Zipping audio files?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Agent47
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Agent47

Dismember
Ok, I'm midway through a rather large project, and ultimately I'm supplying my client with 15 finished pieces of music and around 20-30 sound fx. All are wav files at 16Bit 44.1kHz. I want to deliver them via the net as opposed to snailmail, as this project has a tight schedule, and I may be making changes right up to the last minute. Also, uploading one file would be easier for me than multiple ones.

Can I successfully Zip my files using Winzip? Obviously I know it's possible, but I knew a studio manager who strongly believed that Zipping would corrupt the audio files. Is this the case? Can Winzip introduce errors or corrupt audio files? I don't want my client to get crap.

I'm not too interested in the compression side of things, it's just more convenient for me to deliver it in one file. My dayjob is in film and TV, and we tend to use StuffIt when we need to compress, which seems to be the favoured method here. Would StuffIt be preferable to WinZip?

Opinions and experience please!

Thanks.
 
Winzip should be OK.
Haven't heard of it mangling audio files. What you get after unzipping is what got zipped
 
if you're using Windows, I would just use it's file compression. That way your clients don't have to download any other trial program just to unzip the file.
 
monkey's audio (.ape) and flac (which works with both mac and pc) are both lossless audio compression schemes that reduce .wav files significantly by eliminating the portions of the file that do not contain audio data. I've used them both for sharing files for online collaborations and have not noticed any degradation of files using these codecs.
 
Cool, that Monkey's Audio looks promising. It claims to get the file down to 53%, which is amazing for lossless.

Bennychico - I had no idea Windows had its own compression programme. Where can I find it, out of interest? It doesn't pop up when I right-click.
 
Agent,
Assuming you've got XP, do a right click and a Send To "Compressed Folder".
That'll do a zip.
 
ZIP files provide a means of checking for corruption. You can check your newly created file and know it is good on your end. The client will be notified if the file is corrupt when they unpack it.

Corruption can occur in transmission, and other reasons not related to ZIP. The studio manager who thought ZIP was corrupting his files, should stick to managing a studio. He doesn't know squat about ZIP. The code is mature, and used all over the world. ZIP is a "lossless" algorithm. It does not make decisions about discarding bits to reduce size, as does JPG and MP3. ZIP knocks the "air" out of a file to make it smaller in the ZIP file. The file is restored to its exact original composition when unZIPped.

WinXP has assimilated a generic version of the ZIP algorithm, but cannot handle Enhanced compression modes. Nor can it handle WinRAR which compresses even tighter than WinZIP. If the lowest common denominator is required, use the WinZIP tightest (portable) mode when making your ZIP file.

The whole point of ZIPing the file is for corruption checking. Some files such as MP3 and WAV types are already tightly compressed, and don't benefit from ZIP other than integrity checking.
 
Thanks Hugo, I'll check that out when I get home tonight (got Win 2000 at work).

bgavin - interesting facts, thanks.
 
bgavin is correct in all that he says.

However, I don't believe that much, if any, compression is achieved on wave files (like JPEG) by ZIP.
 
In all my years of using a PC from DOS up to XP I have NEVER had a problem with a ZIP file. I must have opend more than 10'000 and I must have created 1'000s. I use them for two reasons. 1). for grouping a number of files together in one place so that they do not become separated or modified inadvertantly and 2). to save space.

You may use Winzip with 100% confidence. Since this was the program that implemented the original compression algorithm and they are now on version 9 of their program, you can rely on this program to compress and decompress your files in a reliable and lossless manner. A quick check is to not the exact file size down to the last digit. Now zip it and unzip it and re-check the size. It will be the same.

XP has a built in zip algorithm and you do not need any extra programs to compress (zip) or uncompress (unzip) a file within XP. I do not know what other operating systems do.

Any corruption of the zip file will certainly be due to external circumstances that would also affect any other file type.

If transmitting a smaller file size is you goal then you cannot do any better than a zip file period.
 
Well, it is surely true that ZIP is totally reliable, but audio-specific compression algorithms really do get better size reduction.
 
zenpicker said:
Well, it is surely true that ZIP is totally reliable, but audio-specific compression algorithms really do get better size reduction.
Click to expand...
That is because they, in general, are lossy. You are losing information.
For lossless, the goal is identical in zipping and in compression:
in -> compressed -> out
where in and out are identical (bit-wise compare).
 
fraserhutch said:
That is because they, in general, are lossy. You are losing information.
For lossless, the goal is identical in zipping and in compression:
in -> compressed -> out
where in and out are identical (bit-wise compare).
Click to expand...
Correct, but not FLAC, which stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. See

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

It is worth checking out, believe me.
 
I am sure that FLAC is very good. I am also sure that there are programs that will compress an audio file to be smaller than zip. However I am fairly sure (note the fairly) that the incremental gain will be small.

My point here was to point out that there is a de facto accepted method of compressing files of all types that is highly reliable, well understodd and widely available. It is also incorporated into Windows.

I personally prefer my audio files in .wav format and then I zip them at the end of the project.

I know this works and I also know that if I send these files in a zip archive almost anyone who receives them will be able to open tthe archive and, I can add files or extract a single file and know that it will not lose or corrupt my data. I pass on this information from my 25 years in the computer industry and 40 odd years as an aduiophile for what it's worth.

Free advise, worth every cent. Pete
 
I use Zip's quite a bit for WAV files as well. Whether or not you achieve any actual reduction in data with wavs depends on the program material of that wav. I find that when ZIP'ing multitrack projects, I do achieve a fair amount of data reduction. It seems that when the WAV file has silence, that data is reduced. If it is a stereo mix, where the is audio throughout the entire file, little to no data reduction is achieved.

Transmitting large ZIP files via HTTP can be somewhat unreliable, tranmitting them via FTP has proven rock solid for me.
 
I agree the monkey audio does the "best" job compressing audio files. BUT, if it would just bundle stuff together! Pisses me off that I have to use two different applications to do lossless compression and bundling.

WinRAR is better than WinZip in EVERY way. It reduces file size better, and is a MUCH better interface! Plus, it will make .zip files if you want! :)
 
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