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Audio Files - MP3 (Poorly Compressible)
Compression Rate
Data
Compressors |
Original Size (bytes) |
Compressed Size (bytes) |
Space Saved (bytes) |
SBC Archiver |
200,007,492 |
193,968,764 |
6,038,728 |
WinRK |
200,007,492 |
194,061,928 |
5,945,564 |
bzip2 |
200,007,492 |
195,081,688 |
4,925,804 |
WinZip |
200,007,492 |
195,394,020 |
4,613,472 |
WinRAR |
200,007,492 |
195,432,070 |
4,575,422 |
7-Zip |
200,007,492 |
195,523,077 |
4,484,415 |
Squeez |
200,007,492 |
195,602,259 |
4,405,233 |
WinAce |
200,007,492 |
195,623,414 |
4,384,078 |
gzip |
200,007,492 |
195,659,432 |
4,348,060 |
ARJ32 |
200,007,492 |
195,930,964 |
4,076,528 |
StuffIt |
200,007,492 |
200,019,850 |
-12,358 |
In this test of MP3 files, we can see just how hard it is to compress media files that are already compressed. Even the best compressor, SBC Archiver, could only achieve a maximum compression rate of 3%. Although a space saving of 6MB doesn't seem much, it's very good performance when it comes to MP3 files. Only its closest contender, WinRK, could come close to that performance.
The other data compressors showed only average performance and reduced the fileset size by 4-5MB. The worst compressor was StuffIt. It actually created an archive that was bigger than the fileset. Duh, Forrest! Instead of compressing these files, it merely stored them uncompressed.
Compression Speed
| Data Compressors |
Original Size (bytes) |
Time (s) |
Speed (KB/s) |
StuffIt |
200,007,492
|
4.62 |
43291.7 |
gzip |
200,007,492
|
14.78 |
13532.3 |
WinZip |
200,007,492
|
18.70 |
10695.6 |
ARJ32 |
200,007,492
|
20.66 |
9680.9 |
bzip2 |
200,007,492
|
50.16 |
3987.4 |
7-Zip |
200,007,492
|
62.98 |
3175.7 |
Squeez |
200,007,492
|
95.08 |
2103.6 |
SBC Archiver |
200,007,492
|
102.28 |
1955.5 |
WinRAR |
200,007,492
|
141.82 |
1410.3 |
WinAce |
200,007,492
|
189.96 |
1052.9 |
WinRK |
200,007,492
|
1092.62 |
183.1 |
Because StuffIt did not bother to compress the files, it recorded the fastest compression time of just over 4.6 seconds.
Of the other compressors (that actually did compression work), gzip was the fastest. It managed to compress the entire fileset in just under 15 seconds, giving it a compression speed of over 13.5MB/s. WinZip and ARJ32 were also fast, with compression speeds of 10.7MB/s and 9.7MB/s respectively
The other compressors were all slow at this fileset. However, none could beat the slow poke called WinRK. Although it was the second-best at compressing this fileset, it took over 18 minutes to complete the task!
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 MP3 files compression at default settings was gzip by a large margin. Its tremendous compression speed more than made up for its average compression ratio and made it the undisputed efficiency champion in this category. It was about 19% more efficient than its nearest competitor, WinZip.
The MP3 compression king, SBC Archiver, ended up in the middle of the pack. Its excellent compression ratio just couldn't make it up for its slow compression time. Still, it was much better than WinRK which was the most inefficient compressor that actually compressed the fileset. Its extremely slow compression speed made it a terribly inefficient compressor of MP3 files.
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