwolf last edited by

                                                Yes. I like that.
                                                Some of them could do with better description though.

                                                E.G. Just what is meant by <data segmentation="" and="" reordering="">in terms of a compression format :confused:</data>

                                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                • spwolf
                                                  spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                  i will let eugene explain that… you can also vote, add and comment there!

                                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                  • spwolf
                                                    spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                    one problem there is that anyone can do multiple votes, meaning dont rate everything for the sake of rating, just rates one you feel really passionated about!

                                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                    • spwolf
                                                      spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                      thing was, we didnt want you have to login to vote

                                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                      • TBGBe
                                                        TBGBe last edited by

                                                        Err, who is “eugene”?

                                                        Note to self - must show spwolf the “Edit” button sometime!

                                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                        • spwolf
                                                          spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                          i hate editing as you wont get email notification with edited parts :).

                                                          Eugene is our compression engineer, working on actual format (same guy did patchbeam engine, rar speed improvements, wz jpeg decompression, etc).

                                                          D M 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                          • D
                                                            davidsplash @spwolf last edited by

                                                            i was just pointing out features in existing formats that would be nice to have included in pa. why right a new format unless you want a format that includes everything.

                                                            I apologise its very difficult using android and your forumn nearly impossible

                                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                            • M
                                                              mwb1100 @spwolf last edited by

                                                              @spwolf:

                                                              same guy did patchbeam engine

                                                              You guys did patchbeam in-house?

                                                              Nice. For some reason I had assumed it was technology bought/licensed from a 3rd party.

                                                              spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                              • spwolf
                                                                spwolf conexware @mwb1100 last edited by

                                                                @mwb1100:

                                                                You guys did patchbeam in-house?

                                                                Nice. For some reason I had assumed it was technology bought/licensed from a 3rd party.

                                                                all ours…

                                                                S D 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                • spwolf
                                                                  spwolf conexware @TBGBe last edited by

                                                                  @TBGBe:

                                                                  Not sure what you mean with these existing formats (conversion?)-
                                                                  zip
                                                                  cab
                                                                  setup.exe/data1.cab
                                                                  tar/tar.gz/tgz/tar.bz2
                                                                  rar

                                                                  re-compression… if you compress them as they are, you will gain nothing… if you extract and compress them, between 15 and 50% gain in compression is possible.

                                                                  M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                  • M
                                                                    Mameluke @spwolf last edited by

                                                                    I would most likely want to see the following in this order if possible please :)

                                                                    1. Internal and External (RAR style) recovery record (with choice of percentage just like RAR).
                                                                    2. JPEG compression (got many pictures that are quite large)
                                                                    3. Strong Encryption with ability to encrypt file names (Like Winrar and 7z)

                                                                    Thank you :D

                                                                    Mame

                                                                    D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                    • D
                                                                      davidsplash @Mameluke last edited by

                                                                      would love to see a format that actually can compress media files better than we have at present. At the moment most media formats are donme by several formats i would like one format to do them all e.g wave mp3 and jepg format compression all in one archive format at present i have to use several formats in order to get the best comopression for each media format like sound or images

                                                                      D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                      • D
                                                                        davidsplash @davidsplash last edited by

                                                                        a format that preserves data like who made it and what version of the archive format made it. usefull for people who need this info

                                                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                        • B
                                                                          By-Tor last edited by

                                                                          I’d still like to see wz jpeg compression for zipx.

                                                                          spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                          • spwolf
                                                                            spwolf conexware @By-Tor last edited by

                                                                            @By-Tor:

                                                                            I’d still like to see wz jpeg compression for zipx.

                                                                            it is still eventual possibility… however, while we researched jpeg compression last year, our first version was slightly better compressing than WZ Jpeg and 3x faster on dual core machine… and that could be done even better with 20% better compression than wz and up to 3x faster speed on dual core machines :).

                                                                            so which one would you want? :)

                                                                            B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                            • B
                                                                              By-Tor @spwolf last edited by

                                                                              @spwolf:

                                                                              it is still eventual possibility… however, while we researched jpeg compression last year, our first version was slightly better compressing than WZ Jpeg and 3x faster on dual core machine… and that could be done even better with 20% better compression than wz and up to 3x faster speed on dual core machines :).

                                                                              so which one would you want? :)

                                                                              Why not both? :p

                                                                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                              • spwolf
                                                                                spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                                                it takes 2 months for engineer to implement each, so during those 2 months he could do:PDF, MP3, PNG instead etc, etc.

                                                                                it is very time consuming and demanding project, which is why nobody but PA can read these archives currently.

                                                                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                • B
                                                                                  By-Tor last edited by

                                                                                  Ah. From the sound of it, I thought the implementations were close to complete. I guess the first thing I’d like to see then is the wz jpeg compression, just for compatibility. I’m less concerned with a unique format right now as portability issues would be a hindrance. For another unique archive format to catch on, I think you’d need to release an open source portable command line version at the very least before it would be truly useful among other users.

                                                                                  spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                  • spwolf
                                                                                    spwolf conexware @By-Tor last edited by

                                                                                    @By-Tor:

                                                                                    Ah. From the sound of it, I thought the implementations were close to complete. I guess the first thing I’d like to see then is the wz jpeg compression, just for compatibility. I’m less concerned with a unique format right now as portability issues would be a hindrance. For another unique archive format to catch on, I think you’d need to release an open source portable command line version at the very least before it would be truly useful among other users.

                                                                                    compatibility with only WinZip though, no other utility, and certainly no free or open source utility… so what is the difference really between PAF, IZEHRBLAH, and ZIPX, when only two products support extracting ZIPX archives.

                                                                                    Problem is that ZIP itself, due to old nature of format, will never be anywhere as good as modern format, and whatever extensions are added to ZIPX not only that they cant be as good as new format, they will also not be compatible with other products either.

                                                                                    Who knows, maybe PAF will be open format and maybe there will be free extraction tools, eventually anyway :)

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                                                                                    • B
                                                                                      By-Tor last edited by

                                                                                      WinZip has a large userbase, regardless of whether we like it or not. 7-zip can handle most of ZIPX, with the exception of jpeg compression, but, Igor has stated he would implement some form of it if he saw a need.

                                                                                      ZIP by its nature is just a container format. So, you’re right, it doesn’t matter much what you call it. I’m just thinking about trying to capture the largest audience possible.

                                                                                      I’m by no means anti-PAF. heh. I’d love to see a better format. After seeing so many archive formats come and go, I know it takes time for any format to catch on if at all.

                                                                                      spwolf 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                      • spwolf
                                                                                        spwolf conexware @By-Tor last edited by

                                                                                        @By-Tor:

                                                                                        WinZip has a large userbase, regardless of whether we like it or not. 7-zip can handle most of ZIPX, with the exception of jpeg compression, but, Igor has stated he would implement some form of it if he saw a need.

                                                                                        ZIP by its nature is just a container format. So, you’re right, it doesn’t matter much what you call it. I’m just thinking about trying to capture the largest audience possible.

                                                                                        I’m by no means anti-PAF. heh. I’d love to see a better format. After seeing so many archive formats come and go, I know it takes time for any format to catch on if at all.

                                                                                        yeah, but there are much bigger differences to be made with new, proper format… you cant just put something into zip and get good results, it doesnt work that way.

                                                                                        compress folder with zipx lzma and with 7zip lzma, and notice that the difference in size could be up to 50%, simply because zip doesnt and will not ever have proper solid compression.

                                                                                        point with paf is that we can make something unique with it that nobody else has - compression for many popular formats… weather it becomes next biggest thing is something else, we plan to use it in our next backup utility as well, where nobody does any of these things and space savings will be significant.

                                                                                        B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                        • spwolf
                                                                                          spwolf conexware @By-Tor last edited by

                                                                                          but pretty much, everything on that list takes at least a month to implement for single engineer… thats why nobody has done it before (expensive) and why all the new formats are very much alike (variations of old).

                                                                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                          • B
                                                                                            By-Tor @spwolf last edited by

                                                                                            @spwolf:

                                                                                            point with paf is that we can make something unique with it that nobody else has - compression for many popular formats… weather it becomes next biggest thing is something else, we plan to use it in our next backup utility as well, where nobody does any of these things and space savings will be significant.

                                                                                            I totally agree. I wasn’t clear on how far reaching you wanted things to be.

                                                                                            spwolf 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                            • spwolf
                                                                                              spwolf conexware @By-Tor last edited by

                                                                                              @By-Tor:

                                                                                              I totally agree. I wasn’t clear on how far reaching you wanted things to be.

                                                                                              it is massive undertaking though, and it takes a while…

                                                                                              but it will be worth it for instance for backups, where we will be able to do 50% more efficient backups that rest of the current utilities :)

                                                                                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                              • spwolf
                                                                                                spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                                                                keep in mind we have been “researching” this for past 2 years, so we are not staring from 0 here…

                                                                                                things we did so far:

                                                                                                • ver 1 jpeg compression - 3x speed of wz jpeg with slightly better compression. Aim in PAF: maintain similar super speed while adding extra 20% compression compared to WZ Jpeg.
                                                                                                • ver 1 differential and versioning system - compared to leading Mozy backup service, we had 30% smaller differential backups (which means 30% faster, 30% more effcient, 30% less costly for bandwith and storage space), without strong compression implemented… Goal is to tie it together into PAF and enable stronger compression that would give us 50% gain total.
                                                                                                • Various multicore research into improving speed for other operations during compression, not just compression codec, that should add extra 20-30% speed improvements over current formats (with similar codecs).
                                                                                                • modification of lzma2 codec into pa-lzma, to fit our format better, and better overall performance (to be released as open source), this is 80% done as it is…
                                                                                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                                • spwolf
                                                                                                  spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                                                                  New formats idea site:
                                                                                                  http://ideas.powerarchiver.com/

                                                                                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                                  • S
                                                                                                    Socrates Banned @spwolf last edited by

                                                                                                    The sample size on your survey is so small, I would caution against taking it too seriously.

                                                                                                    If you found a way to ask a broader audience what they want, I would be shocked if multi-volume support would be in the top five.

                                                                                                    There may not be a better way to reach a broader audience, and, if so, having established voting, you probably have to act based on the suggestions you received. Still, I fear that in so doing you be will be spending a lot of effort on a feature that really won’t appeal to that many people. I suspect 5-7 of the other options would be more appealing, even if they are not ones I would use.

                                                                                                    So if you try this again, you might explore ways of getting input from a larger sample.

                                                                                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                                                    • spwolf
                                                                                                      spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                                                                      no need to worry, while ideas site is interesting we still have our own schedule and goals to work with (which is getting better compression on things that are not compressible currently).

                                                                                                      multi volume feature is really simple to implement, but we probably would not do it that way if we didnt get enough votes.

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                                                                                                        Socrates Banned @spwolf last edited by

                                                                                                        If it is simple, then that’s a compelling reason to do it.

                                                                                                        What I often don’t know is how difficult it is to implement a new feature. Some might seem easily, but be difficult (or next to impossible) while others that seem difficult might be a snap.

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                                                                                                        • spwolf
                                                                                                          spwolf conexware @Socrates last edited by

                                                                                                          @Socrates:

                                                                                                          If it is simple, then that’s a compelling reason to do it.

                                                                                                          What I often don’t know is how difficult it is to implement a new feature. Some might seem easily, but be difficult (or next to impossible) while others that seem difficult might be a snap.

                                                                                                          hardest things on that lists are new codecs for pdf, jpeg, mp3… thats both hard and time consuming. Everything else on that list will probably take less time all together (!) then building special jpeg compressor.

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                                                                                                          • S
                                                                                                            Socrates Banned @spwolf last edited by

                                                                                                            I suppose I would have thought special compression would be especially difficult. But not that much more difficult.

                                                                                                            Thanks for letting us know.

                                                                                                            At some point (and if not too complicated), could you explain the relative difficulties of building new compression from pds versus jpgs. I assume the former would be easier (more white space). Perhaps, though, that assumption is borne of ignorance.

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                                                                                                            • spwolf
                                                                                                              spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                                                                              #1 goal for the format: special codecs for file types that are most used currently yet can not be compressed by current tools.

                                                                                                              basically this is compression for complicated (already compressed) file types.

                                                                                                              so what you have to do is take file apart, and divide it into parts that can and that can not be compressed (which is why jpeg, png, docx, pdf that is compressed, can not be compressed further usually)… then compress the part that can be compressed with special codec designed for that format. All of this is done transparently to the user of course, and usually quite fast if done right.

                                                                                                              But for each format (mp3, jpeg, png, pdf, docx, odt, etc), special codec is required. So there is a lot of development work to be done here. There are also no examples of such work, and only very few utilities do it - for instance, Stuffit has a lot of special compressors, but it is available only if you give out your credit card (no actual free trial), while most other utilities do not have anything but general codecs.

                                                                                                              Reality is that most people compress things that are already compressed, so using zip, or rar or 7zip on most things people usually backup or send via email will not result in great savings, or sometimes savings at all. If you compress jpegs to send over email or upload somewhere or simply backup, you will not gain any compression. On the other hand, with special jpeg codec, you can expect 20%-30% gain on your full album of pictures.

                                                                                                              For instance zip has one most common codec which is deflate. WinRar has single codec too.
                                                                                                              Now .paf/pa/power will have 5-6 at least within next 2 years. So you can imagine how big the task is. But the gains are big too so it is worth it.

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                                                                                                              • spwolf
                                                                                                                spwolf conexware last edited by

                                                                                                                difference between pdf and jpeg is that while for both, you have to develop special recompression algorithm, pdf uses deflate compression from zip and then its contents once opened up, can be compressed well with general codecs.

                                                                                                                on the other hand, jpeg has many variations so first recompression has to be able to take apart various jpegs and then you have to build completely custom codec to compress that picture inside.

                                                                                                                So basically it is double the work compared to PDF.

                                                                                                                Advantage with PDF is that we can use a lot of the code to recompress other formats like PNG, DOCX, ODT, SWF, since they all use deflate to give them (weak) compression.

                                                                                                                For instance, DOCX containts XML files inside that are compressed with deflate. However since they are compressed, if you try to compress them again, you will gain very little… but if you unravel weak compression and then apply stronger one, big gains are possible.

                                                                                                                Here is test example.

                                                                                                                1. Contract in DOCX format - 104 KB
                                                                                                                2. DOCX compressed with 7zip - 95KB
                                                                                                                3. DOCX recompressed properly - 64 KB

                                                                                                                So thats 40% gain on DOCX file for instance. Imagine if you have many of them on your computer, or if your company sends many via email or backup service… Time and cost savings are quite significant here.

                                                                                                                Now actual % gained is different for different formats and there are further optimizations possible (for instance detect pictures and text inside single file differently and compress them with their own codecs), but you can see how much potential this has.

                                                                                                                Main thing here is that it has to be done seamlessly and it has to be fast, otherwise people will not use it. And then we come to #2 part of new format - multicore optimizations.

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                                                                                                                • S
                                                                                                                  Socrates Banned @spwolf last edited by

                                                                                                                  thanks!

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                                                                                                                  • RJWaring
                                                                                                                    RJWaring last edited by

                                                                                                                    I would have to say that Jpeg, and PDF Compression is a good idea! as your possibly aware I have brought Picture compression up a few times in the past with a good warrent for it.

                                                                                                                    But with a list aslong as the above there are so many other good things to choose from.

                                                                                                                    I have made some votes. :o)

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                                                                                                                      davidsplash @spwolf last edited by

                                                                                                                      i would like the new format to introduce some sort of protection so that if the archive is changed it tells you by whom and can stop this if you dont wnat it updated but would like people to extract files from it only

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                                                                                                                        davidsplash @spwolf last edited by

                                                                                                                        One idea would be to have time limited archives that actually destroy themselves after a set amount of time. saw this in america well worth it if you are sending things over the internet. They also had archives that only let you open them a set number of times.

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                                                                                                                          davidsplash last edited by

                                                                                                                          to sound a downer you can not have every feature in the new format as that would slow it down.

                                                                                                                          What we would like to see is several new archive formats .

                                                                                                                          For instance pdf compression

                                                                                                                          wave compresion

                                                                                                                          etc

                                                                                                                          would love to see all these new formats use the plugin feature in pa.

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                                                                                                                          • F
                                                                                                                            FiatLux last edited by

                                                                                                                            The option that you when in the “with options” interface then may choose both Encrypt and make SFX in one operation, and implemented using a technique that can handle both many andd/or large files….

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