A program for compressing photos without losing quality. Compress PNG images without losing quality online

In the current age of mobile technology, optimization of images in PNG and JPG, JPEG formats has become relevant again, as it was relevant in those days when the Internet was just entering our lives and was universally slow and dial-up. Mobile Internet, of course, is not entirely correct to compare with dial-up, but in places where the connection is poor, the access speed is quite low. And even in those days, the user had nowhere to go, and had to wait for the page to load. Now the Internet has grown, there is a large selection of sites. The user became capricious and impatient, and the average page load time decreased greatly. It’s easier for the user to find another faster site.
Yes, and search giants like Google or Yandex began to pay attention to how quickly sites load, giving preference in the search results to those that are faster. The weight of the page also plays an important role in this, which, in turn, strongly depends on the weight of the images located on it. It's pretty obvious that having compact, compressed images is beneficial to everyone. Therefore, here I want to talk about how to prepare your PNG and JPG, JPEG files for uploading to hosting.

Basic image optimization

This involves trimming unnecessary fields, reducing color depth, removing comments and saving the image in a suitable format. To do this, you can use Adobe Photoshop, or, if you don't have it, MS Paint or GIMP.
Even basic cropping of the image will reduce its weight quite well.

How to make an image smaller in MS Paint

Using MS Paint as an example, I’ll show you how to reduce an image to the required size.
Let's take for example the NGINX logo and its nginx.png image of 2000x417 pixels, which needs to be cropped to 1024 in width, because This is the width of the page layout, and there is no point in doing more.

The output is an image that has undergone minimal basic optimization. It's time to move on to compressing her weight.

File Optimizer for PNG and JPG,JPEG compression

The easiest and fastest way to achieve optimal image compression without loss of quality is to use the File Optimizer program

Official website and program description :

Download File Optimizer you can with

Description . It is an effective optimizer not only for images, but also for .pdf, .docx, txt and other text, audio and video files, as well as archives. You can find a complete list of supported extensions on the official project page.
Here are some of the utilities used in the work: AdvanceCOMP, APNG Optimizer, CSSTidy, DeflOpt, defluff, Gifsicle, Ghostcript, jhead, jpegoptim, jpegtran, Leanify, mozjpeg, MP3packer, mp4v2, OptiPNG, PngOptimizer, PNGOUT, pngquant, pngrewrite, pngwolf, TruePNG, tidy-html5, ZLib, zRecompress. I think even this partial list is quite impressive.

Installing and using File Optimizer

First, download the latest version of the program either in the form of an installer or an archive with files. By the way, the archive has a version for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.

The interface is quite simple and intuitive.
Doesn't need any settings, but you can customize some formats for yourself using the Options button...
Usage . You either drag and drop the required files and even folders (directories) into the program window, or select the ones you need through the Add files... menu.
To optimize files, click Optimize all files

The optimized files will replace the source files, and the category hierarchy will also be preserved. Opposite each file, statistics will be shown, how much the optimized version weighs as a percentage of the original file size.
After completing the work, statistics on the number of processed files will be displayed below in the status line, as well as how much was saved.

In my opinion, File Optimizer does its job very well.
The only negative is that if the list of files is large, you can wait a long time for results, but it’s worth it.

If you are interested in details of optimization methods that can be configured in your own way, then we will talk about setting up and using utilities for image compression

Compress PNG without losing quality

Let's look at 3 programs for PNG optimization:

• Adobe Photoshop
• OptiPNG
• PNGOUT

Let's compare them in terms of image compression quality. We will compress nginx.png from the previous section. The original weight is 27.5 KB.

Compress PNG using Adobe Photoshop

The first one on the list is Photoshop, which is well known to everyone. A multifunctional processor for a designer that can do almost everything, including compressing images.
Open in Photoshop File-Save for Web or use a combination Alt+Shift+Ctrl+S

As a result, we get 22.7 KB, i.e. shrank by 17.5%

Unfortunately, most graphics programs are unable to unlock the full potential of the algorithms used to compress PNGs. The main reason is that to determine the optimal compression strategy, they use heuristic algorithms that allow them to estimate the effectiveness of certain parameters without performing compression, which, as a result, produces a large percentage of errors. Therefore, to compress PNG we use utilities specially created for this purpose, namely OptiPNG and PNGOUT.

Using OptiPNG to Compress PNG

How to install and use OptiPNG

We downloaded .exe, uploaded it to C:\Windows, took the desired PNG file, and put it in some folder. Now, using FAR Manager or another file manager with console support, go to this folder and enter the command into the console

Optipng -o7 nginx.png

The command forces you to compress the PNG in the folder. Later we’ll look at a simple option on how to do compression in one click.
But first, let's take a look at the result.

18.8 KB, i.e. shrank by 31.6%, almost a third. Not bad at all, isn't it? Photoshop turned out much worse.

Using PNGOUT to Compress PNG

How to install and use PNGOUT

Everything is exactly the same as for OptiPNG. Download PNGOUT.exe, drop it into C:\Windows, open the folder with PNG in a file manager, for example, Far Manager, and write in the command line

Pngout nginx.png

The result is below

The result is 23.4 KB, i.e. managed to compress by 15%. Very good.

In general, I’ll say right away that I had different results with different files, in some places PNGOUT worked more efficiently, in others OptiPNG, so I advise you to run the images one by one through both utilities.

How to quickly compress PNG in OptiPNG and PNGOUT

Create a png.reg file and write the registry data there

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 @="Run OptiPNG on Folder" @="cmd.exe /c \"TITLE Running OptiPNG on %1 && FOR /r \"%1\" %%f IN (*.png) DO optipng -o7 \"%%f\" \"" @="Run PNGOUT on Folder" @="cmd.exe /c \"TITLE Running PNGOUT on %1 && FOR /r \"%1\" %%f IN (*.png) DO pngout \"%%f\" \""

Then you run this file and write the data to the Windows registry.
Now, when you click on a folder with PNG files that need to be compressed, select the commands you need, compression will occur automatically for all images at once.

To remove everything from the context menu, write the following code into png.reg and run it

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\OptiPNG] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\OptiPNG\command] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\PNGOUT] [ -HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\PNGOUT\command]

JPG, JPEG compression without quality loss

To optimize JPG, JPEG, by analogy with PNG, there are utilities: jpegtran and jpegoptim. Of course, you can use Photoshop, but for JPG and JPEG compression I highly recommend using them.

How to install, configure and use jpegtran

jpegtran is a powerful utility that allows you to perform simple JPG compression without loss of quality, compression with a certain level of anti-aliasing, and even conversion to Progressive JPEG.
You can download jpegtran here http://jpegclub.org/jpegtran/ (look for and download jpegtran.exe).

How to compress JPG, JPEG using jpegtran

Upload jpegtran.exe to C:\Windows
Then open the folder with the desired JPEG in Far Manager and enter in the console

Jpegtran -copy none -optimize -outfile min.1.jpg 1.jpg # Basic optimization 1.jpg # -copy none removes metadata from JPG # -optimize optimizes the image

Progressive JPG, JPEG

This is a type of JPG that, when the page loads, first shows the general outline, then loads and brings the image quality to maximum. It is very convenient for slow mobile Internet, and therefore it is necessary to use it.

Jpegtran -progressive -outfile 1.jpg 1.jpg # Transforms the 1.jpg format to Progressive

How to check if an image is a Progressive JPEG

Advanced features of jpegtran

Here are all possible options for using jpegtran

Jpegtran --help usage: jpegtran inputfile outputfile Switches (names may be abbreviated): -copy none Copy no extra markers from source file -copy comments Copy only comment markers (default) -copy all Copy all extra markers -optimize Optimize Huffman table ( smaller file, but slow compression) -progressive Create progressive JPEG file Switches for modifying the image: -crop WxH+X+Y Crop to a rectangular subarea -flip Mirror image (left-right or top-bottom) -grayscale Reduce to grayscale ( omit color data) -perfect Fail if there is non-transformable edge blocks -rotate Rotate image (degrees clockwise) -scale M/N Scale output image by fraction M/N, eg, 1/8 -transpose Transpose image -transverse Transverse transpose image -trim Drop non-transformable edge blocks -wipe WxH+X+Y Wipe (gray out) a rectangular subarea Switches for advanced users: -arithmetic Use arithmetic coding -restart N Set restart interval in rows, or in blocks with B -maxmemory N Maximum memory to use (in kbytes) -outfile name Specify name for output file -verbose or -debug Emit debug output Switches for wizards: -scans file Create multi-scan JPEG per script file

How to quickly automatically compress JPEG using jpegtran in Windows

You won't be able to compress via the context menu due to the way the utility works, however, you can set up compression of multiple JPEGs at once automatically.
To do this, we need to create a file with the extension .bat (to help) and write it there

Cd/d. for %%j in (*.jpg) do call:sheensay "%%~nxj" "%%~nj.jpg" goto:eof:sheensay jpegtran -copy none -optimize -progressive "%~1" "%~2 "

How to install, configure and use jpegoptim

How to compress JPG, JPEG using jpegoptim

Upload jpegoptim.exe to C:\Windows. Then open the folder with JPG images using Far Manager and enter into the console

Jpegoptim *.jpg --strip-all --all-progressive

How to optimize several JPGs, JPEGs at once using jpegoptim

Unlike jpegtran, the jpegoptim utility allows you to work with it quite well from the context menu.
Let's create a file jpegoptim.reg, for example, using Far Manager, and write there

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 @="Run jpegoptim on Folder" @="cmd.exe /c \"TITLE Running jpegoptim on %1 && FOR /r \"%1\" %%f IN (*.jpg) DO jpegoptim *.jpg --strip-all --all-progressive \"%%f\" \""

We launched it and entered the data into the registry. Now you can compress many JPEG files using the context menu, just put the desired images in one folder, RMB and “Run jpegoptim on Folder”.

If you want to remove jpegoptim from the registry and context menu, write jpegoptim.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\jpegoptim] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\jpegoptim\command]

Save, run, make changes to the registry.

How well do jpegtran and jpegoptim compress jpg, jpeg

Let's move on to the tests. Take, for example, the caching.jpg file. In the original it weighs 29.5 KB

Jpegtran tests for JPG, JPEG compression quality

The output was 29.1 KB, compression saved 1.36%

Jpegoptim tests for JPG, JPEG compression quality

This is not visible in Windows Explorer; the compression was several hundred bytes.

Well, the original file was pretty well prepared, so the compression didn't have any noticeable effect, but when you process your unoptimized images, you'll sometimes be surprised at how much you can save in size.

How to set up png and jpg, jpeg compression automatically

If you have read to this section, but are still dissatisfied with the options offered, I suggest you assemble a portable harvester yourself - a service for compressing pictures, photos, images that will work as you need right on your desktop.

Must be pre-installed jpegtran, jpegoptim, optipng, pngout yu
Installation instructions are above.

So, for this we need to properly assemble the folder architecture. Let's say you have an images folder with its own hierarchy of subfolders with PNG and JPG that you need to process.
Create a folder optimus, put the images folder with all its subfolders and files into it.
Open , open optimus in it, create a go.bat file there and write it there

@ECHO OFF CLS SetLocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion set home_path=%~dp0:: Name of the folder in which the raw images are located set folder=images echo Processing *.JPG files via jpegtran:: Create a folder in which the compressed jpg will be stored. In our case, this is jpeg_images xcopy /y /t /c /i "%folder%" "jpg_%folder%" :: For each .jpg, we optimize using jpegtran. Output.jpg will be written to jpeg_images for /r %folder% %%a in (*.jpg) do (set fn=%%a& jpegtran -copy none -optimize -progressive -outfile %home_path%jpg_!fn:%~dp0 =! %home_path%!fn:%~dp0=!) echo Processing of *.JPG files via jpegtran is completed:: We indicate that the run should now be carried out in a new folder jpeg_images set folder = jpg_%folder% echo Processing of *.JPG files via jpegoptim for /r %folder% %%a in (*.jpg) do (set fn=%%a& jpegoptim %%~a --strip-all) echo Processing of *.JPG files via jpegoptim completed echo Processing of *.PNG files via optipng xcopy /y /t /c /i "%folder%" "png_%folder%" for /r %folder% %%a in (*.png) do (set fn=%%a& optipng -o7 %% ~a -out %home_path%png_!fn:%~dp0=!) echo Processing of *.PNG files via optipng is completed set folder=png_%folder% echo Processing of *.PNG files via pngout for /r %folder% %%a in (*.png) do (set fn=%%a& pngout %%~a) echo Processing of *.PNG files via pngout completed pause

The code is commented out in important parts. In fact, nothing complicated, you can figure it out if you need it.

Now save go.bat and run it.

If there are a lot of files, image compression will take some time. Wait until the console notifies you that the process has completed.

Compression takes place by separating JPG files separately, which are now located in jpg_images, and PNG files separately, which are located in png_images.

If you need to change quality or other parameters, see the description of the utilities above and change the code to suit your needs.

How to Optimize and Compress GIF

In conclusion

In this article, I tried to cover as fully as possible the methods of optimizing PNG and JPG. If you have any questions or additions, write in the comments, we’ll discuss

Are you sure that all the graphics used on your pages are optimized for the web? Before you compress a photo, you probably already selected the appropriate format for each image, and also tried to reduce their size as much as possible.

The main problem is that it doesn’t matter how carefully you optimize your image, since image editors most often save it in the most suitable version for publication on the Internet. And if you don’t run these images through special compression tools, their size can significantly affect page loading speed.

Testing

In this article, we have collected 18 of the best photo compression tools online and locally. Most of the programs presented are designed for Windows and can reduce the size of images with virtually no loss of quality. In addition, we have not forgotten about programs for Mac, as well as web services, so everyone can find a suitable option.

We tried compressing the same set of GIF, PNG, and JPG images using each of the tools described below, and the images were already optimized for the web, but we were still able to reduce their size. The results turned out to be quite interesting! Let's see what we managed to find out.

Programs

01. AdvanceCOMP 1.20

Platform: Windows

An ancient command line tool with no instructions provided. AdvanceCOMP is unlikely to appeal to the average PC user. If you are not afraid of batch files, then it will be easier for you to cope with this tool.

A simple line like: for %a in (“C:PNG FileFolder*.png”) do advpng -z -4 “%a” will apply a lossless compression algorithm to each file located in the specified directory. Once the photo size is compressed, the finished files will replace the original ones.

But the final result of compressing the PNG image disappointed us, as the size decreased by only 14.2% ( only this tool gave such a low result).

Of course, it's better than nothing. And if you plan to combine several tools together, then AdvanceCOMP will definitely play its part in optimizing PNG images.

02. Caesium 1.7.0

Platform: Windows

Caesium is a simple open source tool that is useful for compressing images in PNG, JPG and BMP formats. The program is easy to use. Click the button Add» (Add), select the images you want, then specify a folder to place the results ( Output folder), click “Compress” (Compress), and in just a few seconds the task will be completed.

BMP compression was not interesting to us, and there is nothing new presented here in JPG compression technology. There is no lossless compression option here, as the program simply re-encodes the file using the quality settings you specify.

Caesium can compress PNG graphics, however, you will encounter certain limitations here too. Before you compress photos for sending, you should know that the tool only allows you to receive 24-bit files, so if you use other formats, the images will most likely just gain weight.

This is what the testing results showed, as most of our test PNG images began to weigh even more. Fortunately, if you are not satisfied with the result, you can simply not save the resulting file. Overall, we were only able to achieve 1.2% compression, so it's clear that many users will abandon this program.

03. FILEminimizer Pictures

Platform: Windows

FILEminimizer Pictures, unlike most of the tools presented in this article, takes a more radical approach to image compression. By default, it can change formats, scale images, re-encode JPEG data to reduce file weight, and remove metadata, which also affects the weight of images.

Before compressing a photo for the Internet, users can change all these settings. The program is built in a familiar format. Once you have selected the source file, specified the destination folder, and changed the option values, there is only one click left, after which optimization will begin. This process happens very quickly.

How good is the result? It all depends on the image format. When compressing PNG, we managed to get up to 26.8%. GIF compression gave no more than 16.5%, but as for the JPG format, here we compressed the weight of the files to almost 40%.

04. FileOptimizer

Platform: Windows

This program allows you not only to compress JPG, GIF and PNG, but also to work with executable files, archives, Microsoft Office documents, PDF and many others.

What’s surprising is that the increased functionality doesn’t compromise usability at all. This program has one of the clearest interfaces: just drag and drop images into FileOptimizer, right-click and select " Optimize"(Optimize).

But keep in mind that the program replaces the original files with new ones. The sources are moved to the trash can and can be restored if necessary.

How to compress many photos at once? Use this tool, because FileOptimizer showed very good results in terms of compression level. The PNG image was compressed by 42.2%, which is the best figure. JPEG and GIF were reduced by 17.7% and 15.9%, respectively. In addition, FileOptimizer boasts other advantages, including the ability to optimize other files on your site.

05. ImageOptim 1.6.1

Platform: Mac

It is a tool that optimizes GIF, JPEG and PNG images, and acts as an interface to other applications, including PNGOUT, AdvPNG, Pngcrush, extended OptiPNG, JpegOptim, jpegrescan, jpegtran and Gifsicle.

The program is aimed at compression without loss of quality: it allows you to remove comments, color profiles, etc. However, it does not recode the image or reduce the number of colors. As a result, you are unlikely to be able to significantly reduce the weight of your files, but you don’t have to worry about losing image quality.

To start the compression process, you need to drag the desired element into the program window. It's not the fastest app, but unless you start uploading thousands of high-resolution photos to it, it's unlikely to be a problem.

The result was good, but not quite what we expected. GIF graphics were compressed by 17.8%, PNG – by 17.8%, JPG images were reduced by 18.3%. You can get better results with other tools, but if you need a stable and simple tool on hand, ImageOptim is definitely worth a look.

06. JPEGmini Lite

Platform: Mac/Windows

An interesting application in which JPEG images are compressed in two stages. First, a sophisticated algorithm is used to determine which part of the image can be compressed without losing quality. And then the program uses its own JPEG encoder, which generates the most compressed image without significant loss of quality.

To start the process, drag the images into the program window ( The free version allows you to compress up to 20 images daily), and it will replace the original images with new compressed versions.

It is worth noting that results may vary significantly. For example, we were able to compress JPG files by only 8.2%, but when we loaded 25 very high-resolution photos into the program, they were able to compress them by a whopping 71.3% without any visible loss of quality.

With simple web graphics, you can't expect much from JPEGmini. However, the compression quality increases significantly when working with large images. This is something to consider before compressing your photo folder.

07. jStrip 3.3

Platform: Windows

A tool for compressing JPEG files without losing quality, which allows you to remove all unnecessary information: thumbnail, comments, color profile, extra bytes at the beginning and end of the file, etc.

There will be little compression as there is no re-encoding. We realized this when we tried to compress several high-resolution JPG images and ended up with a file that was only 1% “lighter” than the original.

If you compress small files, the result will be more noticeable. For example, when we tried to reduce a JPEG file prepared for use on a web page, we received a compression of 16.1%.

The program itself can hardly be called ideal. By default, it replaces the original files with compressed versions, so you'll have to work with the copies.

08. OptiPNG 0.7.5

Platform: Windows

A popular command line-based tool for compressing PNG images, often used in other applications. For example, PNGGauntlet, which we'll talk about later.

The program is supplied with detailed instructions that explain all possible options and functions. As for the results, even with the default settings we were able to compress the PNG image by 32.2%.

If you need something simpler, PNGGauntlet has a simple GUI ( and the program itself generally gave good compression results). But if you want to combine multiple command line tools, then we recommend including OptiPNG in the list.

09. PNGGauntlet 3.1.2

Platform: Windows

A tool that can be used as an interface to three other open-source programs ( PNGOUT, OptiPNG, DeflOpt). At the same time, the application allows you to effectively compress graphic files.

In use, PNGGauntlet is similar to other programs. But in this application, the compression process will take a little longer due to the combination of three tools at once. It took us about an hour to compress 25 high-resolution photos into PNG format.

The result impressed us. When compressing PNG, PNGGauntlet reduced the size of 50 images by 41.3%.

Before you compress several photos at once using this application, think about whether it's worth the long wait? But if you need a tool for high-quality compression of PNG images, then PNGGauntlet will definitely fit into your arsenal.

10. PNGOptimizer 2.4.2

Platform: Windows

Considering its size (146 KB), PNGOptimizer is the smallest program of all, so it is not surprising that its interface is so primitive. It is focused on working with PNG files.

But the range of compression options is impressive. PNGOptimizer can remove interlacing, replace background color, remove text, and much more.

In addition, this program is capable of importing GIF, BMP or TGA files, and saving them in PNG format in accordance with the specified parameters.

At the same time, PNGOptimizer is clearly inferior to its competitors in terms of efficiency, since we were able to compress high-quality PNG images by only 3.6%.

With web graphics things are much better, and we were able to achieve almost 40% compression. If you need a small and simple solution for working with PNG, then PNGOptimizer is an option!

11. PNGOUTWin 1.5.0

Platform: Windows

One of the best image compression tools. Unfortunately, it is inconvenient to use, since it is a command line and does not support batch processing. If all this is a problem for you, then you can use the paid PNGOUTWin interface.

The program has many settings. You can use PNGOUTWin to overwrite the original images, or create compressed copies in a separate folder.

To start the process, drag the desired files into the program window, and the compression process will begin immediately. Moreover, compression is performed in several threads, which means that the program is capable of processing several images simultaneously.

We were also amazed by the result: PNG web graphics were compressed by 40.5%. But now you can find many services for compressing photo size online.

12. PUNYpng

Platform: Web service

The service is capable of compressing, without loss of quality, not only PNG files, but also GIF/JPG. You can register in this service absolutely free, but it has some limitations: you can upload up to 15 images at a time, and each of them can “weigh” no more than 150 kb.

This isn't a big problem considering the ease of use. After going to the service, click the button " Upload Images” and then wait until all images are optimized during the upload process. After this, a report on the work done will be presented, as well as the opportunity to download a set of processed images in the form of a ZIP archive.

A free account only allows for lossless compression. PUNYpng gives a fairly good result, and in tests we were able to get from 16% to 32% compression of various formats. For a small fee ($2 per month) you can get a PRO account, which allows for lossy compression. In this case, it is possible to upload many larger files.

If you just need a web service and you are not bothered by limitations, then PUNYpng can rightfully be considered an effective and easy-to-use option.

13. RIOT 0.5.2

Platform: Windows

Although RIOT is free, it is perhaps the only image compression program that will try to suggest additional software during the installation process. Don't forget to uncheck the corresponding box if you are not interested in this offer.

The neat and clear interface allows you to compress individual GIF, PNG or JPG images, and compare the result with the original, while a multi-threaded process processes multiple images at once.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to perform compression here without losing quality. RIOT is designed to reduce the number of colors in images, transcoding JPEG into a lower quality image. Even despite these facts, the program managed to make some of our files even larger in size. We recommend that you carefully check the results obtained using RIOT.

Before you compress your photo folder, you should know that this tool works great with GIF graphics, which we managed to compress by 42.8%.

14. ScriptJPG

Platform: Windows

One of the most primitive tools presented in this article. It is a script that acts as an interface to several command line tools. Drag JPG files into the open script window, specify compression options, and ScriptJPG does the rest.

The tool, despite its advertising and press release promises, does not work with JPG web graphics. We still don't understand why, because the structure of ScriptJPG is so simple that you can't even see the error messages.

We were still able to use a set of JPG photos for testing, and the results were acceptable. We managed to compress each photo by 10%.

If you are a simple PC user, then we recommend using something with a graphical interface.

15. ScriptPNG

Platform: Windows

ScriptPNG is a relative of ScriptJPG. This is a Windows batch file that uses four utilities to reduce the size of PNG files.

Before you compress a photo for the Internet, drag the images onto the file itself, which will open a command line with nine possible compression methods. Select the most appropriate option, and after that the program will close, starting to process file by file ( replacing the original images).

During testing, we encountered problems with the pngout.exe executable and therefore had to close each error message manually.

Despite the inconvenience, the level of compression was amazing. PNG web graphics were reduced by 40.1%.

We cannot but agree that the scripting approach gives more control over the compression process. If you don't like something about ScriptPNG or want to add some other tools and options, you can edit the script file accordingly.

16. Smush.It 0.5

Platform: Web service

Most online photo size compression web services have significant limitations, but Smush.It is a rare exception. There is a limit of 1 MB per file, but the system allows you to upload as many files as you like. There is no need to register, no need to create and fill out an account, and there are no daily limits. Finished images can be downloaded as a ZIP archive.

The main disadvantage of the service is that you cannot change the compression settings.

This resulted in a real problem when we realized that our test JPG files were only 1% smaller. PNG compression turned out to be more impressive - up to 35%, and GIF compression was absolutely amazing - we managed to get 23.9% ( perhaps this is the best result of lossless compression from the entire collection).

We'd like to have more control over compression settings, but if you're comfortable with this approach, we recommend giving Smush.It a try.

17.TinyPNG

Platform: Web service

TinyPNG is a free web service for image optimization. Drag and drop files onto a web page, and the service will compress them and provide download links.

This online photo compression tool has limitations: the file size should not exceed 2 MB, and when receiving the result, you will have to download each finished file in turn.

In TinyPNG, its algorithm completely reworks the palette and reduces the number of colors used. Thanks to this, we were able to compress web graphics in PNG format by 48% ( the best result in this collection). And in most cases, you can hardly tell the difference between the original and the optimized image.

It's worth noting that several of the tools in this collection also provided up to 40% compression, but if the quality of the final image is important to you, then we definitely recommend using TinyPNG.

18. Trout's GIF Optimizer

Platform: Windows

A miniature image compression tool. There is no need to install it, just unzip the archive and it is ready to go. The program is intended solely for compressing GIF graphics, and there are no settings provided here.

All this at least significantly speeds up the work of Trout's GIF Optimizer. Import your selected photos and the compression process will begin. You will immediately see ready-made images that can be downloaded in just a few clicks.

This tool does not boast good compression results: we were able to compress web graphics in GIF format by only 16.7%.

Results

Note: Some tests were performed on previous versions of the software.

In conclusion

After hours of testing, evaluating, and compiling a list, we've learned at least one thing: online photo compression can produce completely unexpected results.

We were able to compress PNG files by 30-40%, and even JPEG images were compressed by 16-18%. We are talking specifically about lossless compression, and, therefore, without affecting the quality of images. The output was exactly the same files, but with less weight.

So what are the best tools to use? FileOptimizer offers the best lossless compression performance on Windows, and can achieve 42.2% compression of PNG files, giving impressive results when working with JPG and GIF. It also offers several useful options ( for example, compressing PDF documents).

But if this option does not suit you, then you can take a closer look at PNGGauntlet and ScriptPNG, which also compress PNG well. ImageOptim for Mac performed well with JPEGs and GIFs.

Online web services for compressing photo sizes seemed less convenient to us, and therefore we would not recommend using them. PUNYpng showed the best result of JPG compression without loss of quality, and Smush.It copes better with GIF files. In any case, each of the presented tools will help you at least a little “lighten” the pages of the site and significantly speed up its work. The choice is yours!

Translation of the article “ 18 image file compression tools tested” was prepared by the friendly project team.

Good Bad

Compressing images is a very important process, because ultimately it saves space on your hard drive, increases site loading speed and saves traffic. But how can you figure out among the many different programs for optimizing images, each of which has its own special functionality? Let's learn about the capabilities of the most popular image compression applications.

The program for compressing photos without loss of quality RIOT is distinguished not only by its wide functionality, in addition to file compression, which includes the ability to change their size and convert to other formats, but also by a very convenient interface. It is important that this application supports optimization of several graphic file formats at once.

The main disadvantage of the application is the lack of a Russian-language interface.

Caesium

Another popular photo optimization program is Caesium. The main feature of this application is the high accuracy of image compression settings. This utility also has a very user-friendly graphical interface. In addition, unlike most image optimization programs, the Cesium application is Russified.

At the same time, despite the fact that this program works with several graphic file formats, it does not support processing of all popular extensions. For example, Caesium does not work with the GIF format.

Light Image Resizer

A fairly powerful program for compressing and optimizing photos is the Light Image Resizer application. This software product, despite its relatively simple appearance, is a serious utility for image processing. Although image compression is the main function of this utility, it also has a number of photo editing tools. The program performs cropping, applying effects, reducing the physical size of the image, and converting to various formats. The domestic user will like the fact that the Light Image Resizer utility is completely Russified.

This application does not have any significant drawbacks. Is it possible to take as a disadvantage the fact that this program is one of the few described in this review that has a shareware license. That is, you will have to pay for its continued use.

Advanced JPEG Compressor

Unlike previous applications, the Advanced JPEG Compressor program does not specialize in compressing several types of graphic files, but is concentrated on working with one format - JPEG. It is considered one of the best utilities for optimizing files with this extension, providing high compression and compression speed. In addition to this primary task, the program has an image editing function, including using a convenient graphic equalizer. It is capable of converting a range of popular image formats into JPEG files. In addition, JPEG images are converted back to BMP format.

But, unfortunately, the official version of this program is not Russified. In addition, the functionality of the free version, which can be used for a short period of time, is very limited.

PNGGauntlet

A similar version of the previous program, only specializing in compressing images in PNG format, is the PNGGauntlet utility. Thanks to the built-in tools PNGOUT, OptiPNG, Defl Opt, this program compresses photos of this format very efficiently. In addition, it converts a range of image formats to PNG images.

But, unfortunately, the overall functionality of this program is quite limited, and it does not have more features than those listed above. In addition, the application is not Russified.

OptiPNG

The OptiPNG application, like the previous one, is also designed to compress images in PNG format. Moreover, it is included as a component in the PNGGauntlet program, but can also be used separately, providing high quality compression for this type of file. In addition, it is possible to convert a number of graphic formats to PNG format.

But it is worth noting that a significant inconvenience of this program is the lack of a graphical interface, since it works through the command line console.

Jpegoptim

An analogue of the OptiPNG program, only intended for processing files in the JPEG format, is the Jpegoptim utility, which also works from the command line console and does not have a graphical interface. But, despite this, it is considered one of the best in terms of compression of JPEG images and speed of working with them.

But, unlike OptiPNG, this application does not have the ability to convert images of other formats into the format in which it specializes (JPEG), that is, it is even more functionally limited.

FileOptimizer

Unlike the previous program, FileOptimizer does not focus on working with just one type of file. Moreover, it is capable of compressing not only images, but also videos, audio, documents, programs, etc. The list of file formats that FileOptimizer can optimize is simply impressive. But, despite its “omnivorous” nature, the program is very easy to use.

At the same time, it should be noted that a side effect of the versatility of this program is its relatively weak capabilities for working with files in graphic formats. For example, unlike most image compression programs, it cannot even perform basic image editing.

Faststone Image Viewer

Unlike the previous utility, Faststone Image Viewer is a comprehensive application for working with images, and compressing photos is far from its main function. This program is, first of all, a powerful image viewer and editor that works with a huge number of graphic formats.

It should be noted that this application is irrational to use if you plan to use it only as a tool for compressing photos. This is explained by the fact that the own weight of the Faststone Image Viewer program is quite large, and control of the compression process is complicated by the oversaturated functionality of the utility.

As you can see, the variety of programs for compressing and optimizing images is quite large. They can specialize in a particular photo format, or support the ability to work with multiple image formats, and even with completely different types of data. These utilities can have only one function - image compression, or they can be very multifunctional, and file compression may not be their main task. In general, users have the opportunity to choose exactly the photo compression application that suits them best.

Image Resizer is a very valuable and useful free program in Russian for working with images on Windows. It is designed to allow you to quickly and easily change the image resolution or convert it to any other format. Image Resizer has a nice design, ease of use and speed.

Anyone can download Image Resizer for free using a direct link on our website. This is the most accessible and functional tool for working with pictures on a computer.

Every computer should have such a program, since often an inexperienced user simply cannot do without it. That is why this program is presented on our website.

Peculiarities

• Convert files between different graphic formats;
• Inserting watermarks into an image;
• Reducing the size of photos for publishing on the Internet or sending by e-mail;
• Changing image compression strength and resolution;
• Support JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF and other files;
• Support for RAW formats of digital cameras: Canon, Nikon, Minolta;
• Changeable options and settings for advanced users.

If you work with photographs or pictures of different formats, using Image Resizer for Windows you can easily compress them or resize them, for example, in order to send it to your loved ones by e-mail. People who work with website design, as a rule, very often need to compress images as much as possible without visual loss of quality. Image Resizer is a program that allows you to do this.

It also contains “presets” (ready-made settings) for converting images optimized for iPod, NTSC, Sony PSP, HDTV, DVD FULL HD.

From time to time, every user needs a photo compression program.

The situation is quite banal and simple - you go on vacation, take a camera with you, but there is not enough memory in the device to take more pictures.

There is practically no memory on the computer either.

Then existing photos need to be compressed. This means that you need to make the files weigh less, that is, take up less space in the device’s memory.

We will look at 5 of the most convenient and popular programs that will help solve the problem.

But before that, let's look at one interesting question. Is it possible to compress photos without losing quality?

Many say that this is possible and even give examples of programs that supposedly do this. In fact, it is impossible to compress any files without losing some of their information!

Yes, the algorithms may differ, and some of them allow you to compress photos with minimal losses that will be invisible to the human eye.

Others make it possible to perform the task in such a way that the loss of quality is not noticeable even to the best devices. But it is simply impossible to compress a picture without losing quality at all.

Most algorithms and programs that use them produce results similar to those shown in Figure 1.

As you can see, here the loss of quality is noticeable to the naked eye.

But this does not mean that all these programs should not be used. You just need to choose the ones that work better than the rest. But we did it for you.

Enjoy!

Below are all five programs that compress images best (they lose the least amount of quality) and are the most convenient to use.

Caesium

Let's start with a very unusual tool that copes with the task perfectly. Moreover, even a novice user can use it.

Interestingly, Caesium is open source.

This means that anyone can absolutely calmly take this very code and add some of their own adjustments to it.

If the developers like them, they will implement them in the next version of the program. In addition, Caesium algorithms can be borrowed for your own use.

True, this program only works with three image formats - PNG, JPG and BMP. However, this is true for most such programs and you definitely shouldn’t abandon Caesium because of this.

However, if you have pictures in a different format, it is better to convert them to one of the three above-mentioned formats.

“But that’s a completely different story”! (With)

When it comes to photo compression, Caesium has some limitations in its work.

The most important of them is that if you use PNG, the program will only work with 24-bit images.

Otherwise, the images even increase in size. Otherwise, Caesium is an excellent photo compression tool.

Using the tool is very simple, all you have to do is do the following:

The program can automatically reduce the width and height so that the resulting image meets the criteria of a particular resource.

In addition, using this tool you can archive pictures. Moreover, after compressing the files, all of them can be easily placed in an archive.

This will reduce their size even further.

In general, FastStone Image Viewer is a very multifunctional and really high-quality thing!

To use it, you need to do the following:

1. First, you need to download the program from the official website and install it accordingly.
2. It is advisable to copy all files intended for compression into one folder before starting work. Then it will be easier to import all of them into the program.
3. After that, launch FastStone Image Viewer. On the left there will be a tree of folders in which you will need to select yours. When you click on it, all the images will automatically appear in a large window on the right.

Rice. 3. Selecting a folder with photos in FastStone Image Viewer

1. Now select the pictures to be compressed in the same window on the right. This is done with the mouse cursor.

Rice. 4. Selecting images in FastStone Image Viewer

1. Now click "File" in the top left corner of the program. Select an option from the drop-down menu “Send by e-mail”.

Rice. 5. The “Send by e-mail” item in the drop-down list of the “File” menu

1. The compression menu will open. Where it was originally written, «<Выбор размера>» , in the drop-down menu, select the size of the output image. If desired, check the boxes "Add Frame" And "Save EXIF/IPTC data". Also, if desired, all pictures can be renamed. To do this, check the appropriate box and set a name template. Next, check the box “Pack images into archive”, if you want this action to be performed.

Rice. 6. Compression settings in FastStone Image Viewer

1. Click on the button "Copy to..." and in the window that appears, select the path to save the files.

Rice. 7. “Copy to...” button in the compression settings window

1. Wait for the process to complete.

As you can see, it’s also nothing complicated.

ImageCompressor

Everything about this tool is extremely simple. There are no special display elements like in FastStone Image Viewer.

And there are not many functions here at all, but specifically one, and this is image compression.

On the one hand, this is even good, because the developers paid as much attention as possible to it, and were not distracted by anything else.

Judging by many reviews and tests, ImageCompressor does its job a little better than Caesium. The quality of compressed files is practically not lost.

At least this is not noticeable to the human eye.

Using ImageCompressor is as follows:

1. First, download and run the program on your computer ().
2. Import source images into the program. To do this, click on the button with the ellipsis. A standard file selection window will open in which you need to select the ones you need.
3. Next to the “Quality” inscription, use the slider to indicate the desired quality of the resulting images. If desired, you can specify it manually in the corresponding field to the right of the slider.
4. Check the box next to “Size in %” and use the slider to select 100 or enter this number manually. This will show the program that you want to save 100% of the photo size.
5. Next, check the box next to “Save as JPEG” or “Save as PNG” - depending on the format in which you want to save the image.
6. Click on the ellipses button under the words “Save Compressed Images...” and in the window that appears, select the folder where the compressed images will be saved.
7. Click on the “Compress All” button and wait for the process to complete.

Rice. 8. Working in ImageCompressor

When finished, the compressed files can be found in the folder specified in step six.