Editing StuffIt (section)

==Overview==
{{Infobox file format
| name                   = Stuffit
| logo                   = 
| icon                   = 
| iconcaption            = 
| screenshot             = 
| caption                = 
| extension              = .sit
| mime                   = application/x-stuffit<br />application/x-sit
| type code              = SIT!, SITD, SIT2, SIT5 (depending on file version)
| uniform type           = com.stuffit.archive.sit
| conforms to            = public.date<br />public.archive<br />com.allume.stuffit-archive
| magic                  = 
| owner                  = Raymond Lau (creator), currently Smith Micro
| released               = {{Start date and age|1987|df=no}}
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|mm|dd|df=yes/no}} -->
| genre                  = 
| container for          = files, including [[resource fork]]s
| contained by           = 
| extended from          = 
| extended to            = 
| standard               = 
| free                   = 
| url                    = 
}}
StuffIt was originally developed in the summer of 1987 by Raymond Lau,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raylau.com/StuffIt.html|title=Raymond Lau: StuffIt|website=www.raylau.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207205222/http://www.raylau.com/StuffIt.html|archive-date=2020-02-07}}</ref> who was then a student at [[Stuyvesant High School]] in New York City. It combined the [[resource fork|fork-combining]] capabilities of utilities such as [[MacBinary]] with newer [[compression algorithm]]s similar to those used in [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]]. Compared to existing utilities on the Mac, notably [[PackIt]], StuffIt offered "one step" operation and higher compression ratios. By the fall of 1987 StuffIt had largely replaced PackIt in the Mac world, with many software sites even going so far as to convert existing PackIt archives to save more space.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

StuffIt soon became very popular and [[Aladdin Systems]] was formed to market it (the last [[shareware]] release by Lau was version 1.5.1). They split the product line in two, offering '''StuffIt Classic''' in [[shareware]] and '''StuffIt Deluxe''' as a commercial package. Deluxe added a variety of additional functions, including additional compression methods and integration into the Mac Finder to allow files to be compressed from a "Magic Menu", or seamlessly browse inside and edit compressed files without expanding them using "True Finder Integration".[http://www.stuffit.com/guide/SDX2011M/MagicMenu.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222090439/http://www.stuffit.com/guide/SDX2011M/MagicMenu.html |date=2013-02-22 }}

StuffIt was upgraded several times, and Lau removed himself from direct development as major upgrades to the "internal machinery" were rare. Because new features and techniques appeared regularly on the Macintosh platform, the shareware utility [[Compact Pro]] emerged as a competitor to StuffIt in the early 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

A major competitive upgrade followed, accompanied by the release of the freeware [[StuffIt Expander]], to make the format more universally readable, as well as the shareware '''StuffIt Lite''' which made it easier to produce. Prior to this anyone attempting to use the format needed to buy StuffIt, making Compact Pro more attractive. This move was a success, and Compact Pro subsequently fell out of use.

Several other Mac compression utilities appeared and disappeared during the 1990s, but none became a real threat to StuffIt's dominance. The only ones to see any widespread use were special-purpose "disk expanders" like [[DiskDoubler]] and SuperDisk!, which served a different niche. Apparently as a side-effect, StuffIt once again saw few upgrades. The [[file format]] changed in a number of major revisions, leading to incompatible updates. PC-based formats long surpassed the original StuffIt format in terms of compression, notably newer systems like [[RAR (file format)|RAR]] and [[7z]]. These had little impact on the Mac market, as most of these never appeared in an easy-to-use program on the Mac.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}

With the introduction of [[macOS|Mac OS X]], newer Mac software lost their forks and no longer needed anything except the built-in [[Unix]] utilities like [[gzip]] and [[tar (file format)|tar]]. Numerous programs "wrapping" these utilities were distributed, and since these files could be opened on any machine, they were considerably more practical than StuffIt in an era when most data is cross-platform. With the release of OS X Public Beta, [[Aladdin Systems]] released StuffIt 6.0 which runs under OS X.

{{Infobox file format
| name                   = Stuffit X
| logo                   = 
| icon                   = 
| iconcaption            = 
| screenshot             = 
| caption                = 
| extension              = .sitx
| mime                   = application/x-stuffitx<br />application/x-sitx
| type code              = SITX
| uniform type           = com.stuffit.archive.sitx
| conforms to            = public.date<br />public.archive<br />com.allume.stuffit-archive
| magic                  = 
| owner                  = 
| released               = {{Start date and age|2002|df=yes/no}}
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|mm|dd|df=no}} -->
| genre                  = [[archive file format]]
| container for          = files, including [[resource fork]]s
| contained by           = 
| extended from          = 
| extended to            = 
| standard               = 
| free                   = 
| url                    = 
}}
Although it was late to market, [[Aladdin Systems]] introduced the completely new StuffIt X format in September 2002 with StuffIt Deluxe 7.0 for Macintosh. It was designed to be extendable, support more compression methods, support long file names, and support Unix and Windows file attributes. StuffIt X improves over the original StuffIt format and its descendants by adding multiple compression algorithms such as [[PPM compression algorithm|PPM]], and [[Burrows–Wheeler transform|BWT]] to [[LZW]]-type compression. It also added a "block mode" option, error correcting "redundancy" options to protect against data loss, and several encryption options. In January 2005, [[JPEG]] compression was added as a StuffIt X compression option (see the related 'SIF Format' below).

From the mid-1990s until the 2005 acquisition by [[Smith Micro Software]], coinciding with the release of [[Mac OS X v10.4]] "Tiger," StuffIt Expander came bundled with the Macintosh operating system.

Although Mac files generally did not use [[filename extension]]s, one of StuffIt's primary uses was to allow Mac files to be stored on non-Mac systems where extensions were required.
So, StuffIt-compressed files save the resource forks of the Macintosh files inside them, and typically have the extension {{mono|.sit}}. Newer (non-backwards compatible) '''Stuffit X'''-compressed files carry the file extension {{mono|.sitx}}. Encrypted StuffIt archives created with the now-discontinued ''Private File'' utility will have {{mono|.pf}} extensions. StuffIt-compressed ''ShrinkWrap'' [[disk image]]s will carry {{mono|.img}} or {{mono|.image}} extensions. However, a [[Classic Mac OS]] version of StuffIt is needed to mount the images or convert them to a newer format readable in [[macOS]].

[[Smith Micro Software]] offers free downloads of [[StuffIt Expander]] for Mac and Windows, which expands (uncompresses) files compressed using the StuffIt and StuffIt X format, as well as many other compressed, encoded, encrypted and segmented formats. The [[shareware]] application [[DropStuff]] permits the compressing of files into the StuffIt X format.

The StuffIt and StuffIt X formats remain, unlike some other file compression formats, [[Proprietary format|proprietary]], and [[Smith Micro Software]] charge license fees  for its use in other programs. Given this, few alternative programs support the format.

There was also a "self-expanding" variant of StuffIt files with a {{mono|.sea}} extension that runs as an executable. A utility called {{mono|unsea}} exists to turn such an executable into a vanilla sit file.<ref name="angelfire">{{cite web |title=Archivers of Syllable |url=http://www.angelfire.com/folk/syllable/programs/programs.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416163301/http://www.angelfire.com/folk/syllable/programs/programs.html |archive-date=2008-04-16 |website=[[Angelfire]]}}</ref>