@susie @SuperDicq @icedquinn
> I think you're mixing real time compression with archival compression. Drive/file system compression is real time and fitgirl uses archival compression.
No i dont

> The game engines can't just use archival compressed files directly without them being first uncompressed.
Yes i agree.

> Extracting them to RAM during loading is an option, but it comes with obvious loading times and increased RAM usage.
Loading times and RAM usage depends hardly on the selected algorithm and the RAM usage is only temporary anyway.
As weird real time example in how compression can be i would show you this:
https://www.postgresql.fastware.com/blog/what-is-the-new-lz4-toast-compression-in-postgresql-14
Now imagine using LZ4 HC for Asset Compression, that should give you a very good compression ratio while decompression is still very fast and efficient.

In general "Archival compression" and Asset compression dont differ that much since the only difference is the algorithm which got used and tbh there are more than enough usable Algorithms specific for this situation.

I consider a Archive Compression Ratio of > 50% as okish, but most Games can be packed to 10-30% which shows that they never cared about Asset Compression at all or just use a bad algorithm.
Usually when something is already compressed like deflated or an mp3 File, it has such a high entropy that you will have a bad compression ratio with all the Algorithms no matter what you choose. So the fact that most Games / Assets have such a low entropy is an indicator that they simply dont care at all