(Redirected from Raymond Lau (computer programmer))
Developer(s) | Aladdin Systems, Smith Micro Software |
---|---|
Stable release | |
Operating system | macOS, Windows |
Type | File Compressor |
License | Proprietary |
Website | my.smithmicro.com/stuffit-file-compression-software.html |
By MacTouch - 2018, December 4 - 5:48pm. Not so obvious for everyone. When you click on the link 'StuffIt Standard Edition 7.0.3', you can read this on that page: Note: When making archives with these versions, if you set the preferences for standard.sit format and check 'faster' compression rather than 'better' compression, the archive will be able to be opened with StuffIt Expander at. Stuffit Deluxe 16.0 is an amazing tool for Mac operating system which offer complete solution for file compression, archive extraction, sharing and backup. The program allows you to compress any share files any of the users. It uses advance techniques to handle.
StuffIt was a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files. Originally produced for the Macintosh, versions for Microsoft Windows, Linux (x86), and Sun Solaris were later created.[1][2] The proprietary compression format used by the StuffIt utilities is also termed StuffIt.
In December 2019, Smith Micro Software, the product's most-recent owner and developer, officially announced that StuffIt had reached its end-of-life and that StuffIt products would no longer be developed.[3]
Overview[edit]
Filename extension | .sit |
---|---|
Internet media type | |
Type code | SIT!, SITD, SIT2, SIT5 (depending on file version) |
Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | com.stuffit.archive.sit |
UTI conformation | public.date public.archive com.allume.stuffit-archive |
Developed by | Raymond Lau (creator), currently Smith Micro |
Initial release | 1987; 34 years ago |
Container for | files, including resource forks |
StuffIt was originally developed in the summer of 1987 by Raymond Lau,[4] who was then a student at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. It combined the fork-combining capabilities of utilities such as MacBinary with newer compression algorithms similar to those used in ZIP. Compared to existing utilities on the Mac, notably PackIt, StuffIt offered 'one step' operation and higher compression ratios. By the fall of 1987 StuffIt had largely replaced PackIt in the Mac world, with many software sites even going so far as to convert existing PackIt archives to save more space.[citation needed]
StuffIt soon became very popular and Aladdin Systems was formed to market it (the last shareware release by Lau was version 1.5.1). They split the product line in two, offering StuffIt Classic in shareware and StuffIt Deluxe as a commercial package. Deluxe added a variety of additional functions, including additional compression methods and integration into the Mac Finder to allow files to be compressed from a 'Magic Menu', or seamlessly browse inside and edit compressed files without expanding them using 'True Finder Integration'.[1]
StuffIt was upgraded several times, and Lau removed himself from direct development as major upgrades to the 'internal machinery' were rare. Because new features and techniques appeared regularly on the Macintosh platform, the shareware utility Compact Pro emerged as a competitor to StuffIt in the early 1990s.[citation needed]
A major competitive upgrade followed, accompanied by the release of the freeware StuffIt Expander, to make the format more universally readable, as well as the shareware StuffIt Lite which made it easier to produce. Prior to this anyone attempting to use the format needed to buy StuffIt, making Compact Pro more attractive. This move was a success, and Compact Pro subsequently fell out of use.
Several other Mac compression utilities appeared and disappeared during the 1990s, but none became a real threat to StuffIt's dominance. The only ones to see any widespread use were special-purpose 'disk expanders' like DiskDoubler and SuperDisk!, which served a different niche. Apparently as a side-effect, StuffIt once again saw few upgrades. The file format changed in a number of major revisions, leading to incompatible updates. PC-based formats long surpassed the original StuffIt format in terms of compression, notably newer systems like RAR and 7z. These had little impact on the Mac market, as most of these never appeared in an easy-to-use program on the Mac.[citation needed]
With the introduction of Mac OS X, newer Mac software lost their forks and no longer needed anything except the built-in Unix utilities like gzip and tar. Numerous programs 'wrapping' these utilities were distributed, and since these files could be opened on any machine, they were considerably more practical than StuffIt in an era when most data is cross-platform. With the release of OS X Public Beta, Aladdin Systems released StuffIt 6.0 which runs under OS X.
Filename extension | .sitx |
---|---|
Internet media type | |
Type code | SITX |
Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | com.stuffit.archive.sitx |
UTI conformation | public.date public.archive com.allume.stuffit-archive |
Initial release | 2002; 19 years ago |
Type of format | archive file format |
Container for | files, including resource forks |
Although it was late to market, Aladdin Systems introduced the completely new StuffIt X format in September 2002 with StuffIt Deluxe 7.0 for Macintosh. It was designed to be extendable, support more compression methods, support long file names, and support Unix and Windows file attributes. StuffIt X improves over the original StuffIt format and its descendants by adding multiple compression algorithms such as PPM, and BWT to LZW-type compression. It also added a 'block mode' option, error correcting 'redundancy' options to protect against data loss, and several encryption options. In January 2005, JPEG compression was added as a StuffIt X compression option (see the related 'SIF Format' below).
From the mid-1990s until the 2005 acquisition by Smith Micro Software, coinciding with the release of Mac OS X v10.4 'Tiger,' StuffIt Expander came bundled with the Macintosh operating system.
0.5 As A Fraction
Although Mac files generally did not use filename extensions, one of StuffIt's primary uses was to allow Mac files to be stored on non-Mac systems where extensions were required.So, StuffIt-compressed files save the resource forks of the Macintosh files inside them, and typically have the extension .sit. Newer (non-backwards compatible) Stuffit X-compressed files carry the file extension .sitx. Encrypted StuffIt archives created with the now-discontinued Private File utility will have .pf extensions. StuffIt-compressed ShrinkWrapdisk images will carry .img or .image extensions. However, a Classic Mac OS version of StuffIt is needed to mount the images or convert them to a newer format readable in macOS.
Smith Micro Software offers free downloads of StuffIt Expander for Mac and Windows, which expands (uncompresses) files compressed using the StuffIt and StuffIt X format, as well as many other compressed, encoded, encrypted and segmented formats. The shareware application DropStuff permits the compressing of files into the StuffIt X format.
The StuffIt and StuffIt X formats remain, unlike some other file compression formats, proprietary, and Smith Micro Software charge license fees for its use in other programs. Given this, few alternative programs support the format.
There was also an 'self-expanding' variant of StuffIt files with a .sea extension that runs as an executable. A utility called unsea exists to turn such an executable into a vanilla sit file.[5]
Derivative products[edit]
StuffIt Image Format (SIF)[edit]
Early in 2005, a new JPEG compression system was released that regularly obtained compression in the order of 25%[6] (meaning a compressed file size 75% of the original file size) without any further loss of image quality and with the ability to rebuild the original file, not just the original image. (ZIP-like programs typically achieve JPEG compression rates in the order of 1 to 3%. Programs that optimize JPEGs without regard for the original file, only the original image, obtain compression rates from 3 to 10% (depending on the efficiency of the original JPEG). Programs that use the rarely implemented arithmetic coding option available to the JPEG standard typically achieve rates around 12%.)
The new technique was implemented as a StuffIt X format option in their StuffIt Deluxe product. They have also proposed a new image format known as SIF, which simply consists of a single JPEG file compressed using this new technique.
Pending filing of their patent, they retain knowledge of the details of this algorithm as a trade secret.
StuffIt Wireless[edit]
On July 5, 2005, Smith Micro Software announced their acquisition and intention to expand the new JPEG recompression technique to wireless platforms and other file formats. The initial press release and preliminary information saw the first use of the title “StuffIt Wireless.”
Notable features[edit]
Duplicate Folding[edit]
Duplicate Folding is a feature which saves even more space by only keeping one copy of a duplicate file in an archive.[7][8][9][10]
Issues[edit]
Backwards compatibility[edit]
Changes to the Stuffit compression format render previous versions of Stuffit or software using its API unable to decompress newer archives, necessitating installation of new versions. This incompatibility can be inconvenient for work flows where timely execution is of importance, or where the intended recipient's system is not capable of running newer versions of Stuffit. Though users are able to create archives in a legacy format, this functionality is not clearly exposed.[11]
Alternatives[edit]
macOS includes Archive Utility which decompresses the legacy open formats ZIP, GZIP, and BZIP2, and creates ZIP. In versions since 10.3 (Panther), it now preserves resource forks in the ZIP format, so Stuffit is no longer a requirement for Mac file compression. ZIP is also a de facto standard, making it more widely accepted for archives and sharing.
While StuffIt used to be a standard way of packaging Mac software for download, macOS native compressed disk images (DMG) have largely replaced this practice.
StuffIt might still be used in situations where its specific features are required (archive editing/browsing, better compression, JPEG compression, encryption, old packages). An open source alternative might be The Unarchiver, even if it doesn't support the last versions of the StuffIt file formats.[12] Some 3rd-party software, such as the Macintosh Finder replacement Path Finder, use the licensed Stuffit SDK to gain all the features of Stuffit.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Official vendor information about StuffIt for Linux and SolarisArchived 2008-11-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Stuffit Archives, explains how to open StuffIt and StuffIt X archives on Linux
- ^'Stuffit Application End of Life' (Press release). Smith Micro Software. December 1, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^'Raymond Lau: StuffIt'. www.raylau.com.
- ^'Archivers of Syllable'. www.angelfire.com.
- ^Gilchrist, Jeff. 'ACT JPEG Compression Test'. www.compression.ca.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2011-08-31. Retrieved 2011-08-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^'StuffIt Deluxe 2009 Keeps Evolving After 20 Years'. TidBITS. 17 September 2008.
- ^'Review: StuffIt Deluxe 2010'. 30 January 2010.
- ^'StuffIt - The Premier Compression Solution Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary with the Launch of StuffIt Deluxe 2009 for the Mac'. www.businesswire.com. 17 September 2008.
- ^'Macworld - News, tips, and reviews from the Apple experts'. Macworld.
- ^'The Unarchiver'.
StuffIt: No encryption; StuffIt X: Partial
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=StuffIt&oldid=997783158'
Nope, compression software ain’t sexy. But when you’ve gotta open that file, you’ve gotta open that file. Smith Micro Software has released the latest version of its popular StuffIt Deluxe software for Mac that provides several improvements to help embiggen or ensmallen files as your needs may be.
The new version is intended to make it easier to work with large files. Using its Destinations feature, you can send files wherever you want including popular cloud services Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Other improved features allow you to more easily browse archives, access StuffIt features directly through the Finder and open any archive, with more than 30 compression formats support.
Smith Micro’s full press release about the new software is included below:
ALISO VIEJO, CA – August 28, 2014 – Smith Micro Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMSI) Productivity
and Graphics group today launched StuffIt Deluxe® 16 for Mac with Cloud Services Integration, a new
cloud-based file transfer feature that lets users send large files without the hassle of email attachments or
FTP. With the new release, more than 16 million StuffIt users can safely and easily share high quality
photos, videos, music and more using the most popular cloud storage services, such as Dropbox®,
Google Drive®, Microsoft OneDrive® and SendStuffNow®.
and Graphics group today launched StuffIt Deluxe® 16 for Mac with Cloud Services Integration, a new
cloud-based file transfer feature that lets users send large files without the hassle of email attachments or
FTP. With the new release, more than 16 million StuffIt users can safely and easily share high quality
photos, videos, music and more using the most popular cloud storage services, such as Dropbox®,
Google Drive®, Microsoft OneDrive® and SendStuffNow®.
StuffIt provides best-in-class, patented compression methods for pixel-perfect compression of image files,
audio files, PDFs and more. StuffIt works with virtually all file types and compression formats to ensure
that photos, music, videos, PowerPoint presentations and other large files are shared or stored securely for
personal or professional needs. And now, StuffIt Deluxe 16 eliminates the manual burden of sharing files
by automatically uploading them directly to the user’s favorite cloud-based file transfer account via a new
StuffIt Destinations feature.
audio files, PDFs and more. StuffIt works with virtually all file types and compression formats to ensure
that photos, music, videos, PowerPoint presentations and other large files are shared or stored securely for
personal or professional needs. And now, StuffIt Deluxe 16 eliminates the manual burden of sharing files
by automatically uploading them directly to the user’s favorite cloud-based file transfer account via a new
StuffIt Destinations feature.
Creative professionals such as advertising executives, graphic designers and photographers can use StuffIt
to prevent lengthy delays in sending large files, reduce the risk of losing valuable information, and ensure
confidential data is protected. For independent contractors and small firms, bandwidth is an important
cost element that drives the economics of their businesses. A 30 percent reduction in package size results
in significant bandwidth savings. StuffIt uses exclusive, patent-protected technology to compress images
to the minimum possible size without losing a single pixel of data. For professionals and hobbyists
alike, using StuffIt means you don’t have to sacrifice image quality, delivery speed and secure storage to
manage electronic files cost-effectively.
to prevent lengthy delays in sending large files, reduce the risk of losing valuable information, and ensure
confidential data is protected. For independent contractors and small firms, bandwidth is an important
cost element that drives the economics of their businesses. A 30 percent reduction in package size results
in significant bandwidth savings. StuffIt uses exclusive, patent-protected technology to compress images
to the minimum possible size without losing a single pixel of data. For professionals and hobbyists
alike, using StuffIt means you don’t have to sacrifice image quality, delivery speed and secure storage to
manage electronic files cost-effectively.
“Over the past 20 years, Smith Micro has evolved StuffIt into the most advanced compression and
encryption solution on the market,” said Fahim Niaz, Senior Product Manager. “Our latest Cloud Services
Integration enhancement provides fast, secure file transfer to make collaboration and commerce easy and
reliable for creative professionals.”
encryption solution on the market,” said Fahim Niaz, Senior Product Manager. “Our latest Cloud Services
Integration enhancement provides fast, secure file transfer to make collaboration and commerce easy and
reliable for creative professionals.”
StuffIt Deluxe 16 Features:
• New StuffIt Destinations feature optimizes workflow by saving custom configurations for different
compression formats into profiles so files can be dragged and dropped to various storage areas; users
can create custom tiles and store files in the cloud automatically
compression formats into profiles so files can be dragged and dropped to various storage areas; users
can create custom tiles and store files in the cloud automatically
• Cloud Services Integration is available for Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and
SendStuffNow, letting users easily upload archives and files to their favorite cloud service Tomates time management 8 1.
SendStuffNow, letting users easily upload archives and files to their favorite cloud service Tomates time management 8 1.
Noteburner itunes audio converter 2 1 5 download free. • StuffIt Archive ManagerTM is now more efficient with a new QuickLook search feature; streamlined
navigation helps users quickly open, expand, create, verify, and schedule archiving
navigation helps users quickly open, expand, create, verify, and schedule archiving
• StuffIt Deluxe 16 for Mac is now 64-bit only and the minimum system requirement is Mac OS X 10.8
• Includes 6-month subscription to Smith Micro’s SendStuffNow cloud storage service (a $60 value),
with the purchase of StuffIt Deluxe 16
with the purchase of StuffIt Deluxe 16
Pricing and Availability:
The MSRP for StuffIt Deluxe 16 for Mac is USD49.99. Registered users of any previous version of
StuffIt Deluxe or StuffIt Standard for Mac can upgrade to the new StuffIt Deluxe 16 for Mac for just
USD29.99.
StuffIt Deluxe or StuffIt Standard for Mac can upgrade to the new StuffIt Deluxe 16 for Mac for just
USD29.99.
StuffIt Deluxe 16 for Mac is available from the Smith Micro Web store here:
Stuffit Deluxe 16 0 5 – File Compression Tool -
The software is also available from resellers and distribution partners worldwide.
0-5 Military Rank
Aimersoft video converter ultimate 11 6 2 45. To learn about Smith Micro’s complete line of productivity solutions, visit http://my.smithmicro.com/