CompactGUI
Shrinks installed games and programs on Windows using the filesystem compression already built into the OS.
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About CompactGUI
Windows 10 introduced a compression mode in the Windows Overlay Filter driver that is much better than the old right-click-to-compress option, but Microsoft only exposed it through a command-line tool called compact.exe. CompactGUI puts a window in front of it and aims it at the folders where the space actually goes: Steam libraries and large program installs.
The compression is transparent. Files are not repackaged the way a zip is; games launch and programs run exactly as before, they just occupy less disk. On a fast CPU the decompression cost is small enough to be invisible, which is what makes this worth doing on an SSD that is nearly full.
Strengths
- Uses the compression built into Windows 10 and later rather than adding a driver of its own
- Compression is transparent, so games and programs run normally from the compressed folder
- Aimed squarely at game folders, where the savings are largest
- Keeps a record of what it has compressed so you can undo it
Limitations
- Windows 10 or later only; the feature does not exist on older versions
- Decompression costs CPU on every read, which shows on slower processors
- Savings vary enormously by title; already-compressed game assets barely shrink
- Current releases are beta builds
Details
- Pricing
- Free · Free and open source under the GPL.
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Developer
- IridiumIO
- Platforms
- Windows
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Reclaiming disk space on a full SSD without uninstalling games
- Categories
- Archive and compression tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Compression); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 2 sources on file.