Welcome to StuffIt Expander® 2009
StuffIt Expander is the most comprehensive tool for dealing with any compressed, segmented, and encoded files you encounter. StuffIt Expander offers support for over 30 formats. Check the StuffIt Mac 2009 User Guide.pdf for a complete list. StuffIt Expander 2009 adds support for expanding LZMA compressed files, 7-Zip archives, segmented Zip archives, as well as 'split' archives (a segmenting method sometimes applied to Zip and RAR archives).
If you imagine the Internet as a series of tubes, you can think of compressed, encoded and encrypted files as different packaging systems used to deliver files from one place to another. Generally, the purpose of these different packaging systems is to group related files together, and to make them smaller so they can be stored and transmitted more easily.
Compressing, Archiving, Encoding, Segmenting, Encryption...What's it all mean?
- Compression: Compression is the process of reducing a file's size through various pattern matching and token replacement schemes. Many compression formats, like gzip and bzip2, only handle individual files, not files and folders.
- Archiving: An archive is a package that can contain multiple files and folders. The contents of an archive can be compressed, but some archive formats simply store multiple items without a compression component. StuffIt and Zip archive examples of archive file types that use compression, UNIX Tape Archives (.tar) are an example of an archive file type that does not use compression. Tar archives are typically post-compressed with gzip or bzip2. Compressed Tar archives are sometimes referred to as "tarballs".
- Segmenting: On occasion, you may encounter an archive that has been divided into several pieces. Typically, segmentation is used to split a large archive over several disks or to post a large file in several smaller, easier to download parts.
- Encoding: In the context that applies to StuffIt, encoding refers to a process by which a binary (8-bit) file is translated into a text (7-bit) file. BinHex and UUencode are examples of encoding methods that convert binary into text. This encoding method is most often used when files are sent by email, or posted on to USENET Newsgroups. Most often, an encoded file contains only one item, but occasionally multiple files will be concatenated (joined) together into a single encoded file.
- Encryption: To keep prying eyes from looking at private information, files can be secured with passwords - their contents scrambled and inaccessible without the correct key.
Often these different schemes are used in combination: most archive formats are compressed and many support encryption. Some packaging operations are performed one after the other creating compound files that are like nested dolls - packages within packages.
StuffIt Expander is a utility designed to open any of these compressed, archived, or encoded "packages" that you receive.
Upgrading from StuffIt Expander to StuffIt Deluxe
To get files out of archives, StuffIt Expander can only expand the entire contents. StuffIt Deluxe allows you to browse the contents of archives and selectively extract items. Deluxe also includes tools for created archives in popular formats such as Zip, Tar and the cutting-edge StuffIt X. With Deluxe you can schedule compressed backups, search for files stored in archives, preview images stored in archives, and automate your workflow with several scripting options. Find out more here:
http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffitdeluxe/index.html
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