I have some files that I will soon want to upload to the internet but my compressed (zipped) folders are not much smaller than the originals.
What is the best and can I download it for free?

I have 7zip on my computer but it isn't in the right click menu and only place I can find it is in the programs.

7zip does have right-click menu, you need to configure it.
Launch 7-zip: Menu/Tools/Options/7-zip. Integrate 7-Zip to shell context menu, yes.
Then choose the context menu items in the box below that you want.
Don't forget to click OK. And make sure you have latest version of the program.

I'm not expert on the file compression methods and what would be the best settings, it depends largely what kind of files you are adding in the archive.
But you can test compression level: ultra.

It depends on the type of files to be uploaded: jpg, mp4, mp3, avi, some pdf, some tif, etc are file formats already compressed, so "zipping" it usually does not allow you to gain much compression. Plain text files, html, program sourcecode, uncompressed raster image format, etc usually can be compressed by 40% or more.

If some patterns are repeated on multiple files, or if the same file is repeated several times, a compression with "solid" algorithms can gain something in terms of compression, at the expense of a greater risk of unrecoverable data loss if there are errors in the file upload/download.

I usually use 7zip or freearc (but the website of the latter is now offiline), but by now almost all compressors have similar compression capabilities, they differ only in terms of speed and amount of memory used during operations.

If the files are already compressed, jpegs, gimp xcfgz, there will not be much gain. Sometimes compressing an existing archive, contrary to expectations results in a larger file. Depending on settings, 7zip has an advantage over zip format.

You could try Peazip. Like 7zip it comes with its own file browser but AFAIK integrates with windows.
www.peazip.org

Example Win7, on right: selected several files and a right click brings up a link.



However, on the left some single file comparisons.
and original jpeg (2 MB) when saved as a gimp .xcf is 8 MB - a .xcfgz 6.72 MB - a .xcfbz2 5.82 MB
That 8 MB xcf compresses with peazip to a 6.71 MB 7zip file, so no real saving over the .xcfgz format.

As with most things, depends....

Does that mean if I make the file smaller when saving it in gimp (png's), they will not compress much more?


EDIT: I opened my 7zip program folder and there was only a language folder in there. I may have to download another.

I think You have uninstalled it at some point if there's only language folder in c:Program Files

Maybe, Looks like it may have happened around the time I got Windows 10 too.

Hoping to have some resources to upload soon but they are too big! Even after saving as 4-5 in gimp they are still around 1 MB in size each and I have 40+ files in a folder. So far I have only been able to get them down to about 36MB Zipped (1 folder) and I have about 9-10 folders to zip.
Should I just put a taste up here and upload the rest to a place where size doesn't matter and put a link to it?

I use IZArc, don't know what other, more technically minded folk think...http://www.izarc.org/

New day, finally got round to making some comparisons

Using the same image in different formats, and 7zip with best compression.

First a jpeg, which of course is already 'lossy' compressed,
jpg file size 417K 7zip 418K - this is the compressing an existing compressed file effect, the file is larger.

Next the png, but exported with a compression value = 0
png file size 1.4M 7 zip 1.1M - about 20% reduction

Then the png exported with Gimp default compression value = 9 (the maximum)
png file size 1.2M 7zip 1.2M - actually a 1% increase in size.

Where you get economies with these file formats, is archiving lots of small files, (late edit: into one single 7zip file) this is stored more economically on disk. Beware, if you rely on this for saving disk space, one day sooner or later you will make a mistake and lose the lot. Archive as a backup only, and keep two or three copies on different disks.

Thank you rich

I actually use Arc Them All. Only because it will compress multiple SCM scripts at a time. =) For use in The add on managers.

http://arcthemall.sourceforge.net/

I tried downloading PeaZip again to update it and the downloads for 64 bit from this site: https://peazip.github.io/ fail. I've tried 64 bit and windows blocked the download. The portable version also fails.

If it's for an upload and your files are jpg/png, convert them to webp (but keep the original), you might gain up to 30% on jpg and even more on png only with the conversion, then just zip them all (you won't care anymore anyway)

Not sure who this response was to, but for me, as I said in my post, I tried downloading the updated version of peazip 64 bit, which is 8.1.0 and both the portable version and the installer failed.

I was speaking to sallyanne


A free Application that I use for decades (at least 2 decades) software (not for commercial use, though, but free for personal use, ONGs, hospital and so) is XnConvert > https://www.xnview.com/en/xnconvert/
Can read something like 500 type of image format and convert them to like ~50 type of format
100 pictures in JPG to webp take something like 5 seconds (may be less)