Compressing files is there a limit on the size of the file?

wigster

wigster

wigster

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Asking for someone else, The person is trying to send documents but the file documents is over 1gb so the person has to send them all individually, that's not good as the documents has over 20 pages.

I thought winrar was free but it's not.
 
wigster said:
I thought winrar was free but it's not.
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Ha. This is funny but not because it isn't technically true.

I'm not really sure exactly what the question is, could you elaborate further or be more specific?

If its simply which zipper to use, use 7zip, it's been better than winrar for ages as far as I'm concerned. I'd you have a capped size limit on your transfer medium and you're looking to split files down and have them recombine on the other side, use the size split feature in 7zip.
 
Bit confusing
20 pages of documents is over 1gb?

Is the limitation due to how they're trying to send them?
Usually about 25mb by email

Can you zip files over 1gb
Pretty sure you can
But would need to use something like Google drive etc
To be able to send/share something that big
 
Glanza said:
7zip or Nanazip if you want native Win 11 menu integration.
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Thanks
Zefan said:
Ha. This is funny but not because it isn't technically true.

I'm not really sure exactly what the question is, could you elaborate further or be more specific?

If its simply which zipper to use, use 7zip, it's been better than winrar for ages as far as I'm concerned. I'd you have a capped size limit on your transfer medium and you're looking to split files down and have them recombine on the other side, use the size split feature in 7zip.
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Yes sorry I have been asked what free software can be used, The person is using windows 10 and when they try to compress it's saying its too big.
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Bit confusing
20 pages of documents is over 1gb?

Is the limitation due to how they're trying to send them?
Usually about 25mb by email

Can you zip files over 1gb
Pretty sure you can
But would need to use something like Google drive etc
To be able to send/share something that big
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I know it is confusing to know the documents is over 1gb, I have seen it myself, it's a assessment documents of health. O it could be a limitation of the email. I think the person is self employed and was told to compress the documents so it can be sent through email.
 
wigster said:
I know it is confusing to know the documents is over 1gb, I have seen it myself, it's a assessment documents of health. O it could be a limitation of the email. I think the person is self employed and was told to compress the documents so it can be sent through email.
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If it's to attach to an email, forget about it, the max attachment size is something like 20mb odd depending on the host. I would still compress it however and then upload it to a cloud service (onedrive, google drive, dropbox, etc.) then share the cloud link in the email.
 
First thing to ask the person
Where did the documents originate?
We're they sent something to fill in in editable pdf or similar?
Or did they create the documents themselves?
Not sure how would get to 1gb
Unless they scanned or photographed them on very high settings
The reason this question is kind of important
If someone sent them to the person
And they were approximately 1gb before required answers were filled in
The sender would know in order to return them
That a method involving large file transfer would be required
Sorry not explained that very well
Plus if we're sent to them as 1gb
How were they sent?

Depending who they're dealing with
A torrent may not be acceptable

As mentioned
To send it by email would require splitting it into approximately
40 or 50 zipped/rar pieces
And sending 40 or 50 emails then the recipient rejoining them all

More information really is required
To see if the documents could be created in a different manner
That would massively shrink their size
Or whether they could be sent a Google drive link etc
 
Personally I'd say it depends on how often this person sends large files, if it's a one off and there's no time constraint it maybe easier to just buy a cheap £3-4 USB drive and stick it in an envelope.

If it's a more regular occurrence then a cloud storage service could be an option.

Outside of that there are free large file transfer services you can sign-up to, I've not had any experience with them so can vouch for any of them but things like...
www.box.com

Send Large Files Quickly, Easily & Securely

Want to send large files quickly and securely? With Box you can share your photos, videos, or any other big file with a single link.
www.box.com www.box.com
www.ionos.co.uk

HiDrive Share » Send Large Files Free | IONOS

Fast, easy and secure file sharing. Send up to 2 GB for free. Quickly share videos, photos and more – no registration required.
www.ionos.co.uk www.ionos.co.uk

WeTransfer | Send Large Files Fast - Up To 2GB Free

The simple, quick and secure way to send your files around the world without an account. Share your files, photos, and videos today for free.
wetransfer.com wetransfer.com

There's load of others out there.
 
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Thanks everyone, It's not a one off thing I will be honest I did get lost when they said what they wanted, I was told they had received them from a email. Definitely will need more information maybe using the cloud will be better, I do remember there was some talk about using the cloud. Someone had mentioned about Box.

Cheers.
 
Yeah if they received it by email
Would originally have been 20--25mb
Unzipping it would add to the size somewhat
But not to the extent of 1gb
Unless the email contained a link to download a large file
Which would be unlikely
Since the sender would expect it returned same method
Not a file attached to an email

That's why I wondered if maybe they did something like
Filled in required information
Either by printing it off and handwriting answers in
Then scanned or photographed the filled in documents
And saved them as image files
Or something along those lines
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Yeah if they received it by email
Would originally have been 20--25mb
Unzipping it would add to the size somewhat
But not to the extent of 1gb
Unless the email contained a link to download a large file
Which would be unlikely
Since the sender would expect it returned same method
Not a file attached to an email

That's why I wondered if maybe they did something like
Filled in required information
Either by printing it off and handwriting answers in
Then scanned or photographed the filled in documents
And saved them as image files
Or something along those lines
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Tricky one as it's private and confidential I couldn't open up the file. This is all great as at least now I can ask more questions.
 
Is it possible that the person rather than selecting a single file to compress is selecting a whole directory and its sub-folders inadvertently?

Like others have said, even at a fairly high resolution colour scan , for a pdf you would think about 1Mb per page would be in the right ball park for size. Not 1Gb
 
Donnie Fisher said:
Is it possible that the person rather than selecting a single file to compress is selecting a whole directory and its sub-folders inadvertently?

Like others have said, even at a fairly high resolution colour scan , for a pdf you would think about 1Mb per page would be in the right ball park for size. Not 1Gb
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Really I don't know, I really thought :confused: I had a go at compressing the file but didn't want to mess around with it as it's private and confidential and only had those files on the laptop. Hopefully I will see the person again and ask more questions about the files.

The laptop wasn't very organised files everywhere so I didn't want to mess around with it too much untill I asked here.
 
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wigster said:
Really I don't know, I really thought :confused: I had a go at compressing the file but didn't want to mess around with it as it's private and confidential and only had those files on the laptop. Hopefully I will see the person again and ask more questions about the files.

The laptop wasn't very organised files everywhere so I didn't want to mess around with it too much untill I asked here.
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Got a flash drive?/external/2nd hard drive/partition in laptop?
Back up the file first
If you're worried about doing stuff with it
Just in case
 
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