Compressing Photos and Music

Using Jpeg compression in WinZip

In order to compress your photos as much as possible without any loss of photo quality, WinZip should be configured to create Zipx files (best method compression).

With WinZip, "Best method" compression examines each file and selects the compression option most likely to supply the best compression results. If you are adding JPEG/JPG images (photos) to a Zipx file, WinZip will use Jpeg compression. If you add other file types, WinZip will use different compression methods including XZ, LZMA, PPMd, MP3, WAVPACK and others.

When you use advanced compression methods, the result will be a .zipx file and, in most cases, your recipients will need WinZip in order to unzip the files from your .zipx file. As always, WinZip's .zipx enhancement to the Zip file format has been published. This provides details regarding the implementation of these new compression methods on our website. Some utilities have implemented these changes and we hope and expect that developers of other Zip file utilities will also include support for these formats in the future.

Feel free to encourage your recipients to download and install the latest version of WinZip. They will be able to use it at no charge during the evaluation period. This will allow them to open your Zip files compressed with "Best method" and take advantage of faster transmission time, faster download time, and more efficient use of disk space.

If you have any questions about this information, please submit a Technical Support ticket.

Compress MP3 files with WinZip

What is MP3 compression?

This is a compression method (compression method 94) first made available in WinZip 21, it only applies to MP3 files, and is automatically applied when using the Best method compression. Earlier versions of WinZip will not be able to extract files compressed with WinZip MP3 compression.

Issues with compression

If you did the following:

1. Began unzipping a Zip file
2. A WinZip dialog displayed stating that problems were encountered
3. You clicked Yes to see details
4. The View Last Output dialog showed the compression method used is 94

This would indicate that MP3 compression was used on one or more files in the Zip file.

You are welcome to download, install, and evaluate the current version of WinZip. You can then use this evaluation version to extract the contents of your Zip file.

An alternative would be to contact the person who sent the Zip file to you and ask them to recreate the Zip file using a compression method that is compatible with your version of WinZip.

Compiled from the official WinZip Knowledge Base (https://kb.winzip.com/)