What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

Are some graphics programs better than others for compressing JPEG?
A friend swears that Image Ready is the best for getting the
smallest file with same quality.
But I see a few companies have made utilities purely for
compressing pictures, and claim they obtain better
compression than the top tier graphics programs.
I presume there are different numerical routines used by
different companies in their software, but I would guess
maybe 5% variation in file size at best.
I know there was a comparison done several years ago,
but the website with the pictures seems to be kaput.
(www.imagecompress.com ?)
Is there a recent comparison of different programs to see
who offers the best compression?
That is, best quality for same size, or smallest size
for same quality.

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Are some graphics programs better than others for compressing JPEG?
A friend swears that Image Ready is the best for getting the
smallest file with same quality.
But I see a few companies have made utilities purely for
compressing pictures, and claim they obtain better
compression than the top tier graphics programs.
I presume there are different numerical routines used by
different companies in their software, but I would guess
maybe 5% variation in file size at best.
I know there was a comparison done several years ago,
but the website with the pictures seems to be kaput.
(www.imagecompress.com ?)
Is there a recent comparison of different programs to see
who offers the best compression?
That is, best quality for same size, or smallest size
for same quality.


Jpeg compression is a big subject, since JPEG is a lossy compression scheme,
there are always trade offs. File size vs. amount of compression and
artifacts.

The better Graphic programs give you a choice of the amount of compression
used.
The de facto best Photo editor it Adobe Photoshop. The full version is about
$650 or $150 for the upgrade.

Photoshop Elements is a consumer grade Photo editor that costs much less
money ($100) and does most of what Photoshop CS does.
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/


--
CSM1
http://www.carlmcmillan.com
--

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

wrote:
Are some graphics programs better than others for compressing JPEG?
A friend swears that Image Ready is the best for getting the
smallest file with same quality.
But I see a few companies have made utilities purely for
compressing pictures, and claim they obtain better
compression than the top tier graphics programs.
I presume there are different numerical routines used by
different companies in their software, but I would guess
maybe 5% variation in file size at best.
I know there was a comparison done several years ago,
but the website with the pictures seems to be kaput.
(www.imagecompress.com ?)
Is there a recent comparison of different programs to see
who offers the best compression?
That is, best quality for same size, or smallest size
for same quality.

I have a program called Advanced JPEG Compressor, it gives you far more
control in how the compression is does and allow you to use different
amounts of compression in different areas of the image. It can do a
better job, but takes a fair bit of use to use and the gains are fairly
small. I only use it when posting to the web and where I am really
trying to limit the file size of the photo.

Scott

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

In rec.photo.digital wrote:
Are some graphics programs better than others for compressing JPEG?

GIMP is probably the best because it gives you all the control you need
with a relatively simple user interface.

A friend swears that Image Ready is the best for getting the
smallest file with same quality.

I doubt anything from Adobe would be good at JPEG.
Supporting NIH public standards is not their forte.
Photoshop is particularly poor at JPEG rewriting,
because it lacks flexibility.

But I see a few companies have made utilities purely for
compressing pictures, and claim they obtain better
compression than the top tier graphics programs.

Using 4:2:2 chroma subsampling saves a lot of space
without reducing quality.

I presume there are different numerical routines used by
different companies in their software, but I would guess
maybe 5% variation in file size at best.

Much of the variation comes from preview, header comments, EXIF, etc.

I know there was a comparison done several years ago,
but the website with the pictures seems to be kaput.
(www.imagecompress.com ?)

There is a good article about JPEG on the photo.net site:
http://photo.net/learn/jpeg/

Is there a recent comparison of different programs to see
who offers the best compression? That is, best quality
for same size, or smallest size for same quality.

Nowadays the discussion is about old JPEG versus JPEG 2000.

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

wrote:
Are some graphics programs better than others for compressing JPEG?
A friend swears that Image Ready is the best for getting the
smallest file with same quality.
But I see a few companies have made utilities purely for
compressing pictures, and claim they obtain better
compression than the top tier graphics programs.
I presume there are different numerical routines used by
different companies in their software, but I would guess
maybe 5% variation in file size at best.
I know there was a comparison done several years ago,
but the website with the pictures seems to be kaput.
(www.imagecompress.com ?)
Is there a recent comparison of different programs to see
who offers the best compression?
That is, best quality for same size, or smallest size
for same quality.

I use one in particular called Adobe PhotoDeluxe that gives options of jpeg
compression such as Baseline(standard), Baseline Optimized and Progressive
and then gives an option to save paths. I guess Jpeg is not a simple file
format.

I also like IrfanView and Xnview among others.

Jon.

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

In rec.photo.digital Jonathan wrote:

I also like IrfanView and Xnview among others.

I like Irfanview too -- it is a great image and slideshow viewer --
but it does not control chroma subsampling.

Xnview is available for Linux, apparently. Do you prefer it to xv?

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

Bill Tuthill wrote:

I like Irfanview too -- it is a great image and slideshow viewer --
but it does not control chroma subsampling.

You can turn subsampling off in Irfanview by ticking an option during
saving.

I mainly find that useful when there are important red areas in an image,
because otherwise they come out very poorly in a JPEG.

I would agree with the person who said that Photoshop is amongst the worst
- I find I can always shrink a Photoshop-saved JPEG significantly by
running it through a lossless optimiser (such as Irfanview's) afterwards.

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

Bill Tuthill wrote:
In rec.photo.digital Jonathan wrote:

I also like IrfanView and Xnview among others.

I like Irfanview too -- it is a great image and slideshow viewer --
but it does not control chroma subsampling.

Xnview is available for Linux, apparently. Do you prefer it to xv?

What is xv? I think I must have missed something somewhere. Like another
poster related. I only use Jpeg for uploading to usenet and I am not that
concerned much beyond that point.

Jon

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Are some graphics programs better than others for compressing JPEG?
A friend swears that Image Ready is the best for getting the
smallest file with same quality.
But I see a few companies have made utilities purely for
compressing pictures, and claim they obtain better
compression than the top tier graphics programs.
I presume there are different numerical routines used by
different companies in their software, but I would guess
maybe 5% variation in file size at best.
I know there was a comparison done several years ago,
but the website with the pictures seems to be kaput.
(www.imagecompress.com ?)
Is there a recent comparison of different programs to see
who offers the best compression?
That is, best quality for same size, or smallest size
for same quality.


I don't know if it's the best, probably not, but the Optimizer in the 'Save
As' options in Paint Shop Pro 9 is really handy for compressing pictures
down to a small size. It allows you a real-time view of a zoomed crop
while the compression factor is changed so that artefacts can be seen. That
way, the max compression for a particular picture is easy to find and it
also predicts the file size, handy for web posting.

What program is best at JPEG compression?
 

"GilfordBrimly" wrote in message
...
In testing a 6 megapixel 2816x2112 image just now with a lot of detail in
it
(foliage and animal fur), the original 3meg file compresses down 416k at
RealOptimizer's 50% setting with virtually no image degradation nor
downsizing
needed.

Thee only problem with this is that jpg artefacts are usually first noticed
as blocking in large areas of slightly varying tone like the sky. Were
there any areas like that in your test photo?