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    when you want lightweight reports...

    I want to pass along information about a shareware app for producing compressed JPGs, PhotoShrinkr. I have no association with the app or its creators, but was so impressed with the results I wanted to pass this along.

    If you save originals in a lossless format, there are probably still times you'd prefer smaller image files, especially if it can maintain image quality. It helps in preparing and communicating reports, to allow e-mail transfers that otherwise would be blocked, and, if nothing else, to improve rendering performance.

    Where PhotoShrinkr really seems to deliver is quickly compressing to JPG while maintaining image quality. It's a 5 MB app with drag'n'drop interface that converts input image files using all available processor cores to high quality compressed JPG output. You specify the output file folder location; the compressed files have the original name appended with '_optimized'. Originals are untouched. The app has a slider that can be moved laterally, across an image window, allowing you to compare original (left of the slider) to compressed, to the right of the slider. Even if that description doesn't do it for you, it will immediately make sense when you see it.

    It accepts a variety of input file types. To determine the amount of compression, I tested TIFF, PNG, and JPGs images. I did not see any before/after degradation for any.

    1. 50 JPG images averaging 500kB each were dropped into the input window. The batch compressed 40 - 50% in 10 seconds or less.

    2. 885 PNG files, 473 MB total, were dropped into the input window. The 818 that benefitted from compression were reduced to 68 MB in 70 seconds. The 67 that didn't compress were untouched, retaining original creation dates, but names appended with "_optimized". Those were all 50 kB or less, and all of them were clippings from online newspaper archives. That suggests the archives are already using something like this.

    3. A 4 MB TIFF file compressed to 246 KB in less than a second.

    Although the optimized images were indistinguishable from the originals to my eye, I didn't evaluate them under extreme magnification.

    The only downsides I could see were 1) the changed file name means compression must be done prior to linking or embedding into a report. Maybe there's a way to batch-remove the appended text with GraphicConverter? And 2), for the app to run you have to explicitly give permission in System Preferences/Security to work around Apple's refusal to launch the app. That's a one-time event.

    After spending much time over the years trying to accomplish the same results, I'm amazed at how well this app worked. I'm not sure what features paying the $9 registration fee may add; documentation is ... umm, sparse, but the good news is that it's also sufficient. It's an easy-to-use one-trick pony.



    -Paul
    Last edited by Paul Reitz; 20 July 2017, 10:38 AM. Reason: clarify it compresses several file types to JPG
    -- Paul ... Reitz immigrants in America

    Reunion 13.0 build 201127 on
    MBPr 15" mid-2015, macOS 10.14.6
    MBP 15" Mid-2010, macOS 10.13.6

    #2
    Re: when you want lightweight reports...

    A similar free option is ImageOptim. While it won't convert formats (say from TIFF to JPEG, as in your third example), it will aggressively compress files in their original formats - JPEG, PNG or GIF. By default its compression is lossless (or maybe I should say "no more lossy than the original"), but you can get even better results by turning on "Lossy minification" in the app's preferences.

    Originally posted by Paul Reitz View Post
    The only downsides I could see were
    ...
    And 2), for the app to run you have to explicitly give permission in System Preferences/Security to work around Apple's refusal to launch the app. That's a one-time event.
    You can avoid the trip to System Preferences by opening the app using the Finder's contextual menu (right click or control-click, then select Open) rather than double-clicking. When opened this way, the Finder will include an "Open" button in the resulting alert panel that allows you to override the default setting in System Preferences for this app only.
    Brad Mohr
    https://bradandkathy.com/genealogy/

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      #3
      Re: when you want lightweight reports...

      This app seems a nice touch, but, you can achieve almost the same by using Apple's Preview app.

      Myself, I have have tweaked my iMac to always download screenshot images (census, original parish registers etc) in the .png format.
      My reason for doing so is because I wanted to remove the black edges around the image, eg. census record before printing.
      It was a simple command by using the terminal;

      Replace FILETYPE with the format you wish. For example - defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg - or - defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png

      After entering the Terminal command you will need to restart the Mac

      Having said that, I can then remove, annotate etc the .png image and when finished use "preview" to export the image into a .jpg . The result(s) being very similar in size to the result obtained using Photoshrinker.

      I should add that I got Apple to advise me on the best way of avoiding the "black" edges that so often appear around the images I wanted to take copies from, and the "terminal command" was the easiest way to achieve this. The Terminal should be used carefully as it can completely upset the workings of your iMac.

      I hope this helps.

      Alan
      iMac 27" (late 2015) 2TB, 24GB Ram, (Monterey 12.3.1) iPad Pro 12.9" 256GB (Ios 14.4), iPhone 6S+ 128GB (Ios 14.4), Reunion 13,

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        #4
        Re: when you want lightweight reports...

        Originally posted by alan View Post
        This app seems a nice touch, but, you can achieve almost the same by using Apple's Preview app.

        Having said that, I can then remove, annotate etc the .png image and when finished use "preview" to export the image into a .jpg . The result(s) being very similar in size to the result obtained using Photoshrinker.

        Alan
        Alan, I use Preview pretty much as you say, but my experience is quite different. Has Photoshrinkr failed to compress your Preview-generated files?

        For downloads, scans and screen captures, I open and save with Preview, then straighten, crop, unskew if necessary, set white point, and, for JPG, set image quality at 80%, all in GraphicConverter, and save again. I like Preview's simplicity for some adjustments, so often will re-open the file to reduce pixel dimensions for screen captures, tweak contrast, brightness and sharpness, and save again. All that usually takes a minute or less.

        Almost all the original files I compressed with Photoshrinkr had been created like this. However, unlike image degradation I can usually see with the 80% JPG "quality" setting, I saw no degradation in JPGs created from PNGs with Photoshrinkr. The file size reductions speak for themselves.

        At Brad's suggestion I tested the same original files with ImagOptim and will report findings shortly.

        Regards,

        -Paul
        -- Paul ... Reitz immigrants in America

        Reunion 13.0 build 201127 on
        MBPr 15" mid-2015, macOS 10.14.6
        MBP 15" Mid-2010, macOS 10.13.6

        Comment


          #5
          Re: when you want lightweight reports...

          Originally posted by Paul Reitz View Post
          At Brad's suggestion I tested the same original files with ImagOptim and will report findings shortly.
          -Paul
          I hope this cursory comparison of these two image compression apps will help you determine which to use, or whether. Since there's no cost to try, if you're interested, I encourage you to evaluate them yourself.

          Similarities: Both are small apps, about 5.9 MB, and use all available CPU cores.

          Photoshrinkr
          - has no options, but lightning fast (>30x) on PNGs
          - saved 3 times more space by conversion to JPG.
          - preserves image quality
          - UI has a viewer to show results; I couldn't see any difference before/after
          - shareware, $9 to register,
          - uses proprietary compression methods,
          - mature; recent update to v1.0b3 is first in 2 years;
          - doesn't alter original files, but user must specify saved location or relocate to desire location

          ImageOptim
          - many settings can be changed; some can degrade image in exchange for more compression
          - does not change file name or type
          - relatively slow PNG compression - 40 min. vs. 70 sec for > 800 files.
          - saves only 1/3rd as much space, since it doesn't convert to JPG
          - freeware, a GUI interface to existing open source compression algorithms.
          - compressed files overwrite originals, which can be retrieved from Trash
          - slightly faster than Photoshrinkr on JPGs, but very little file reduction
          Note: I did not verify image quality retention.

          Compression tests of file sets:

          ______________ ImageOptim _______________ Photoshrinkr

          858 PNGs:____ Saved 119.6 MB _____________ Saved 391 MB
          time req'd:____ 40 minutes _________________ 70 seconds

          46 JPGs:______ Saved 337 KB ________________Saved 10.1 MB
          time req'd:_____ 7 sec ______________________ 10 sec

          Here's to lightweight reports!!

          -Paul
          Last edited by Paul Reitz; 20 July 2017, 10:25 PM. Reason: minor edits...
          -- Paul ... Reitz immigrants in America

          Reunion 13.0 build 201127 on
          MBPr 15" mid-2015, macOS 10.14.6
          MBP 15" Mid-2010, macOS 10.13.6

          Comment


            #6
            Re: when you want lightweight reports...

            In addition to the 'shrinking' discussed above, I often (having saved originals) want to repair, straighten, crop, clean and clarify the image. Pixelmator. Not free, but worth it.

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