StuffIt
StuffIt is a family of data compression and archiving products from Smith Micro Software . The best known and oldest program of this family is the data compression program DropStuff , which was originally developed in 1986 by Raymond Lau at the age of 15 for use on the Apple Macintosh . StuffIt is available for Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, and Linux . Files packed with DropStuff have the file extension sit or, more recently, sitx .
The standard version of the DropStuff program, which has always been made available free of charge as shareware , has only been functional for a limited period of 30 days since 2005.
The supported file formats depend not only on the version, but also on the platform. Only the Windows and Linux versions currently support ARJ files, only the Mac version CompactPro files and Shrinkwrap & DiskCopy images.
history
Until Mac OS 9.2.1 , the SIT compression format was predominant on the Macintosh. The raison d'être of a specific Mac OS program lay in dividing files into resource and data forks. With the introduction of Mac OS X from 2000, Apple adapted and used the ZIP format and the DMG container format accordingly. The StuffIt Expander was supplied by Apple up to and including Mac OS X 10.3, but has only been available from the manufacturer since Mac OS X 10.4. Since then, the .sit and .sitx formats have increasingly lost their importance.
Aladdin Systems was the distributor until 2003. Since July 26, 2004 the company has been called Allume Systems. On July 5, 2005, Allume Systems was acquired by Smith Micro Software.
A Windows version has been available since StuffIt 7, with the exception of version 10.
particularities
A lossless compression algorithm for JPEG files was implemented in the proprietary SITX format, which, according to the manufacturer, can reduce them by up to 30%. Stuffit is currently (2017) the only archiving program that supports this type of additional compression of JPEGs.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.smithmicro.com/company/news-room/press-releases/2005/09/14/new-stuffit-standard-edition-brings-breakthrough-jpeg-image-compression-to-the-mac
