ALZip

Last updated

ALZip
Developer(s) ESTsoft
Initial release1999
Stable release
12.22 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 7 February 2024
Written in MFC
Operating system Windows 7 or later
Available inKorean
Type File archiver
License Shareware/Freeware(only non-commercial use)
Website altools.co.kr

ALZip is an archive and compression utility software application from ESTsoft for Microsoft Windows that can unzip 40 different zip file archives. ALZip can zip files into eight different archive formats such as ZIP, EGG, TAR, and others. Introduced in ALZip version 8, the EGG archive format can be used, which supports Unicode and other features.

Contents

History

ALZip was developed in 1999 as an internal application by the South Korean software company ESTsoft in response to employee frustration with using the English interface in WinZip.

The Korean interface was immediately well received [2] and later that year, ALZip was publicly released [3] [4] [5] as freeware. [6] In just over a year, ALZip became the most popular zip program in Korea [7] and by December 2001, was the top downloaded software [8] [9] in the country. By 2004, it had reached a 70% market share in South Korea. [10] The popularity of the software and the ALZ archive format played a large role in earning ESTsoft a place in the Digital Innovation Awards Top 100 Companies in South Korea [11] with the software taking special mention.

Early in its development, ALZip introduced the ALZ file format to deal with file size limitations of the ZIP file format. ALZ compression has no theoretical upper limit for file sizes, as they are only limited by operating system limits or the amount of available storage. The file format has become common in Korea.

The first English version was released in 2002. Since then, support for over 20 languages has been added.

Version 11.07 is available through Microsoft Store. [12]

Licensing changes

ALZip was originally released as pure freeware. However in October 2001, it changed to free for home use, with government usage requiring a software license. In April 2002, a business license was also introduced [5] for commercial usage. [13] Licensing was based on the honor system, and there were no nag screens.

With the version 7 release, the license was changed from freeware to adware, displaying downloaded banner ads. Beginning on December 1, 2008, all new releases are shareware requiring a paid license [14] except in its original Korean language, which requires no licensing fee.

With version 8.51 from 22 August 2012, ALZip changed the license so that it can be licensed freely. On the download page of ALZip is a serial number to copy and paste when you start the program, in order to have the license for the software free of charge. [15]

Naming and mascots

The name "ALZip" was chosen as the "AL" part is a transliteration from the program's Korean name "aljip" (Hangul: 알집), literally EggZip. Other ALTools feature similar egghead cartoon characters as mascots for each program.

Additionally, ALZip integrates into the "New Folder" function of Windows Explorer, where new folders are created with the option of using custom icons and names. [5]

File format controversy

In 2003, there was a controversy over ALZip's own compression file format ALZ when a developer of another Korean compression utility, "빵집," insisted that ALZip users were forced to use the ALZip archiver when decompressing ALZ files. He also insisted that ESTsoft does not offer decompression libraries, and that third-party archiver developers have had to use reverse engineering to develop their own algorithms. [16]

EGG format and AZO Algorithm

EGG format is compress another algorithms in file extension.(ex: .txt -> Bzip2, .exe -> Deflate) if file extension is .com or .sys, ALZip compresses them in the AZO algorithm. The AZO algorithm is slow but has a very high compression ratio. Basically, it shows a much better compression rate than the Deflate algorithm used in the ZIP format, and even showed a compression rate comparable to or better than the LZMA algorithm of 7zip, which is known to have the strongest compression rate. You can experiment by changing the extension of the file to .com and compressing it in egg format.

As a result of reverse engineering, it seems to be using almost the same compression method as LZMA. It has been confirmed that LZ77 is used, and it seems to use Binary Range Coding as the backend.

See also

Related Research Articles

gzip GNU file compression/decompression tool

gzip is a file format and a software application used for file compression and decompression. The program was created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler as a free software replacement for the compress program used in early Unix systems, and intended for use by GNU. Version 0.1 was first publicly released on 31 October 1992, and version 1.0 followed in February 1993.

zlib DEFLATE codec library

zlib is a software library used for data compression as well as a data format. zlib was written by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler and is an abstraction of the DEFLATE compression algorithm used in their gzip file compression program. zlib is also a crucial component of many software platforms, including Linux, macOS, and iOS. It has also been used in gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Wii, Xbox One and Xbox 360.

ZIP is an archive file format that supports lossless data compression. A ZIP file may contain one or more files or directories that may have been compressed. The ZIP file format permits a number of compression algorithms, though DEFLATE is the most common. This format was originally created in 1989 and was first implemented in PKWARE, Inc.'s PKZIP utility, as a replacement for the previous ARC compression format by Thom Henderson. The ZIP format was then quickly supported by many software utilities other than PKZIP. Microsoft has included built-in ZIP support in versions of Microsoft Windows since 1998 via the "Plus! 98" addon for Windows 98. Native support was added as of the year 2000 in Windows ME. Apple has included built-in ZIP support in Mac OS X 10.3 and later. Most free operating systems have built in support for ZIP in similar manners to Windows and macOS.

Info-ZIP is a set of open-source software to handle ZIP archives. It has been in circulation since 1989. It consists of 4 separately-installable packages: the Zip and UnZip command-line utilities; and WiZ and MacZip, which are graphical user interfaces for archiving programs in Microsoft Windows and classic Mac OS, respectively.

RAR is a proprietary archive file format that supports data compression, error correction and file spanning. It was developed in 1993 by Russian software engineer Eugene Roshal and the software is licensed by win.rar GmbH. The name RAR stands for Roshal Archive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7-Zip</span> Open-source file archiver

7-Zip is a free and open-source file archiver, a utility used to place groups of files within compressed containers known as "archives". It is developed by Igor Pavlov and was first released in 1999. 7-Zip has its own archive format called 7z, but can read and write several others.

The Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm (LZMA) is an algorithm used to perform lossless data compression. It has been under development since either 1996 or 1998 by Igor Pavlov and was first used in the 7z format of the 7-Zip archiver. This algorithm uses a dictionary compression scheme somewhat similar to the LZ77 algorithm published by Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv in 1977 and features a high compression ratio and a variable compression-dictionary size, while still maintaining decompression speed similar to other commonly used compression algorithms.

7z is a compressed archive file format that supports several different data compression, encryption and pre-processing algorithms. The 7z format initially appeared as implemented by the 7-Zip archiver. The 7-Zip program is publicly available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. The LZMA SDK 4.62 was placed in the public domain in December 2008. The latest stable version of 7-Zip and LZMA SDK is version 24.05.

StuffIt is a discontinued family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files. Originally produced for Macintosh, versions for Microsoft Windows, Linux (x86), and Sun Solaris were later created. The proprietary compression format used by the StuffIt utilities is also termed StuffIt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">StuffIt Expander</span> File decompressor software utility

StuffIt Expander is a proprietary, freeware, closed source, decompression software utility developed by Allume Systems. It runs on the classic Mac OS, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. Prior to 2011, a Linux version had also been available for download.

rzip is a huge-scale data compression computer program designed around initial LZ77-style string matching on a 900 MB dictionary window, followed by bzip2-based Burrows–Wheeler transform and entropy coding (Huffman) on 900 kB output chunks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LHA (file format)</span>

LHA or LZH is a freeware compression utility and associated file format. It was created in 1988 by Haruyasu Yoshizaki, a doctor, and originally named LHarc. A complete rewrite of LHarc, tentatively named LHx, was eventually released as LH. It was then renamed to LHA to avoid conflicting with the then-new MS-DOS 5.0 LH command. The original LHA and its Windows port, LHA32, are no longer in development because Yoshizaki is busy at work.

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of file archivers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. They are neither all-inclusive nor are some entries necessarily up to date. Unless otherwise specified in the footnotes section, comparisons are based on the stable versions—without add-ons, extensions or external programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ESTsoft</span>

Founded in 1993, ESTsoft is a South Korean application software development company. Its software ranges from desktop to business software for enterprises.

ALFTP is an FTP client and personal FTP server utility from ESTsoft for Microsoft Windows. It is part of ESTsoft's ALTools product family.

XZ Utils is a set of free software command-line lossless data compressors, including the programs lzma and xz, for Unix-like operating systems and, from version 5.0 onwards, Microsoft Windows. For compression/decompression the Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm (LZMA) is used. XZ Utils started as a Unix port of Igor Pavlov's LZMA-SDK that has been adapted to fit seamlessly into Unix environments and their usual structure and behavior.

FreeArc is a free and open-source high-performance file archiver developed by Bulat Ziganshin. The project is presumably discontinued, since no information has been released by the developers since 2016 and the official website is down.

lzip Data compression utility

lzip is a free, command-line tool for the compression of data; it employs the Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm (LZMA) with a user interface that is familiar to users of usual Unix compression tools, such as gzip and bzip2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B1 Free Archiver</span> Multi-platform file archiver and file manager

B1 Free Archiver is a proprietary freeware multi-platform file archiver and file manager. B1 Archiver is available for Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android. It has full support for ZIP and its native B1 format. The program decompresses more than 20 popular archive formats. It creates split and encrypted archives.

Zstandard is a lossless data compression algorithm developed by Yann Collet at Facebook. Zstd is the corresponding reference implementation in C, released as open-source software on 31 August 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "알집 v12.22 출시!". 7 February 2024. Archived from the original on 11 February 2024.
  2. ↑ Jeong, Jong Oh (November 1999). "HOW: 한글 지원 국산 압축 유틸리티 3종". HowPC (in Korean): 308–311.
  3. ↑ Lee, J. N. (23 August 1999). 모든 압축파일 자유자재로 풀어줍니다. Yonhap News (in Korean). Yonhap.
  4. ↑ Yoon, H. J. (30 August 1999). 압축유틸리티 '알집' 발표. 전자신문 (in Korean). Chunjashinmun.
  5. 1 2 3 Wi, Yoonhee; Ji, Hyunjung (February 2003). "PC 유틸리티는 쉽고 편하게, 알집에서 알툴즈까지". Microsoftware (in Korean) (2): 152–155.
  6. ↑ Han, Sujin (November 2002). "CEO of the Month: 국산 소프트웨어의 자존심". Popular Science (in Korean) (11): 90.
  7. ↑ "Most used compression program poll". 9 February 2001. Archived from the original on 13 August 2002. Retrieved 27 February 2001.
  8. ↑ Maeilkyungjae IT Internet (2001-12-03)
  9. ↑ Choi, Yeonjin (19 December 2001). "2001 디지탈 이노베이션 大賞 수상업체". Hankooki (in Korean). Hankook Ilbo.
  10. ↑ "Korea Software Industry Association" (in Korean). 1999. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2006.
  11. ↑ 디지탈 이노베이션 大賞. Hankook Ilbo (in Korean). 28 November 2001. p. 2.
  12. ↑ "Get ALZip". Microsoft Store. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  13. ↑ "Program Deliberation and Mediation Committee" (in Korean). June 2003. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006.
  14. ↑ "ALTools Free PC Utilities - Free zip/unzip, ftp, movies, pictures, photos, password managment". Archived from the original on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 24 December 2008.
  15. ↑ "ALTools News – New product releases, updates, company info, events, and other points of interest at ALTools". altools.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  16. ↑ "중앙대 국문학과 > 칼럼게시판 > 알집 alz 포맷의 비밀". Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
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