Q: What are archives and all these Zip files suppose to be ?

A: An archive is typically a group of files stored in a single file in compressed form. There are many different formats for archives. They are all similar in terms of functionality, with the main difference being the compression method being used. You can identify the different archive formats of a particular archive by looking at the filename extension (the letters after the last dot, e.g. “.zip”).

Archive formats supported by PicoZip

PicoZip can create archives in 8 different formats:

• .bh : BlakHole archive
• .cab : Microsoft Cabinet
• .gz : GZip archive*
• .jar : Javasoft archive
• .lha : Lha archive
• .lzh : Lzh archive
• .tar : Unix tape archive
• .zip : Zip archive

* Please note that the GZip archive format can only store a SINGLE file. This is a limitation of the GZip format, not PicoZip.

In addition, PicoZip can extract files from 15 different archive formats:

• .ace : Ace archive
• .arc : Arc archive
• .arj : Arj archive
• .bh : BlakHole archive
• .cab : Microsoft Cabinet
• .gz : Unix GZip (gz/tar)
• .jar : Javasoft archive
• .lha : Lha archive
• .lzh : Lzh archive
• .rar : Rar archive
• .tar : Unix tape archive
• .tgz : Unix Tar/GZ archives
• .z : Unix Compress archives
• .zip : Zip archive
• .zoo : Zoo archive

Please note that the above archive formats are natively supported by PicoZip, no third party software is required.

Self-extracting (SFX) archives

A self-extracting archive is an archive that is created as an executable (.exe) file, and has the ability to extract the files from within itself without the use of any third party archive utility. PicoZip can create self-extracting archives in 8 different formats. Click here to learn more.

Benefits of using archives

• Save hard disk space. You may have many rarely used files in your hard disk which takes up a lot of space. By compressing them into an archive, you can save up to over 80% in hard disk space.
• Save time and money. Compressing large files into an archive before sending it over the Internet saves you a lot of time and money, especially if you are using a slow connection (e.g. 56k modem).
• Simplify backup management. If you need to backup a set of files often, storing them in archives means you only need to manage one file for each backup, rather than making copies of entire folders.