Zip, Rar and Par Files

The Zip / Rar file format is used to distribute one or more files as a single file. Typically, the files that are used to create a zip file are compressed, so that the size of the zip file is smaller than the sum of the sizes of the files included in the zip file.

In order to extract the files included in a zip file, you must have an archiving utility (that supports the zip file format) installed on your computer. For questions regarding the use of such utility software, please consult the help file included with the software or contact the manufacturer of the software directly.

There are many archiving or zip utilities available, some free and others available for a fee. Two popular utilities are WinZip (Windows) and the free StuffIt Expander (Macintosh, Windows)

Although the zip / rar file format is a convenient method for transferring a large number of files, the reliability of the transfer of the zip file is dependant on a number of factors (e.g., quality of connection, congestion, server load, etc.). Some members have no trouble downloading zip files of any size, while others only experience success with smaller zip files.

Multimedia Players

In order to play multimedia files (e.g., ASF, ASX, AVI, MP4, MPEG, MPG, MOV, RA, RAM, and WMV files), you will need multimedia player software. Below are links for downloading the most popular players. While many multimedia players will play more than one type of multimedia file, certain players are better at playing specific file types; in such cases the optimum file type has been listed in parentheses adjacent to the player name below.

NOTE: You must contact the appropriate manufacturer for support downloading, installing, and using any multimedia player software.

If you encounter difficulty viewing a complete and valid multimedia file (e.g., ASF, ASX, AVI, MP4, MPEG, MPG, MOV, RA, RAM, or WMV), your computer may be missing the codec (short for coder/decoder or compressor/decompressor) necessary to play the file. Typically, installing the most recent version of the multimedia player software that you use will solve most playback problems and install the most recent codecs.

NOTE: You must contact the appropriate manufacturer for support downloading, installing, and using any codec.

If you have installed the most recent version of your multimedia player and continue to experience problems playing multimedia files (that are supported by your player), you might try downloading and installing the popular DivX codec at the following link:

Additional (free and commercial)
codecs are available at:

http://www.divx.com/

http://www.fourcc.org/

If you have any questions or are having any difficulty using the newsgroups please check out the support page first. Most problems can be solved by downloading the appropriate codec. If you are still having problems then please email us