The table below shows the results of using different compression methods and levels with an example file (the file text8 was used) and SyncBackPro. The example file is text (not binary) and has an uncompressed size of 100,000,000 bytes.


All the compression methods (except for BWT) are compatible with various compression utilities, e.g. WinZip, 7zip, etc. Only SyncBackSE/Pro can open BWT files. Only SyncBackPro (not SyncBackSE or SyncBackFree) can create BZip2 and LZMA files.

Important: High compression levels, especially when used with LZMA, use a large amount of memory. You may experience Out of memory errors with some files, especially larger ones. To reduce memory usage you must reduce the compression level. If you are using SyncBackPro/SE then consider using the 64-bit version of SyncBackPro/SE.

Compression MethodCompression LevelSize of compressed file (bytes)
DeflateLowest (1)39,484,547
DeflateNormal (5)33,678,958
DeflateMaximum (9)33,062,272
Deflate64Lowest (1)39,302,202
Deflate64Normal (5)33,078,708
Deflate64Maximum (9)32,092,841
BWTLowest (1)29,793,648
BWTNormal (5)27,158,405
BWTMaximum (9)26,394,566
BZip2Lowest (1)29,802,669
BZip2Normal (5)27,160,226
BZip2Maximum (9)26,395,586
LZMALowest (1)32,827,051
LZMANormal (5)24,027,225
LZMAMaximum (9)23,214,828
Deflate (SecureZip, 256-bit AES encryption)Lowest (1)39,497,449
Deflate (SecureZip, 256-bit AES encryption)Normal (5)33,692,873
Deflate (SecureZip, 256-bit AES encryption)Maximum (9)33,077,769
BZip2 (SecureZip, 256-bit AES encryption)Lowest (1)29,803,161
BZip2 (SecureZip, 256-bit AES encryption)Normal (5)27,160,697
BZip2 (SecureZip, 256-bit AES encryption)Maximum (9)26,396,057