Why don't retailers pack their files better?

[Numanoid]

I needed to save some hard drive space and thought if I winrar'ed some big downloaded files I keep as backup, I could maybe save a couple of 100MB or maybe even a giga.

Turns out that I can save lots!

The IK Total Workstation bundle that I downloaded as zip files, something like 23 GB, can actually be packed to 14,5 GB

I don't get it, don't they pay for bandwidth? If they packed their files better I could probably have saved a couple of days downloading as well, having 8 GB less to worry about.

Zero-G is another example. I bought a 4 GB library from them recently, and they make a big deal out explaining that one has to download 8 separate files of 500 MB each. If they used a better packing program they could have reduced that load with 30-40%

[Gamma-UT]

I needed to save some hard drive space and thought if I winrar'ed some big downloaded files I keep as backup, I could maybe save a couple of 100MB or maybe even a giga.

Turns out that I can save lots!

The IK Total Workstation bundle that I downloaded as zip files, something like 23 GB, can actually be packed to 14,5 GB

I don't get it, don't they pay for bandwidth? If they packed their files better I could probably have saved a couple of days downloading as well, having 8 GB less to worry about.

Zero-G is another example. I bought a 4 GB library from them recently, and they make a big deal out explaining that one has to download 8 separate files of 500 MB each. If they used a better packing program they could have reduced that load with 30-40%

I imagine it's because not everybody has a RAR-compatible decoder sitting on their machine, whereas they can pretty much guarantee a ZIP file will be recognised by the OS and decompressed automatically. What they save in hosting costs could easily be lost in support calls.

[Numanoid]

I imagine it's because not everybody has a RAR-compatible decoder sitting on their machine, whereas they can pretty much guarantee a ZIP file will be recognised by the OS and decompressed automatically. What they save in hosting costs could easily be lost in support calls.

7-zip opens rar files, and is freeware

Was it 1000 people that participated in that IK group buy recently? 8-9 GB less to download per person, would be something 8-9 terabyte in total then. I guess there is money to save on bandwidth there

[whyterabbyt]

I imagine it's because not everybody has a RAR-compatible decoder sitting on their machine, whereas they can pretty much guarantee a ZIP file will be recognised by the OS and decompressed automatically. What they save in hosting costs could easily be lost in support calls.

7-zip opens rar files, and is freeware

How does that make a difference to what he said?

[Numanoid]

Constructive comments as always.

I guess including a read me file could inform people how to unpack a rar archive with for instance 7-zip.

[whyterabbyt]

Constructive comments as always.

I guess including a read me file could inform people how to unpack a rar archive with for instance 7-zip.

sadly, you overestimate the idiot quotient...

[Gamma-UT]

I imagine it's because not everybody has a RAR-compatible decoder sitting on their machine, whereas they can pretty much guarantee a ZIP file will be recognised by the OS and decompressed automatically. What they save in hosting costs could easily be lost in support calls.

7-zip opens rar files, and is freeware

I didn't say the tools aren't readily available - they just aren't necessarily sitting on someone's machine when they download a product like this. When faced with a file that doesn't do anything when doubleclicked and they think "WTF?" who are they going to blame/contact first?

Was it 1000 people that participated in that IK group buy recently? 8-9 GB less to download per person, would be something 8-9 terabyte in total then. I guess there is money to save on bandwidth there

A moderately priced shared hosting account (i.e. $50 a month or so) will net you 1TB of bandwidth per month. A VPS is way over that. Anyone going over that, particularly for short periods of time, will be looking at a content delivery network where the cost per gig is surprisingly low - and will guarantee better delivery speeds than hosting large downloads from a single location. I reckon they'd have been looking at around $300 for that lot. Use RAR they're paying what? $150-$200? Is that difference worth the support hassle of using even a slightly obscure unarchiver? Clearly, more than one company has already made that choice.

[Numanoid]

sadly, you overestimate the idiot quotient...

Man, it would be better if you did not post, if this is what you want to contribute

If you did not like my original posting, why post anything in reply, you could instead just let the thread die a silent death?

[PAK]

No need for 7Zip.. They can create self-extracting versions which avoid the need for any utils.

Maybe they think a larger download size may appear as if they're offering more for the money? Even "premium" CDN's like Akamai cost less than 5 cents per GB though, so you're talking maybe 30 cents difference in bandwidth - if that.

[Gamma-UT]

sadly, you overestimate the idiot quotient...

Man, it would be better if you did not post, if this is what you want to contribute

If you did not like my original posting, why post anything in reply, you could instead just let the thread die a silent death?

Why ask the question in the first place if you're not going to like the answers? Or at least, say upfront: "I'm right, don't bother presenting an alternative viewpoint. This isn't really a question, just me demonstrating how I discovered that some compression software does better at compressing than other compression software."

[Numanoid]

A moderately priced shared hosting account (i.e. $50 a month or so) will net you 1TB of bandwidth per month. A VPS is way over that. Anyone going over that, particularly for short periods of time, will be looking at a content delivery network where the cost per gig is surprisingly low - and will guarantee better delivery speeds than hosting large downloads from a single location. I reckon they'd have been looking at around $300 for that lot. Use RAR they're paying what? $150-$200? Is that difference worth the support hassle of using even a slightly obscure unarchiver? Clearly, more than one company has already made that choice.

Good point.

Maybe they think a larger download size may appear as if they're offering more for the money?

This is also my conclusion, presenting files in their smallest form is not good for sales

[Numanoid]

Why ask the question in the first place if you're not going to like the answers?

Well, I wanted constructive answers, which you for instance gave me. I didn't realize that bandwidth had become so cheap.

I don't consider WR's comments as answers as such, but attempts at troll-baiting

[whyterabbyt]

sadly, you overestimate the idiot quotient...

Man, it would be better if you did not post, if this is what you want to contribute

what, because you're naive about how much handholding some people actually need in the real world? go spend a few years working in tech support somewhere, find out for yourself.

If you did not like my original posting, why post anything in reply, you could instead just let the thread die a silent death?

If you dont like getting straightforward answers, why ask questions?

[jupiter8]

Why ask the question in the first place if you're not going to like the answers?

Well, I wanted constructive answers, which you for instance gave me. I didn't realize that bandwidth had become so cheap.

I don't consider WR's comments as answers as such, but attempts at troll-baiting

You can't change him,you can only change yourself. Is there anything you could have done differently to make this thread more constructive ?

[whyterabbyt]

I don't consider WR's comments as answers as such, but attempts at troll-baiting

stop trolling then.