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Compression Rate
| Data Compressors |
Original Size (bytes) |
Compressed Size (bytes) |
Space Saved (bytes) |
WinRK |
200,009,231 |
171,589,752 |
28,419,479 |
7-Zip |
200,009,231 |
174,660,146 |
25,349,085 |
WinRAR |
200,009,231 |
174,765,360 |
25,243,871 |
Squeez |
200,009,231 |
175,161,770 |
24,847,461 |
WinAce |
200,009,231 |
175,255,989 |
24,753,242 |
SBC Archiver |
200,009,231 |
175,259,830 |
24,749,401 |
StuffIt |
200,009,231 |
175,814,368 |
24,194,863 |
WinZip |
200,009,231 |
176,998,548 |
23,010,683 |
bzip2 |
200,009,231 |
177,020,566 |
22,988,665 |
gzip |
200,009,231 |
177,651,708 |
22,357,523 |
ARJ32 |
200,009,231 |
177,724,449 |
22,284,782 |
Even when it comes to PDF files, WinRK was the best at compression. It was ahead of the rest of the pack by reducing the fileset size to under 172MB, which is a size reduction of 14.2%. The runner-up, 7-Zip, managed to reduce the fileset size by over 25MB or 12.7%.
WinRAR, Squeez, WinAce and SBC Archiver were all close behind 7-Zip. The other compressors generated slightly larger archives, but they were all generally good at compressing this fileset. Even the worse compressor, ARJ32, managed to achieve a size reduction of over 22.2MB.
Compression Speed
| Data Compressors |
Original Size (bytes) |
Time (s) |
Speed (KB/s) |
gzip |
200,009,231 |
13.13 |
15233.0 |
WinZip |
200,009,231 |
19.99 |
10005.5 |
ARJ32 |
200,009,231 |
20.11 |
9945.8 |
bzip2 |
200,009,231 |
49.51 |
4039.8 |
7-Zip |
200,009,231 |
59.49 |
3362.1 |
StuffIt |
200,009,231 |
86.72 |
2306.4 |
SBC Archiver |
200,009,231 |
89.24 |
2241.3 |
Squeez |
200,009,231 |
91.48 |
2186.4 |
WinRAR |
200,009,231 |
109.83 |
1821.1 |
WinAce |
200,009,231 |
170.00 |
1176.5 |
WinRK |
200,009,231 |
411.88 |
485.6 |
When it came to compression speed, however, gzip was king. It only took 13 seconds to compress the 200MB fileset. It was over 50% faster than its nearest competitors, WinZip and ARJ32.
WinRK was, again, the slowest compressor tested. This time, it was especially long. It actually took over 6 minutes to complete the test! However, this is actually faster than the 8 minutes it took when it was set to its fastest compression setting.
Compression Efficiency
The compression efficiency rating is a simple way to evaluate the efficiency of each data compressor. This way, we can see which compressor can save the most space in the least time.
Please note that a higher efficiency rating does not mean the compressor is better. It just means the compressor has a better compression-to-speed ratio. A more efficient compressor is, of course, always more desirable than a less efficient one.
The most efficient data compressor when it comes to this bunch of PDF files was gzip. Its tremendously fast compression speed with its good compression rate allowed it to become the undisputed efficiency champion for PDF files.
The PDF compression king, WinRK, ended up as the most inefficient compressor in this comparison due entirely to its slow performance. The extremely long time it took to compress the fileset completely offset the amount of space saved.
