<s>
StuffIt	B-Application
is	O
a	O
discontinued	O
family	O
of	O
computer	B-Application
software	I-Application
utilities	O
for	O
archiving	O
and	O
compressing	O
files	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
produced	O
for	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
,	O
versions	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
Linux	B-Application
(	O
x86	B-Operating_System
)	O
,	O
and	O
Sun	B-Application
Solaris	I-Application
were	O
later	O
created	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
proprietary	B-Application
compression	O
format	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
StuffIt	B-Application
utilities	O
is	O
also	O
termed	O
StuffIt	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2019	O
,	O
Smith	O
Micro	O
Software	O
,	O
the	O
product	O
's	O
most-recent	O
owner	O
and	O
developer	O
,	O
officially	O
announced	O
that	O
StuffIt	B-Application
had	O
reached	O
its	O
end-of-life	O
and	O
that	O
StuffIt	B-Application
products	O
would	O
no	O
longer	O
be	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
last	O
update	O
did	O
come	O
out	O
in	O
December	O
2020	O
after	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
the	O
Apple	B-Device
M1	I-Device
architecture	O
to	O
support	O
that	O
and	O
Intel	O
Mac	B-Device
systems	O
through	O
a	O
universal	B-Operating_System
binary	I-Operating_System
of	O
the	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
StuffIt	B-Application
was	O
originally	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
summer	O
of	O
1987	O
by	O
Raymond	B-Application
Lau	I-Application
,	O
who	O
was	O
then	O
a	O
student	O
at	O
Stuyvesant	O
High	O
School	O
in	O
New	O
York	O
City	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
combined	O
the	O
fork-combining	B-Operating_System
capabilities	O
of	O
utilities	O
such	O
as	O
MacBinary	B-General_Concept
with	O
newer	O
compression	B-General_Concept
algorithms	I-General_Concept
similar	O
to	O
those	O
used	O
in	O
ZIP	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compared	O
to	O
existing	O
utilities	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
,	O
notably	O
PackIt	B-Operating_System
,	O
StuffIt	B-Application
offered	O
"	O
one	O
step	O
"	O
operation	O
and	O
higher	O
compression	O
ratios	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
fall	O
of	O
1987	O
StuffIt	B-Application
had	O
largely	O
replaced	O
PackIt	B-Operating_System
in	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
world	O
,	O
with	O
many	O
software	O
sites	O
even	O
going	O
so	O
far	O
as	O
to	O
convert	O
existing	O
PackIt	B-Operating_System
archives	O
to	O
save	O
more	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
StuffIt	B-Application
soon	O
became	O
very	O
popular	O
and	O
Aladdin	O
Systems	O
was	O
formed	O
to	O
market	O
it	O
(	O
the	O
last	O
shareware	B-License
release	O
by	O
Lau	O
was	O
version	O
1.5.1	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
split	O
the	O
product	O
line	O
in	O
two	O
,	O
offering	O
StuffIt	B-Application
Classic	O
in	O
shareware	B-License
and	O
StuffIt	B-Application
Deluxe	O
as	O
a	O
commercial	O
package	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Deluxe	O
added	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
additional	O
functions	O
,	O
including	O
additional	O
compression	O
methods	O
and	O
integration	O
into	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
Finder	B-Application
to	O
allow	O
files	B-Operating_System
to	O
be	O
compressed	O
from	O
a	O
"	O
Magic	O
Menu	O
"	O
,	O
or	O
seamlessly	O
browse	O
inside	O
and	O
edit	O
compressed	O
files	B-Operating_System
without	O
expanding	O
them	O
using	O
"	O
True	O
Finder	B-Application
Integration	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
StuffIt	B-Application
was	O
upgraded	O
several	O
times	O
,	O
and	O
Lau	O
removed	O
himself	O
from	O
direct	O
development	O
as	O
major	O
upgrades	O
to	O
the	O
"	O
internal	O
machinery	O
"	O
were	O
rare	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
new	O
features	O
and	O
techniques	O
appeared	O
regularly	O
on	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
platform	O
,	O
the	O
shareware	B-License
utility	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
emerged	O
as	O
a	O
competitor	O
to	O
StuffIt	B-Application
in	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
major	O
competitive	O
upgrade	O
followed	O
,	O
accompanied	O
by	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
freeware	O
StuffIt	B-Operating_System
Expander	I-Operating_System
,	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
format	O
more	O
universally	O
readable	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
shareware	B-License
StuffIt	B-Application
Lite	O
which	O
made	O
it	O
easier	O
to	O
produce	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
this	O
anyone	O
attempting	O
to	O
use	O
the	O
format	O
needed	O
to	O
buy	O
StuffIt	B-Application
,	O
making	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
more	O
attractive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
move	O
was	O
a	O
success	O
,	O
and	O
Compact	B-Operating_System
Pro	I-Operating_System
subsequently	O
fell	O
out	O
of	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
other	O
Mac	B-Device
compression	B-General_Concept
utilities	I-General_Concept
appeared	O
and	O
disappeared	O
during	O
the	O
1990s	O
,	O
but	O
none	O
became	O
a	O
real	O
threat	O
to	O
StuffIt	B-Application
's	O
dominance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
only	O
ones	O
to	O
see	O
any	O
widespread	O
use	O
were	O
special-purpose	O
"	O
disk	O
expanders	O
"	O
like	O
DiskDoubler	B-Application
and	O
SuperDisk	O
!,	O
which	O
served	O
a	O
different	O
niche	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apparently	O
as	O
a	O
side-effect	O
,	O
StuffIt	B-Application
once	O
again	O
saw	O
few	O
upgrades	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PC-based	O
formats	O
long	O
surpassed	O
the	O
original	O
StuffIt	B-Application
format	O
in	O
terms	O
of	O
compression	O
,	O
notably	O
newer	O
systems	O
like	O
RAR	O
and	O
7z	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
had	O
little	O
impact	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
market	O
,	O
as	O
most	O
of	O
these	O
never	O
appeared	O
in	O
an	O
easy-to-use	O
program	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
introduction	O
of	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
X	I-Application
,	O
newer	O
Mac	B-Device
software	O
lost	O
their	O
forks	O
and	O
no	O
longer	O
needed	O
anything	O
except	O
the	O
built-in	O
Unix	B-Application
utilities	O
like	O
gzip	B-Application
and	O
tar	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Numerous	O
programs	O
"	O
wrapping	O
"	O
these	O
utilities	O
were	O
distributed	O
,	O
and	O
since	O
these	O
files	B-Operating_System
could	O
be	O
opened	O
on	O
any	O
machine	O
,	O
they	O
were	O
considerably	O
more	O
practical	O
than	O
StuffIt	B-Application
in	O
an	O
era	O
when	O
most	O
data	O
is	O
cross-platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
OS	O
X	O
Public	O
Beta	O
,	O
Aladdin	O
Systems	O
released	O
StuffIt	B-Application
6.0	O
which	O
runs	O
under	O
OS	O
X	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
it	O
was	O
late	O
to	O
market	O
,	O
Aladdin	O
Systems	O
introduced	O
the	O
completely	O
new	O
StuffIt	B-Application
X	I-Application
format	O
in	O
September	O
2002	O
with	O
StuffIt	B-Application
Deluxe	O
7.0	O
for	O
Macintosh	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
extendable	O
,	O
support	O
more	O
compression	O
methods	O
,	O
support	O
long	O
file	O
names	O
,	O
and	O
support	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
Windows	B-Application
file	O
attributes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
StuffIt	B-Application
X	I-Application
improves	O
over	O
the	O
original	O
StuffIt	B-Application
format	O
and	O
its	O
descendants	O
by	O
adding	O
multiple	O
compression	B-General_Concept
algorithms	I-General_Concept
such	O
as	O
PPM	B-Algorithm
,	O
and	O
BWT	B-Algorithm
to	O
LZW-type	O
compression	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2005	O
,	O
JPEG	O
compression	O
was	O
added	O
as	O
a	O
StuffIt	B-Application
X	I-Application
compression	O
option	O
(	O
see	O
the	O
related	O
'	O
SIF	O
Format	O
 '	O
below	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
the	O
mid-1990s	O
until	O
the	O
2005	O
acquisition	O
by	O
Smith	O
Micro	O
Software	O
,	O
coinciding	O
with	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
X	I-Application
v10.4	I-Application
"	O
Tiger	O
,	O
"	O
StuffIt	B-Operating_System
Expander	I-Operating_System
came	O
bundled	O
with	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
Mac	B-Device
files	B-Operating_System
generally	O
did	O
not	O
use	O
filename	O
extensions	O
,	O
one	O
of	O
StuffIt	B-Application
's	O
primary	O
uses	O
was	O
to	O
allow	O
Mac	B-Device
files	B-Operating_System
to	O
be	O
stored	O
on	O
non-Mac	O
systems	O
where	O
extensions	O
were	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
So	O
,	O
StuffIt-compressed	O
files	B-Operating_System
save	O
the	O
resource	B-Operating_System
forks	I-Operating_System
of	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
files	B-Operating_System
inside	O
them	O
,	O
and	O
typically	O
have	O
the	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Newer	O
(	O
non-backwards	O
compatible	O
)	O
Stuffit	O
X-compressed	O
files	B-Operating_System
carry	O
the	O
file	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Encrypted	O
StuffIt	B-Application
archives	O
created	O
with	O
the	O
now-discontinued	O
Private	O
File	O
utility	O
will	O
have	O
extensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
StuffIt-compressed	O
ShrinkWrap	O
disk	B-Application
images	I-Application
will	O
carry	O
or	O
extensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
a	O
Classic	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
OS	I-Application
version	O
of	O
StuffIt	B-Application
is	O
needed	O
to	O
mount	O
the	O
images	O
or	O
convert	O
them	O
to	O
a	O
newer	O
format	O
readable	O
in	O
macOS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Smith	O
Micro	O
Software	O
offers	O
free	O
downloads	O
of	O
StuffIt	B-Operating_System
Expander	I-Operating_System
for	O
Mac	B-Device
and	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
which	O
expands	O
(	O
uncompresses	O
)	O
files	B-Operating_System
compressed	O
using	O
the	O
StuffIt	B-Application
and	O
StuffIt	B-Application
X	I-Application
format	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
many	O
other	O
compressed	O
,	O
encoded	O
,	O
encrypted	O
and	O
segmented	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
shareware	B-License
application	O
DropStuff	O
permits	O
the	O
compressing	O
of	O
files	B-Operating_System
into	O
the	O
StuffIt	B-Application
X	I-Application
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
StuffIt	B-Application
and	O
StuffIt	B-Application
X	I-Application
formats	O
remain	O
,	O
unlike	O
some	O
other	O
file	B-General_Concept
compression	I-General_Concept
formats	O
,	O
proprietary	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Smith	O
Micro	O
Software	O
charge	O
for	O
its	O
use	O
in	O
other	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
was	O
also	O
a	O
"	O
self-expanding	O
"	O
variant	O
of	O
StuffIt	B-Application
files	B-Operating_System
with	O
a	O
extension	O
that	O
runs	O
as	O
an	O
executable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
utility	O
called	O
exists	O
to	O
turn	O
such	O
an	O
executable	O
into	O
a	O
vanilla	O
sit	B-Application
file	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
ZIP-like	O
programs	O
typically	O
achieve	O
JPEG	O
compression	O
rates	O
in	O
the	O
order	O
of	O
1	O
to	O
3%	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Programs	O
that	O
use	O
the	O
rarely	O
implemented	O
arithmetic	B-Algorithm
coding	I-Algorithm
option	O
available	O
to	O
the	O
JPEG	O
standard	O
typically	O
achieve	O
rates	O
around	O
12%	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
new	O
technique	O
was	O
implemented	O
as	O
a	O
StuffIt	B-Application
X	I-Application
format	O
option	O
in	O
their	O
StuffIt	B-Application
Deluxe	O
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
means	O
of	O
decomposition	O
,	O
the	O
relatively	O
high	O
compression	O
rates	O
for	O
individual	O
file	O
formats	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
achieved	O
for	O
container	O
file	O
formats	O
such	O
as	O
PDF	O
,	O
PSD	O
and	O
even	O
ZIP	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
StuffIt	B-Operating_System
Expander	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
proprietary	B-Application
,	O
freeware	O
,	O
closed	B-Application
source	I-Application
,	O
decompression	B-General_Concept
software	I-General_Concept
utility	O
developed	O
by	O
Allume	O
Systems	O
(	O
a	O
subsidiary	O
of	O
Smith	O
Micro	O
Software	O
formerly	O
known	O
as	O
Aladdin	O
Systems	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
runs	O
on	O
the	O
classic	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
OS	I-Application
,	O
macOS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
2011	O
,	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
version	O
had	O
also	O
been	O
available	O
for	O
download	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Changes	O
to	O
the	O
Stuffit	B-Application
compression	O
format	O
render	O
previous	O
versions	O
of	O
Stuffit	B-Application
or	O
software	O
using	O
its	O
API	O
unable	O
to	O
decompress	O
newer	O
archives	O
,	O
necessitating	O
installation	O
of	O
new	O
versions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
incompatibility	O
can	O
be	O
inconvenient	O
for	O
work	O
flows	O
where	O
timely	O
execution	O
is	O
of	O
importance	O
,	O
or	O
where	O
the	O
intended	O
recipient	O
's	O
system	O
is	O
not	O
capable	O
of	O
running	O
newer	O
versions	O
of	O
Stuffit	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
macOS	B-Application
includes	O
Archive	O
Utility	O
which	O
decompresses	O
the	O
legacy	O
open	O
formats	O
ZIP	B-General_Concept
,	O
GZIP	B-Application
,	O
and	O
BZIP2	O
,	O
and	O
creates	O
ZIP	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
versions	O
since	O
10.3	B-Operating_System
(	O
Panther	B-Operating_System
)	O
,	O
it	O
now	O
preserves	O
resource	B-Operating_System
forks	I-Operating_System
in	O
the	O
ZIP	B-General_Concept
format	O
,	O
so	O
Stuffit	B-Application
is	O
no	O
longer	O
a	O
requirement	O
for	O
Mac	B-Device
file	B-General_Concept
compression	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
ZIP	B-General_Concept
is	O
also	O
a	O
de	O
facto	O
standard	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
more	O
widely	O
accepted	O
for	O
archives	O
and	O
sharing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
StuffIt	B-Application
used	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
standard	O
way	O
of	O
packaging	O
Mac	B-Device
software	O
for	O
download	O
,	O
macOS	B-Application
native	O
compressed	O
disk	B-Application
images	I-Application
(	O
DMG	B-Operating_System
)	O
have	O
largely	O
replaced	O
this	O
practice	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
StuffIt	B-Application
might	O
still	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
situations	O
where	O
its	O
specific	O
features	O
are	O
required	O
(	O
archive	O
editing/browsing	O
,	O
better	O
compression	O
,	O
JPEG	O
compression	O
,	O
encryption	O
,	O
old	O
packages	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
open	O
source	O
alternative	O
might	O
be	O
The	B-Application
Unarchiver	I-Application
,	O
even	O
if	O
it	O
does	O
n't	O
support	O
the	O
last	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
StuffIt	B-Application
file	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
3rd-party	O
software	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Application
Finder	I-Application
replacement	O
Path	O
Finder	B-Application
,	O
use	O
the	O
licensed	O
Stuffit	B-Application
SDK	O
to	O
gain	O
all	O
the	O
features	O
of	O
Stuffit	B-Application
.	O
</s>
