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They tell you which directories use the most disk space: $ du -a. The du, ncdu, and dust commands list the biggest subdirectories under the current directory. Deleting just a handful of space hogs yields outsized benefits. File deletionīefore you start your file-format conversions, it's helpful to identify and then delete any huge but unwanted files you have on your computer. The goal is to give you maximum benefit while keeping it simple. This article discusses only a handful of the most popular file formats and terminal commands among the hundreds that exist. You can install an open source conversion GUI application onto your computer, or you can even convert file formats using the save as and export functions of many common applications. While this article covers terminal commands, there are many other ways to compress and convert files. That allows you to develop programs that are custom-tailored to your own unique needs. Also, you'll need to use line commands if you want to write scripts. I use line commands because they give you complete control over compression and format conversion features.
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This article demonstrates how to use Linux line commands to perform the most common space-saving conversions.
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Have media files on your computer? You can likely reclaim significant disk space by storing that data in more space-efficient file formats.
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