No. You can't get people to use updated software. You can't get a number of people to update past windows 7. This has been and will likely remain a persistent issue, and it's sure not one you're going to fix. All it will do is limit your ability to work with people. This isn't a hill on which you should die.

if they want to open certain files, they will update

No, they're just not going to work with you.

Yep. Half the world's finances still spin on CSVs and FTP (no, not SFTP, FTP) If your customers request a format, that's the format you're using.

And if they don't request a format (or if you ask, and the response is "what's a format"), you need to use one that's 99.99% supported.

im okay with that. That being said, I have not had a single issue delivering zip files with lzma, and i KNOW that I have gotten MANY from the random sources.

I would also expect people to be able to decode h265 in an mp4 file.

Your proposal seems, to word it bluntly, retarded. You would have mp4 frozen for h264 for ETERNITY, and then invent a new format as replacement? or you would just say "god has bestowed upon the world h264, and it shall be the LAST CODEC EVER!".

get with the program. Things change, you cannot expect to be forwards compatible for ever. Sometimes people have to switch to newer versions of software.

It depends on your priorities.

If your customer is stuck in the 90s because his 90s technology works perfectly fine and he has no intention to fix things that are not broken. Then deliver stuff that is compatible with 90s technology. He will be happy, will continue to work with you and you will make money.

If your customer is using the latest technologies and values size efficiency, then use the latest codecs.

I usually default to being conservative, because those who are up to date usually don't have a problem with bigger files, but those who are not are going to have a problem with recent formats. Maybe overly so, but that's my experience with working with big companies with decades long lifecycles.

Your job is not to lecture your customer, unless he asked for it. And if he asked for it, he probably expects better arguments that "update your software, idiot". Your job is to deliver what works for him. Now, of course, it is your right to be picky and leave money on the table, I will be happy to go after you and take it.

not everything is a client<->customer relationship.

Professionally I can definitely support old stuff. It costs extra most often.

Conservative doesnt have to be stuck. I am not recommending we send h266 to everyone now, but h265 is well supported, as is AV1.

lzma support in zip has been widely supported for many years at this point. I am going to be choosing my "sane defaults", and if someone has a problem with that, they can simply do what they need to do to open it, or provide a damn good reason for me to go out of my way.

>how about people learn to use updated software?

How about software developers learn to keep software working on old OSes and old hardware?

What stops you from running updated zip/unzip on an old OS or on old hardware?

Nothing, but what stops you from using DEFLATE64?

Installing new software has a real time and hassle cost, and how much time are you actually saving over the long run? It depends on your usage patterns.

Supporting old APIs and additional legacy ways of doing things has a real cost in maintenance.

So does not supporting them, but the developer gets to externalize those.

the developer is hired by someone that gets to make that decision. Ultimately the customer does. Thats why some people spend extreme resources on legacy crap, because someone has deemed it worth it.

what stops you from installing win95 and winzip?

what software doesnt support OSs that are in active SECURITY support?

"Retro-computing fans can download the final updates released for '90s-era OSes."

Right, and when were these "final updates" made? are you suggesting 95, 98 still sees ACTIVE security support?

mkv or mp4 with h264 and aac is good enough. mp3 is good enough. jpeg is good enough. zip with deflate is also good enough.

"Good enough" is not good enough.

I started using winrar because winzip wouldnt fit in a floppy disk. so even in the 90s zip wasnt good enough

In the middle of San Francisco, with Silicon Valley level incomes, very possible. In the real world I still exchange files with users on rustic ADSL, where every megabyte counts. Many areas out there, in rural Mongolia or in the middle of Africa that's just got access to the internet, are even worse in that regard.

h264 is not good enough for many things