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HPR4557: Why I prefer tar to zip

Hosted by Klaatu on 2026-01-20 00:00:00
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I'm gonna talk about archiving specifically with tar and even more specifically why I prefer tar over zip.

Shownotes at https://www.both.org/?p=13268

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candycanearter07 says: interesting experiment

RE: hpr4557::2026-01-20 Why I prefer tar to zip by Klaatu
00:32:52 Listen in ogg, opus, or mp3 format.
I never realized that tar compressed files are better at compressing than zip files! imo, its more of a mentality thing, like tar is literally just a series of files stitched together with some headers meaning it makes a lot more sense to apply a single-file compressor to it than something that is already applying some level of compression. There's also a bit of a compatibility issue, since most non technical users dont know what a tar file is or even that a zip file is a file, so zip is the lowest common denominator.

On that note, I think looking at 7zip would be an interesting experiment, since its newer and a lot more "well known"

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