ARJ
From Encoresoup - The Ultimate Guide to Free/Open Source Software
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ARJ[1] was one of two mainstream archivers for MS-DOS and Windows during early and mid-90s, with PKZIP being its competition. Parts of ARJ were covered by U.S. Patent 5,140,321. Generally ARJ was less popular than PKZIP, but it did enjoy a niche market during the BBS era. This was largely due to ARJ's creation and handling of multi-volume archives (archives which are split into smaller files which are then suitable for dial-up transfers and floppy distribution) being more robust than PKZIP's.
ARJ also allowed the user to alter the level of an archive's compression, making it popular on small packet mail networks such as WWIVNet and HOGnet[2], which used lower compression settings to take advantage of modem-based compression (such as MNP or v.42bis) in order to reduce the long distance bills which invariably came with membership in such networks.
In recent times, other alternatives to the ZIP archive, such as WinRAR have surpassed ARJ in market share; the lack of an official graphical version may have contributed to ARJ's decline.
[edit] See also
- JAR, an archiver by the same author
- List of archive formats
- List of file archivers
- Comparison of file archivers
[edit] External links
- ARJ Software Inc.
- A brief overview of the HOGnet
- Open Source version of the ARJ archiver
- Home of Winarj
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