File Details |
|
| File Size | 7.7 MB |
|---|---|
| License | Open Source |
| Operating System | Windows 2000/Server 2003/Server 2008/Vista/XP |
| Date Added | May 24, 2012 |
| Total Downloads | 9,948 |
| Publisher | Bulat Ziganshin |
| Homepage | FreeArc |
Publisher's Description
FreeArc is a modern general-purpose archiver. Main advantage is fast but efficient compression and rich set of features. It works 1.5 times faster than best programs in each compression class.
Latest Reviews
Steven Aus reviewed v0.67 Alpha on Jan 15, 2014
Note this is for 0.666 (I don't think you can review a previous version using this review system.) A note to one of the other reviewers - you can get the file associations and explorer integration working, but I had to try it again once or twice. Overall I am happy with the program, I compressed 5,606,509,457 bytes into 3,334,958,396 (59.4% of full size) using the best asymmetric compression option in about 1 hour. Previously I had compressed almost the same set of files to 59.3% in about 30 minutes, but I wanted to maximise compression (without requiring 1-2GB memory) and maximise extraction speed.
PaulWilliams reviewed v0.666 on Apr 6, 2011
AMAZING COMPRESSION RATIO. Able to add a Recovery Record. Format is supported in PeaZip. Moderately fast when used for maximum compression, but slower than WinRAR and 7Zip. Uses no more than 2GB of memory and doesn't come anywhere close to 100% processor load for maximum compression. With a little GUI polish this could be the best file compressor EVER.
I had over a hundred multi gigabyte files that needed to be compressed and I wasn't happy with the compression of the most popular file compression programs, so I decided to try this. It's not the fastest, but there are very few programs that can come close to its compression ratio and fewer that are as fast at their highest setting. On my Intel Core i5 over-clocked to 3.42GHz, 3.6GHz with Turbo Mode enabled and 8GB of Memory, I'm able to compress 7.3GB in 35 minutes flat. The highest compression ratio I achieved was an .iso 7.3GB (6.656GB without random padding) compressed to 2.181GB (29.9% compression). I didn't even think that was possible. The average for an .iso was 77% compression, but it depends on the file.
Thank You so much.
RedBadger reviewed v0.666 on Aug 27, 2010
This is an interesting Archiver. It has the potential to be better than the other archivers out there. In my opinion, it has the most password security options of all the archivers. The main drawback to this program is its user interface. Its like they have multiple entries for the same options on different parts of the setup, making it confusing. They also uses the word "Directory" instead of displaying an icon for a directory like it should.
anomoly reviewed v0.666 on Jul 16, 2010
The best just got better (0.67 alpha). Now supports creation to zip or 7z with file splitting.
Link is on last page of alpha forum. Down link site is in russian. Just scroll over them.
http://forum.ru-board.co...0&limit=1&m=1#1
anomoly reviewed v0.60 on Dec 24, 2009
I have been using it for over two months now with no errors or issues WHATSOEVER. The best gui out PERIOD, better than winrar. The only real difference is that with rar's, you can search inside them. With arc's, not so much. Gui is actually superb! Opens arc's lightning fast.
Compression is even better, if that were even possible!. Planned to support rar and 7zip in future releases. I'm using the 0.61alpha which disables non-essential threads.
License is free for ANY usage.
TomWibbaert reviewed v0.60 on Dec 22, 2009
What can I say ..... Horrible crap. (STILL)
Context menu integration ? DOESN'T WORK.
Associate with .arc files ? DOESN'T WORK.
Clunky interface.
High compression takes ages, and is even worse than winrar or 7zip at default.
Perhaps it could compress better if you have 128 GBytes of memory and are will to spend 23 years on it, but I don't.
Useless garbage.
anomoly reviewed v0.60 RC on Oct 6, 2009
The installer has issues but the portable version works just as the installer was supposed to, just don't rename the exe. Excellent for batch compression, with pre-analysis of files & folders,
and the ability to create multiple arc's and delete the original files when done. Freearc can batch convert like archives (zip, rar, etc) into it's own format as well, which is a neat function.
Peazip does arc compression fine, but will not handle, on my pc, more than a few. 20+, folders without crashing. Freearc can take an entire subfolder of folders and compress each one to it's own archive without creating multiple instances of itself for each selection, as does peazip. It does have a steal focus issue which is minor at best.
I have only a gig of pc3200, but windows can automatically create a larger virtual memory space, if you push it to the limits.
The powerpack's zlib1.dll is a newer version than the program's and the (powerpack's) environmental variable should be changed to ".\bin".
note: peazip's arc.exe is compressed & freearc's is not.
Compared to Winrar:
895 Mb folder of mercedes lackey ebook stuff (prc, pdb, lit, txt, doc, pdf, etc),
Winrar never touched my memory and took 20 seconds longer to compress the folder at it's Best settings down to a 364 MB rar. Decompression to a different HD took 5:42.
Freearc compress: Max.. -mx (delete original), 100% cpu & memory 10:10, 171 MB .arc.
Decompress: 3:58
amd athlon xp @2.325 w/gig ddr400
Winrar, indispensable, has a nice archive search feature & never gets in the way. Good for those pesky mp3's.
I have saved ~20 GB in my now 36.5 GB ebook folder alone.
shtraue reviewed v0.51 on May 15, 2009
Very interesting and promising archiver, in my view. Lots of customizable options.
Instead of laughing (can it really be that funny?) why not to report bugs instead:
http://code.google.com/p/freearc/issues/list
emanresU deriseD reviewed v0.51 on May 11, 2009
WOW--I found so many bugs within 2 minutes I can't stop laughing!
H2O_lover reviewed v0.51 on May 8, 2009
dhry, people who are actually serious about compression tests, rank FreeArc higher than 7-Zip.
http://www.maximumcompre...com/data/summary_sf.php
http://compressionratings.com/rating_sum.html
Steven Aus reviewed v0.67 Alpha on Jan 15, 2014
Note this is for 0.666 (I don't think you can review a previous version using this review system.) A note to one of the other reviewers - you can get the file associations and explorer integration working, but I had to try it again once or twice. Overall I am happy with the program, I compressed 5,606,509,457 bytes into 3,334,958,396 (59.4% of full size) using the best asymmetric compression option in about 1 hour. Previously I had compressed almost the same set of files to 59.3% in about 30 minutes, but I wanted to maximise compression (without requiring 1-2GB memory) and maximise extraction speed.
PaulWilliams reviewed v0.666 on Apr 6, 2011
AMAZING COMPRESSION RATIO. Able to add a Recovery Record. Format is supported in PeaZip. Moderately fast when used for maximum compression, but slower than WinRAR and 7Zip. Uses no more than 2GB of memory and doesn't come anywhere close to 100% processor load for maximum compression. With a little GUI polish this could be the best file compressor EVER.
I had over a hundred multi gigabyte files that needed to be compressed and I wasn't happy with the compression of the most popular file compression programs, so I decided to try this. It's not the fastest, but there are very few programs that can come close to its compression ratio and fewer that are as fast at their highest setting. On my Intel Core i5 over-clocked to 3.42GHz, 3.6GHz with Turbo Mode enabled and 8GB of Memory, I'm able to compress 7.3GB in 35 minutes flat. The highest compression ratio I achieved was an .iso 7.3GB (6.656GB without random padding) compressed to 2.181GB (29.9% compression). I didn't even think that was possible. The average for an .iso was 77% compression, but it depends on the file.
Thank You so much.
RedBadger reviewed v0.666 on Aug 27, 2010
This is an interesting Archiver. It has the potential to be better than the other archivers out there. In my opinion, it has the most password security options of all the archivers. The main drawback to this program is its user interface. Its like they have multiple entries for the same options on different parts of the setup, making it confusing. They also uses the word "Directory" instead of displaying an icon for a directory like it should.
anomoly reviewed v0.666 on Jul 16, 2010
The best just got better (0.67 alpha). Now supports creation to zip or 7z with file splitting.
Link is on last page of alpha forum. Down link site is in russian. Just scroll over them.
http://forum.ru-board.co...0&limit=1&m=1#1
anomoly reviewed v0.60 on Dec 24, 2009
I have been using it for over two months now with no errors or issues WHATSOEVER. The best gui out PERIOD, better than winrar. The only real difference is that with rar's, you can search inside them. With arc's, not so much. Gui is actually superb! Opens arc's lightning fast.
Compression is even better, if that were even possible!. Planned to support rar and 7zip in future releases. I'm using the 0.61alpha which disables non-essential threads.
License is free for ANY usage.
TomWibbaert reviewed v0.60 on Dec 22, 2009
What can I say ..... Horrible crap. (STILL)
Context menu integration ? DOESN'T WORK.
Associate with .arc files ? DOESN'T WORK.
Clunky interface.
High compression takes ages, and is even worse than winrar or 7zip at default.
Perhaps it could compress better if you have 128 GBytes of memory and are will to spend 23 years on it, but I don't.
Useless garbage.
anomoly reviewed v0.60 RC on Oct 6, 2009
The installer has issues but the portable version works just as the installer was supposed to, just don't rename the exe. Excellent for batch compression, with pre-analysis of files & folders,
and the ability to create multiple arc's and delete the original files when done. Freearc can batch convert like archives (zip, rar, etc) into it's own format as well, which is a neat function.
Peazip does arc compression fine, but will not handle, on my pc, more than a few. 20+, folders without crashing. Freearc can take an entire subfolder of folders and compress each one to it's own archive without creating multiple instances of itself for each selection, as does peazip. It does have a steal focus issue which is minor at best.
I have only a gig of pc3200, but windows can automatically create a larger virtual memory space, if you push it to the limits.
The powerpack's zlib1.dll is a newer version than the program's and the (powerpack's) environmental variable should be changed to ".\bin".
note: peazip's arc.exe is compressed & freearc's is not.
Compared to Winrar:
895 Mb folder of mercedes lackey ebook stuff (prc, pdb, lit, txt, doc, pdf, etc),
Winrar never touched my memory and took 20 seconds longer to compress the folder at it's Best settings down to a 364 MB rar. Decompression to a different HD took 5:42.
Freearc compress: Max.. -mx (delete original), 100% cpu & memory 10:10, 171 MB .arc.
Decompress: 3:58
amd athlon xp @2.325 w/gig ddr400
Winrar, indispensable, has a nice archive search feature & never gets in the way. Good for those pesky mp3's.
I have saved ~20 GB in my now 36.5 GB ebook folder alone.
shtraue reviewed v0.51 on May 15, 2009
Very interesting and promising archiver, in my view. Lots of customizable options.
Instead of laughing (can it really be that funny?) why not to report bugs instead:
http://code.google.com/p/freearc/issues/list
emanresU deriseD reviewed v0.51 on May 11, 2009
WOW--I found so many bugs within 2 minutes I can't stop laughing!
H2O_lover reviewed v0.51 on May 8, 2009
dhry, people who are actually serious about compression tests, rank FreeArc higher than 7-Zip.
http://www.maximumcompre...com/data/summary_sf.php
http://compressionratings.com/rating_sum.html
nika27 reviewed v0.51 on May 7, 2009
No one is asking you to use it. That's called a choice, mister. Do you also complain when you go shopping for stuff?
Qlib reviewed v0.51 on Apr 30, 2009
I wish I could give half a star.. cos .. its nice to have an opensource archive format..
HOWEVER.. there are already too many and I do NOT need yet another goddammn format to deal with!
dhry reviewed v0.51 on Apr 30, 2009
Rubbish. Places an icon on your desktop that kicks the program off in gibberish (I assume this is Russian). Have to start the program from the start menu in order to see english menus. Tested compression:
v14-15.7z 5.79Mb (max compression)
v14-15.arc 5.83Mb (-mx max compression)
v14-15.ppf 84.1Mb (original file)
Avoid. 7-Zip is still the best free GUI-based archiver.