This article compares computer software tools that compare files, and in many cases directories or folders, whether it is their main purpose or as part of more general file management.
Contents
General
Basic general information about file comparison software.
Other features
Some other features which did not fit in previous table
Aspects
What aspects can be / are compared?
Timezone effects
When files are transferred across time zones and between Microsoft FAT and NTFS file systems, the timestamp displayed by the same file may change, so that identical files with different storage histories are deemed different by a comparer that requires the timestamps to match. The difference is an exact number of quarters of an hour up to 95 (same minutes modulo 15 and seconds) if the file was transported across zones; there is also a one-hour difference within a single zone caused by the transition between winter and daylight-saving time (DST). Some, but not all, file comparison and synchronisation software can be configured to ignore the DST and time-zone differences. Software known to have daylight-saving compensation is marked in the Aspects table.