Differences in winrar modes?

Question

I just noticed when I am using winrar i can choose between a few different modes....

Fast

Normal

Best

etc etc

what are the differences between these different modes?

Answer 1

The top most setting in winrar is "Store". This doesn't compress your files at all, and is mainly used for archiving & splitting large amounts of data into perhaps dvd size chunks.

Then going down to "Fast", this uses minimal compression, which wil slightly reduce the amount of space the archive takes up.

Down to "Best", this uses the most optimised compression, which can reduce the archive size drastically (depending on the files you are compressing), but takes a lot longer to process.

Answer 2

You'll get slightly better compression ratios the further down you go, but it'll take slightly longer to do the compression/decompression as a result.

I don't think you'll see a huge difference in either file size or compression/decompression time between the options, but personally I always use 'Best', just to be safe.