Downloading stuff, do you save bandwidth downloading .rar files?

Depends what you are downloading. But most of the time the compression is so slight (99.9%) that it doesn't even matter.

Oh.
So if .rar compresses the file a lot, the bandwidth that is saved is nothing?

No, if it is compressed well, then the download is smaller and you do save bandwidth. But this is rarely the case as it is either difficult, not user-friendly or not plausible to compress certain files.

Also you would have to decompress the file which can take quite a while on older/slower computers.

This post was edited by teltic on Aug 6 2011 06:54pm

Ah, I see, okay, thanks. Appreciate the timely help.

You're quite welcome.

check the difference between the compressed and non compressed file


that is an approximate representation of how much bandwidth will be saved

Just, I am downloading pornographic video and was wondering whether it would be better to go for the .avi/.wmv video extensions or go for the .rar to save bandwidth.
My limit is quite small.

if they are full length films then you woud probably save time and bandwidth by downloading the compressed file


normal video files are 500+ megabytes, the compression should save you 30 seconds~ a couple minutes, or even more depending on your download speed


also if you pay for every KB you download, I would suggest the compressed videos also just to save money



but if they are short 10~60 second videos, and you have unlimited bandwidth allowance, then id just download the straight video to save the time and effort required to unzip

I am not fimilar with .rar, why does it ask me to get part 2 to be able to fully compress the file?