StuffIt Expander
Encyclopedia
StuffIt Expander is a proprietary, freeware
, closed source, decompression
software utility developed by Allume Systems
(a subsidiary of Smith Micro Software
formerly known as Aladdin Systems). It runs in Mac OS Classic, Mac OS X
, Microsoft Windows
, and Linux x86
/UNIX
.
As of November 2010, the latest Macintosh version is 2011 (15.0.2), which requires Mac OS X v10.5
or later. Version 2010 (14.0.1) runs on Mac OS X v10.4
, version 10.0.2 runs on Mac OS X v10.3
, and version 8.0.2 runs on Mac OS X v10.0
–Mac OS X v10.2
. The latest version for Mac OS 9
is 7.0.3.
As of September 2011, Linux
version is no longer available for download from the official page.
StuffIt has been a target of criticism and dissatisfaction from Mac users in the past as the file format changes frequently, notably during the introduction of StuffIt version 5.0. Expander 5.0 contained many bugs, and its file format was not readable by the earlier version 4.5, leaving Mac users of the time without a viable compression utility.
The latest stand-alone
version for Windows
is 2009 (13.0). Contrary to the version 12.0, which was only able to decompress the newer .sitx
(and ZIP
) archives, version 2009 claims to be able to decompress over 30 formats, some listed below. The executables require both, the .NET v2.0 framework and MSVC 2008 (9.0) runtimes. The previous stand-alone version able to decompress .sit and other Mac OS
specific archives was 7.02, distributed with StuffIt
v7.0.x for Windows
.
From versions 7.5.x to 11 the Expander capabilities were actually performed by the StuffIt Standard Edition
, that allowed decompression even after the end of the trial period. To start StuffIt
in Expander mode the following command line switches were used: -expand -uiexpander. Note that the registration reminder dialogue box is not shown in this case.
There is also a command line DOS
application called UNSTUFF v1.1 that allows decompression of .sit files.
StuffIt Expander 2009 decompresses files in the following formats:
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
, closed source, decompression
Data compression
In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use....
software utility developed by Allume Systems
Allume Systems
Allume Systems was a software developer, originally founded in 1988 by David Schargel and Jonathan Kahn in New York City as Aladdin Systems to develop, publish and distribute software for personal computers. Allume was incorporated in January 1989...
(a subsidiary of Smith Micro Software
Smith Micro Software
Smith Micro Software, Inc. , founded in 1983 by William W. Smith, Jr., is a diversified developer and marketer of both enterprise and consumer-level software solutions and services...
formerly known as Aladdin Systems). It runs in Mac OS Classic, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, and Linux x86
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
/UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
.
As of November 2010, the latest Macintosh version is 2011 (15.0.2), which requires Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on 26 October 2007 as the successor of Tiger , and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a...
or later. Version 2010 (14.0.1) runs on Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther , which had been released 18 months earlier...
, version 10.0.2 runs on Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger...
, and version 8.0.2 runs on Mac OS X v10.0
Mac OS X v10.0
Mac OS X version 10.0, code named "Cheetah", is the first major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. Mac OS X v10.0 was released on March 24, 2001 for a price of US$129...
–Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" is the third major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X v10.1 code name Puma and preceded Mac OS X Panther...
. The latest version for Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...
is 7.0.3.
As of September 2011, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
version is no longer available for download from the official page.
StuffIt has been a target of criticism and dissatisfaction from Mac users in the past as the file format changes frequently, notably during the introduction of StuffIt version 5.0. Expander 5.0 contained many bugs, and its file format was not readable by the earlier version 4.5, leaving Mac users of the time without a viable compression utility.
The latest stand-alone
Standalone program
A standalone program is a computer program that does not load any external module, library function, or program and that is designed to boot with the bootstrap procedure of the target processor...
version for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
is 2009 (13.0). Contrary to the version 12.0, which was only able to decompress the newer .sitx
StuffIt
StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available...
(and ZIP
ZIP (file format)
Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
) archives, version 2009 claims to be able to decompress over 30 formats, some listed below. The executables require both, the .NET v2.0 framework and MSVC 2008 (9.0) runtimes. The previous stand-alone version able to decompress .sit and other Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
specific archives was 7.02, distributed with StuffIt
StuffIt
StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available...
v7.0.x for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
.
From versions 7.5.x to 11 the Expander capabilities were actually performed by the StuffIt Standard Edition
StuffIt
StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available...
, that allowed decompression even after the end of the trial period. To start StuffIt
StuffIt
StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available...
in Expander mode the following command line switches were used: -expand -uiexpander. Note that the registration reminder dialogue box is not shown in this case.
There is also a command line DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
application called UNSTUFF v1.1 that allows decompression of .sit files.
StuffIt Expander 2009 decompresses files in the following formats:
- 7-Zip7z7z is a compressed archive file format that supports several different data compression, encryption and pre-processing algorithms. The 7z format initially appeared as implemented by the 7-Zip archiver. The 7-Zip program is publicly available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public...
(.7z, .cb7) - AppleSingleAppleSingleAppleSingle Format and AppleDouble Format are file formats developed by Apple Computer to store Mac OS "dual-forked" files on the Unix filesystem being used in A/UX, Apple's first Unix-like operating system. AppleSingle combined both file forks and the related Finder meta-file information into a...
(.as) - ArcARC (file format)ARC is a lossless data compression and archival format by System Enhancement Associates . It was very popular during the early days of networked dial-up BBS. The file format and the program were both called ARC...
(.arc) - ARJARJARJ is a software tool designed by Robert K. Jung for creating high-efficiency compressed file archives. ARJ is currently on version 2.85 for DOS and 3.15 for Windows and supports 16-bit and 32-bit Intel architectures.ARJ was one of two mainstream archivers for DOS and Windows during early and...
(.arj) - BinHexBinHexBinHex, short for "binary-to-hexadecimal", is a binary-to-text encoding system that was used on the Mac OS for sending binary files through e-mail. It is similar to Uuencode, but combined both "forks" of the Mac file system together, along with extended file information...
(.hqx), all versions - BTOA (.b2a, .btoa)
- bzip2Bzip2bzip2 is a free and open source implementation of the Burrows–Wheeler algorithm. It is developed and maintained by Julian Seward. Seward made the first public release of bzip2, version 0.15, in July 1996.-Compression efficiency:...
(.bzip, .bzip2, .bz, .bz2, .tbz, .tbz2, .tar.bz, .tar.bz2) - CABCabinet (file format)In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack and Windows Installer.Though Cabinet was originally called Diamond, its .CAB...
(.cab) - Compact ProCompact ProCompact Pro is a software data compression utility for archiving and compressing files on the Apple Macintosh platform. It was a major competitor to StuffIt in the early 1990s, producing smaller archives in less time, as well as being distributed via shareware which greatly helped its popularity...
(.cpt) - gzipGzipGzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding...
(.gz, .tgz) - LHALHA (file format)LHA is a freeware compression utility and associated file format. It was created in 1988 by , and originally named LHarc. A complete rewrite of LHarc, tentatively named LHx, was eventually released as LH. It was then renamed to LHA to avoid conflicting with the then-new MS-DOS 5.0 LH command...
(.lha, .lzh) - LZMALZMAThe Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm is an algorithm used to perform data compression. It has been under development since 1998 and was first used in the 7z format of the 7-Zip archiver...
(.lzma, .tlzma, .tar.lzma) - MacBinaryMacBinaryDue to the metadata-rich nature of the Macintosh Hierarchical File System, transferring Mac OS files to platforms that do not support HFS can be problematic. MacBinary was developed as a means of preserving this structure without sacrificing portability. It combines the data and resource forks...
(.bin, .macbin), all versions - MIME/Base 64Base64Base64 is a group of similar encoding schemes that represent binary data in an ASCII string format by translating it into a radix-64 representation...
(.mime) - Private File (.pF), Aladdin's encryptionEncryptionIn cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
file format - RAR (.rar, .rNN, .cbr, .partNN.rar), including segmented
- SpaceSaver StuffIt compression format used in versions prior 5.x
- StuffItStuffItStuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available...
(.sit, .sitx, .sit.N, .partNN.sitx, .sea, .exe) v1.5.1 to 8.0.x, including encrypted, segmented and self-extracting archiveSelf-extracting archiveA self-extracting archive is a computer application which contains a file archive, as well as programming to extract this information. Such file archives do not require a second executable file or program to extract from the archive, as archive files usually require... - tarTar (file format)In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files...
(.tar, .gtar, .gnutar, .ustar, .cbt) - Unix CompressCompressCompress is a UNIX compression program based on the LZC compression method, which is an LZW implementation using variable size pointers as in LZ78.- Description of program :Files compressed by compress are typically given the extension .Z...
(.Z, .z, .taz) - UU (.uu, .uue, .enc), PC/Unix 8 bit to 7 bit encoding similar to BinHex (.hqx)
- yEncYEncyEnc is a binary-to-text encoding scheme for transferring binary files in messages on Usenet or via e-mail. It reduces the overhead over previous US-ASCII-based encoding methods by using an 8-bit Extended ASCII encoding method...
ode (.ync, .y) - ZIPZIP (file format)Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
(.zip, .zNN, .cbz, .exe), including encrypted, Zip64, segmented and self-extracting archiveSelf-extracting archiveA self-extracting archive is a computer application which contains a file archive, as well as programming to extract this information. Such file archives do not require a second executable file or program to extract from the archive, as archive files usually require...