Photo Compression Freeware?

[Foolmewunz]

Apologies if this has been addressed, but I'm looking for a photo compression tool. I use the one in Powerpoint at the office and it's actually quite functional for me. But I went a-googling for an answer and got nothing real solid in the way of advice.

Is there anything out there in freeware? Or do I have to invest some money? I don't have massive use for the home PC - just photos of the kid.

[madurobob]

Any of these help?

http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-freeware-utilities/index.html#graphics

ETA: also click the "open source freeware..." link near the bottom of the list for more.

[elgarak]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I always found IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/) useful. Free, small footprint, does batch resizing and converting. And makes simple slideshows easily.

[ddt]

For my modest graphics manipulation needs - mainly resizing of images and converting to another format - I always use ImageMagick (http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php). It comes more or less standard in any Linux distribution, but it also has downloads with Windows ports. Its main program, 'convert', has a gazillion options for everything and the kitchen sink.

[often mrunderstood]

Fotosizer has been pretty good to me. I like the way it does many pics at once.

http://download.cnet.com/Fotosizer/3000-2192_4-10647201.html

[Foolmewunz]

Thanks, guys - I've got busy day, but I'll do some clicking later. A photographer did about 200 shots of my son's birthday dinner, but they're all in the 3 meg range (not ideal for sending to friends or posting on the JREF*), so I'll do some comparisons.

Appreciate the help.

* That's not a threat. I won't be posting 200 baby pics, I promise! (I'll limit myself to 175 of them :spjimlad: )

[grmcdorman]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I always found IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/) useful. Free, small footprint, does batch resizing and converting. And makes simple slideshows easily.
IrfanView isn't completely free - there is supposed to be a fee for commercial use. I keep complaining about this at work, though, and it often falls on deaf ears. Having said that, baby pictures (at least, your own baby) are about as personal as it gets, and IrfanView does provide a way to batch convert images.

ImageMagick is great for command-line use; not so much for anything else.

Note that you should expand on what you mean by "compression"; there's at least two meanings:

Reduce dimensions (e.g. 4086x2048 => 640x480 for the web); this will reduce storage size as a side effect.
Reduce file size (typically by using a lossy compression like JPEG, which reduces image quality)

[Foolmewunz]

IrfanView isn't completely free - there is supposed to be a fee for commercial use. I keep complaining about this at work, though, and it often falls on deaf ears. Having said that, baby pictures (at least, your own baby) are about as personal as it gets, and IrfanView does provide a way to batch convert images.

ImageMagick is great for command-line use; not so much for anything else.

Note that you should expand on what you mean by "compression"; there's at least two meanings:

Reduce dimensions (e.g. 4086x2048 => 640x480 for the web); this will reduce storage size as a side effect.
Reduce file size (typically by using a lossy compression like JPEG, which reduces image quality)


Ah, thanks - it's mostly the former. I still have the CDs she burned for me, so if I want to turn any of them into portrait quality prints I can always go to the source, but for posting on the web, e.g. VBulletin here you need the smaller sizes. Also for emailing - we've got family and friends all over the world.

[dasmiller]

but for posting on the web, e.g. VBulletin here you need the smaller sizes. Also for emailing - we've got family and friends all over the world.

Another option, just to complicate your life, would be to set up a Flickr account. You could post your pics there and then simply send friends & families a link.

I spend a fair amount of time with both Flickr and Irfanview, though I haven't used Irfanview for family pictures.

[Foolmewunz]

Thanks, guyz - I'm playing with IrfanView - seems to do the trick.

[Paulhoff]

Thanks, guyz - I'm playing with IrfanView - seems to do the trick.
I was going to post IrfanView........ he added a feature I asked for, after a year wait, Changing a .txt file into a picture file, it is very good for resizing any .txt file.

Paul

:) :) :)

[dasmiller]

D'oh! In the interest of correctness:

I spend a fair amount of time with both Flickr and Irfanview, though I haven't used Irfanview for family pictures.

should have been ". . . I haven't used Flickr for family pictures."

[madurobob]

Ah, thanks - it's mostly the former. I still have the CDs she burned for me, so if I want to turn any of them into portrait quality prints I can always go to the source, but for posting on the web, e.g. VBulletin here you need the smaller sizes. Also for emailing - we've got family and friends all over the world.

ooooohhh...... you just want you resize images? If you're on a windows OS there is a very simple "power toy" from windows called "image resizer (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx)" that will quickly and easily resizes images for web posting, leaving the original files untouched. You just highlight a bunch of files and right-click to choose "resize images". I use it damn near daily.