FILE COMPRESSION
When downloading items or sending artwork to us, you’ll need a utility to compress and decompress your files. Compressing and archiving files together can make them substantially smaller in size, resulting in saved disk space, quicker transmission times and easier file management. If you’re looking for a specific file compression utility, chances are that it appears below. Compression also provides a level of security against file corruption and/or loss of OS-specific data. If you add password protection to a compressed archive, remember to provide the password separately so we can open the files.
Please do not upload uncompressed/loose native artwork files through online file-sharing utilities such as Dropbox, Google Docs, YouSendIt, etc. That doesn’t protect files from corruption, or worse. Often these utilities compresses the files for download on the recipient’s end. Their compression utilities are general purpose, and don’t preserve file data the way a utility on your computer should. Best case scenario, it will cause any link images to need to be updated in the layout document. Worst case… they can destroy OS-specific file data, making the file unusable.
macOS / Mac OS X
- The most reliable way to compress files in macOS is the built-in Archive Utility. Select the file(s) or folder(s) to be compressed. Right-Click (or select from File menu) “Compress ‘(selected items)'”
Older versions of Mac OS X, the same function is “Create Archive of…” or other similar variants. -
The Mac version of the popular cross-platform compression utility, StuffIt Deluxe supports all popular compression standards, including Zip, RAR, SIT and many more. The utility features lossless compression, 512-bit data encryption, password protection, advanced archiving and catalog capabilities and archive splitting for ease of file transfer.
Windows
The following list of Windows (and Linux) utilities have not been verified or updated recently. Please note that – as with the majority of this industry – our prepress department is primarily macOS based. If your preferred compression utility is relatively obscure and/or proprietary, we may not be able to decompress the file, even on one of our Windows machines. (We cannot be expected to install every utility out there, so keep to reasonably universal and/or open formats, and everything should flow smoothly.)
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ALZip is a freeware archiving and compression utility designed for speed and ease of use. It supports 36 archive and compression file formats including Zip, opens CD image files (ISO, BIN), opens virtual CD files (LCD), creates eight archive and compression file formats, creates self-extracting files and splits compressed files for easy transfers.
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The Windows version of the popular cross-platform compression utility, SuffIt Deluxe supports all popular compression standards, including Zip, RAR, SIT and many more. The utility features lossless compression, 512-bit data encryption, password protection, advanced archiving and cataloging capabilities, and archive splitting for ease of file transfer.
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WinRAR is a shareware file compression utility that features the ability to process non-RAR archive formats including Zip files, support for long filenames, self-extracting archives, the repair of damaged archives, authenticity verification and encryption.
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WinZip is the popular compression utility for the Windows environment. Its tight integration with Windows and its optional wizard interface makes file compression quick and easy. In addition to support for the Zip standard, WinZip features support for RAR, CAB, TAR, gzip and other standards.
Linux
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The popular GNU Zip compression utility. It is commonly used with TAR to provide an excellent archiving format.
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The Linux version of the popular cross-platform compression utility, StuffIt supports all popular compression standards, including Zip, RAR, SIT and many more. The utility features lossless compression, 512-bit data encryption, password protection, and archive splitting for ease of file transfer.
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An X-Forms-based compression utility that supports eight different compression formats, including Zip, gzip, bzip2, *nix Compress, tar, tar+gzip, tar+bzip2 and tar+Compress.