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Save disk space for ISOs

230 bytes added, 12:19, 22 October 2021
GameCube / Wii
'''This format has been deprecated in favor of [[#RVZ (Modern Dolphin format) - GC/Wii|RVZ]].'''
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Yes (Not directly if junk data is not removedscrubbed; see reverting notes)* '''Gain:''' Immediate. Depends on the game. It could be is very minimal if junk data is not removed(scrubbed).* '''Tools Used:''' Dolphin (right-click the game(s) in the games list and select "Convert File..." (or "Convert Selected Files..." if more than one is selected), and select GCZ), or [https://wit.wiimm.de/ wit (Wiimms ISO Tools)], Nkit (for indirect recovery)* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes (In DolphinDirectly for non-scrubbed files. For scrubbed files, right-click the gamefirst convert to ISO, select then use Nkit tool's "Convert File...Recover to ISO" and select ISO. Removed junk data is irreversibleoption)
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' No
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Only Yes (Dolphin)
===RVZ (Modern Dolphin format) - GC/Wii===
The Dolphin team developed a new compression format based on WIA called RVZ. Unlike all the previous formats, RVZ is lossless and can preserve the padding data on Wii discs as well as the necessary files needed by the Wii's IOS. Usage is very similar to GCZ in Dolphin itself, but it only works on newer Dolphin versions. It can efficiently compress both the actual data and junk data, without altering the file/directory structure.
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Yes (if junk data is not removed)
* '''Gain:''' Immediate. Considerable, depending on the game.
* '''Tools Used:''' Dolphin 5.0-12188+ (right-click the game(s) in the game list and select "Convert File..." (or "Convert Selected Files..." if more than one is selected), and select RVZ)
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes (In Dolphin, right-click the game, select "Convert File..." and select ISO. Removed junk data is irreversible)
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' No
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Only Yes (Dolphin5.0-12188+)
===Scrubbing and Trimming - GC/Wii===
* '''Tools Used:''' GC-Tool ("wipe garbage data..." - Scrubbing for GameCube), GameCube ISO Trimmer (scrubbing and trimming for GameCube), WiiScrubber (scrubbing/trimming for Wii, although compressing with Dolphin will scrub it anyways).
* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes, with WiiScrubber's undo file or NKit.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes for scrubbingscrubbed; some games won't work trimmed.* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes for scrubbingscrubbed; some games won't work trimmed.
Scrubbing games zeros out garbage/dummy data in the ISO file. The resulting file will be the same size, but it will be able to compress better than unmodified ISOs. The difference can be huge depending on the game. Animal Crossing, for instance, will compress to just a 26 MB .gcz file after being scrubbed!
===WBFS - Wii only===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Not directly, ; see note about reversingreverting notes.
* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). Considerable, depending on the game.
* '''Tools Used:''' [http://www.wiibackupmanager.co.uk/downloads.html Wii Backup Manager] (after adding your game, go to "Transfer" and select "WBFS") or wit (Wiimms ISO Tools).
* '''Can be reverted?''' Maybe. WBFS files can always be converted back to ISO, but they will remain scrubbed (can be unscrubbed with NKitRestore) and, depending on settings at the time of conversion to WBFS, may be missing update/extras partitions (can be readded with wit or NKitRestore and a copy of the missing data).
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes - Preferred format by most SD/USB loaders
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - (Dolphin)
A scrubbed and sparse (gap-dropping) format directly derived from the one used in the obsolete WBFS file system.
* '''Can be reverted?''' Maybe (same caveats as WBFS).
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' Yes (on Wii/Vwii only) - Nintendont for Gamecube games, uLoader for Wii games
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - (Dolphin)
A scrubbed and sparse (gap-dropping) format. Unrelated to the PSP's CSO format.
===FST (extracted File System) - GC/Wii===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' No(Yes, if not scrubbed)
* '''Gain:''' Very low with GC ISOs, much better with Wii ones. Can also be combined with classic archives compression (ZIP/RAR/7z etc.) to match WIA and NKit compression ratios.
* '''Tools Used:''' [https://wit.wiimm.de/info/composing.html wit]
* '''Can be reverted?''' Partially via the align-files.txt created by wit when extracting.
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' (GC games on Wii/Vwii): Yes - ([https://github.com/FIX94/Nintendont/ Nintendont]. () / Other combinations): No* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - (Dolphin (both GC and Wii)
This has the advantage of easy experimenting with [[#Destructive Modification]]. Includes all disadvantages of trimming.
===WIA (Wii ISO Archive) - GC/Wii only?===* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Not directly unless --raw option is given; see reverting notes (Yes, effectively preventing any space savings.if not scrubbed)* '''Gain:''' Immediate (ISO dump size lowers). More ; more than WBFS.(No gain if not scrubbed and compression not used)* '''Tools Used:''' wit, Dolphin 5.0-12188+, Nkit (for indirect recovery)* '''Can be reverted?''' Maybe Yes (same caveats as WBFSDirectly, if not scrubbed. Not directly, if scrubbed, by converting it to ISO first, and then using Nkit tool's "Recover to ISO" option).
* '''Playable on Hardware?''' No
* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes(Dolphin 5.0-12188+)
A scrubbed and compressed format designed for maximum space savings without cutting corners on corruption detection, but it's not directly playable or editable. Never really caught on and may be considered de facto deprecated by NKit.
===NKit formats - GC/Wii===
* '''Archive-quality dump?''' Yes (Not directlyfor Wii games, can be restored with NKitif the Wii update partition is removed and the recovery file not preserved)* '''Gain:''' Immediate - (Wii) only for GCZ format.* '''Tools Used:''' NKit.* '''Can be reverted?''' Yes.(unless the Wii update partition was removed and the recovery file not preserved)* '''Playable on Hardware?''' (GC) : Yes - (ISO-based variant only () / Wii) : No* '''Playable on Emulators?''' Yes - (Dolphin)
Apart from its previously mentioned unscrubbing/untrimming features mentioned in the above formats' descriptions, NKit is able to convert any ISO (clean dump or otherwise) to and from an [https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/NKit/NKitFormat intermediate format applying various reversible changes] that optimize the image for lossless compression, including full decryption and optionally splitting the often non-unique update partitions to separate files.
NKit-.GCZ (as well as plain GCZ) is less space efficient than NKit-.ISO compressed with a powerful general purpose archiver (7zip), however it is directly playable in Dolphin.
But using it for emulation It has problemswith emulation, such as slower emulated load times, breaking netplay if load times aren't the same, and crashing a few games.
Compressing NKit.ISO with a strong compression format gives the smallest size while being reversible.
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