Backward Compatibility of WinZip
WinZip is a utility that compresses files to produce a single file with a smaller size than the individual files. Users can then send the archive to others, save it to a portable drive or keep it as a back-up.
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Compression
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WinZip's file compression has become increasingly accurate, allowing for increasingly smaller archives. The current version of the program allows users to choose to use the traditional compression format (Zip) or a modern compression format (Zipx) when zipping files. The program will provide an alert to notify that not all versions of WinZip are capable of unzipping the modern archives.
Benefits
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Because WinZip is backward compatible, users can download or purchase the most recent version of the file archive program (as of November 2010, the most recent version is 14.5) and rest assured that it will be able to unzip archives created using an earlier version. Users who have different versions of the program can still share files without upgrading WinZip.
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Considerations
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Although WinZip is backward compatible, it is not necessarily forward compatible. For example, WinZip versions 12 through 14.5 are capable of creating and unzipping Zipx files, which have a greater file compression ratio; however, previous versions of WinZip do not share these capabilities and can only unpack regular Zip archives.
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