stuffit

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Level 1

1 points

stuffit

if apple has built in compression why do you need stuffit?

i see the expander is free but program with compression is $50

is there something wrong with apples compression app?

iMac 20 2.4 2GB, Mac OS X (10.5.6), iPhone 3G//Pods//MobileMe//WD MyBook External Drives

Posted on Feb 20, 2009 7:04 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 20, 2009 7:34 PM in response to alba123

You really only need StuffIt if you want to download files that have been compressed with that program. They'll mostly be older files.

Originally, before Mac OS X, compression programs weren't shipped with the OS. So they shipped StuffIt Expander with it. Then, once Mac OS X was released, the Unix utilities like tar, zip, and gzip had troubles with certain kinds of files: those with resource forks. Eventually, Apple gradually moved away from supplying StuffIt and enhanced the Unix compression utilities to better handle Mac files. So they stopped including StuffIt Expander.

The $50 version of StuffIt probably has useful enhancements for making, browsing, or extracting archives. It used to, anyway, but I haven't used it for a few years now.

charlie

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Answer 2

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Feb 20, 2009 7:35 PM in response to alba123

I don't use stuffit. I think it came free with some older versions of Mac software, but it is no longer needed.
If you use the terminal there are even more options for compressing/expanding files.
The answer to your question is that you do not need it.

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Feb 20, 2009 7:36 PM in response to alba123

No. The built-in compression of OS X is Zip archiving which is different from the normal Stuffit archive that is SIT. You may need Stuffit to dearchive .SIT and other non-ZIP archives. A true Stuffit archive may require less disk space than the Zip archive created by OS X.

But unless you desire to create Stuffit archives you do not need to purchase Stuffit.

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