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In the "Why Xar" page of the Xar Google Code page it says:

Additionally, this means xar can use different compression methods for each file in the archive. For instance, it might not be a good idea to try to try to compress an already compressed file, but a large file might benefit greatly from using bzip2, whereas a small text file would be better served to use gzip.

I read the man page and it does not indicates how to do this. So, does anyone know how?

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The man page quite clearly states how to do this; searching the man-page for gzip would have given you your answer even if you just looked at it in a cursory manner. – tink Oct 17 '12 at 19:45
I take it that the OP wants to know how to use different compression methods for different files within the same archive. As far as I can tell, the man page does not answer this. – Ansgar Esztermann Oct 17 '12 at 20:09
Yes, Ansgar Esztermann, that was what I meant. And not only the xar man page does not indicate how to do this, but also their google code page. – NotFromBrooklyn Oct 18 '12 at 8:56

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You can't add them both in the same command line, as far as I can see – from the man page I interpret the functionality to include:

  • compressing files into the archive using various compression methods – this would have to be done individually, or in groups
  • decompressing them no matter whether they are in the same format or not

So you can have an efficient archive which only requires one command to extract all the contents.

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So I should compress the file using one method and then add files with the other compression? Now as I'm typing this, it seems kinda logical. Thank you. – NotFromBrooklyn Dec 5 '12 at 7:19
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I just read the "Why xar" blurb now, and downloaded the tar-ball to look at the man-page. 

--compression gzip

or

--compression bzip2

seems to do what you're asking?

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This would work if you want only the compression bzip2 or gzip. What if I want both? I dont think "--compression gzip --compression bzip2" will work. – NotFromBrooklyn Oct 18 '12 at 8:59

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