compression

December 28, 2008 8:25 AM

I am searching for a freeware utility for mac osx 10.3 and higher that can be used to compress files. Can't seem to find anything...
posted by citybuddha to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

It's built into the OS. Just highlight the items you want to compress, right click and click "Compress these items."
posted by proj at 8:43 AM on December 28, 2008

Response by poster: I am not using a double button mouse. Id there a way to substitute the right click on a laptop
posted by citybuddha at 8:48 AM on December 28, 2008

Control-click works as right-click for single-button mice.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:49 AM on December 28, 2008

Response by poster: I am using system 10.3.9. I see no compress option. Is this a leopard feature?
posted by citybuddha at 9:28 AM on December 28, 2008

Highlight your file(s)/folder(s), and go to File > Create Archive
posted by porn in the woods at 9:29 AM on December 28, 2008

(I believe they renamed the somewhat unclear "Create Archive" to "Compress" when Tiger came out)
posted by porn in the woods at 9:30 AM on December 28, 2008

As an aside, go to System Preferences / Keyboard and Mouse Options / Trackpad and check "Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click," and you can right-click by tapping two fingers on the trackpad. Invaluable. You can also make it so you can scroll up/down and left/right with two fingers.

I use only the trackpad and keyboard when doing some pretty intensive audio editing just because of these awesome features.
posted by nosila at 9:43 AM on December 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

nosila's suggestion only works for newer Macs with trackpads (although any with older trackpads would be fairly geriatric now).
posted by edd at 1:47 PM on December 28, 2008

There are also Mac versions of a free program called 7Zip. And another built-in tool if you're willing to try command-line is GZip. Just Google GZip and Mac OS X for more info.
posted by edjusted at 12:31 AM on December 29, 2008