[Software Review] WinUHA

#1

AYHJA Tech Review
Compression Session

I stumbled upon this archiver program earlier this week, and it gave me an idea...In depth reviews of new software that I test out, in comparison to other programs I use...Aside from download managers, I use compression programs everyday, all day...I am the internet's RAR king...But, always looking for something better, I came across another compression program, WinUHA...

For those that don't know, all a compression program does is take a group of files and stores them conviently as one...Compression programs are to files, like suitcases are to clothes...

With this new program, I am very impressed...It is written by an author is is seemingly VERY strapped for cash...Check out the homepage...

Linky

I treat archives like my business, so, I ran a few tests using the most common archivers there are...WinZIP, WinRAR, and WinACE...Here's how they stacked up to this new program, WinUHA in some archiving tests...All options were configured for maximum compression in each program...

My first test consisted of 49 of my favorite Lisa Marie Scott images, set 205 for those interested... /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

Images, Test 1

49 JPG Images

Uncompressed Size: 5.39 MB
WinZip: 5.39 MB
WinAce: 5.39 MB
WinRAR: 5.39 MB
WinUHA: 5.37 MB

WTF..? Usually, RAR will get the lowest score...Even though this is a small margin, UHA managed to eek out a few tenths of a KB...It was a tad bit slower than the others, so I decided to give it another go...This time, I picked some bigger images...

Images, Test 2

61 JPG Images

Uncompressed Size: 14.8 MB
WinZip: 14.7 MB
WinAce: 14.8 MB
WinRAR: 14.7 MB
WinUHA: 14.7 MB

That's a little more like it, with all of the programs hovering around the same...However, it is worth noting that UHA took at least 45 seconds to finish, about double what it took the others...One more test set of images...

Images, Test 2

40 JPG Images

Uncompressed Size: 6.86 MB
WinZip: 6.84 MB
WinAce: 6.86 MB
WinRAR: 6.85 MB
WinUHA: 6.82 MB

In three different scenarios, UHA produced some very good results...Give or take a few, it will probably outcompress the other formats every time...

However, as I have mentioned, its the slowest of the 4...And for the time being, it can only handle and create UHA archives...All the others will at least read the other file types, and all of them will create ZIP files, which is the most popular of the 4...It also doesn't include many of the other small enhancements of the others, like file stream processing and windows explorer file type properties...

Tech Line:

I am keeping the program for some extended testing...Hopefully, someone will break this guy off some change, and he'll be able to perfect this program....I'll wait for that version before I pass too harsh of a judgement...It does include an SFX module (self extracting, others won't need the program installed to extract its contents) so testing it and distributing it wont' of an issue..If you use RAR and ZIP alot, check it out and see what you come up with compressing other file types...

#2

Uh, Ty, would it be possible to perform tests on files OTHER than JPEGs..
JPEGS are mainly binary, which means not that much compression can take place..

Could you try;
a) a few PNGs (the best image format IMHO)
/cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="B)" border="0" alt="cool.gif" /> a couple EXEs
c) some TXT and DOC/OpenOffice files
d) OGG/MP3 and WAVs (gotta have both - makes it more meaningful)

Also, would it be possible to compare it with a few other compression algorithms, such as TAR, GZip (tar.gz), and CAB..?

Otherwise, this is an EXCELLENT review..! You should get it published with that FTP guide.. LoL

#3

Excellent suggestions WAI..!

First time out, I figured it would be RAW and a bit closed minded, as I mainly just focused on my use of the program...I will revise the review soon, and try those things you suggested...Thanks my friend...

#4

Sounds good..! /:D" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt=":D" />