Software to compress JPG file to smaller file size

NRALIFR wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

NRALIFR wrote:
You don't need to compress it any more. What you need is software that will reduce the image size (H x W) and quality, which in most cases will not noticeably affect the image for forum posting use. I believe Irfanview will do that, but to be honest I haven't really played with it much so I could be wrong. I have an old image editing program called Image Expert that has a very easy to use interface that allows you to choose four levels of image quality, and change the image size in pixels while maintaining the height to width aspect ratio. Doing that can have a dramatic effect on the file size, and still have an image suitable for emailing or forum posting.

Unfortunately, Image Expert isn't available anymore, but I'm sure there are other programs that willl do the same things.

:):)

There is no "magic bullet".

You can't have top quality AND large size and compress it into a smaller file size.

Personally, if the OPs idea is small file sizes to EMAIL then why bother taking the photos at top resolution setting on the camera?

If you have say a 10 megapixel camera, set it to take 5 or 6 mega pixel photos.. You will cut your photo file size in half and for all intents and purposes most folks on the other end of the email will never notice the difference..

You can easily cut the photo resolution (on the camera) down to 2 megapixels and still have plenty of detail to print off a 8x10 photo without noticeable pixelation..

Alternatively, if the OP wants the folks to get supersized photos without going to the hassle of resizing them all then I would recommend simply signing up for a Google email address.. You get 15 GB of FREE GOOGLE DRIVE online storage space and you CAN easily SHARE those photos.

On Google drive you simply setup a SHARED folder, copy your photos to that folder. Then you generate a URL link to that folder.

You then EMAIL THE GOOGLE LINK to the folks you want to share the photos with.

They then can view and download the photos they want.

I didn't say or imply that you could have both large size and top quality. The OP wants to know how to reduce the file size of pictures so they're suitable for emailing, and I told him of a way that works for me.

I don't always know what I'm going to do with the pictures I take, so I typically use the highest quality setting on my camera. It's very easy (for me) to then reduce the size and quality of the pictures I want to email, or post on a trip report in the Truck Camper forum, to get a file size that's easier to email or upload to my image hosting site. I've done this for literally hundreds of pictures I've posted on the forum, and I still have the original high quality/full sized image for my use. I rarely ever bother printing a photo in any of the traditional small format sizes. When I have a picture I want printed, I usually want it BIG, and that's when I'm glad I have the full sized, high quality image to work with.

You apparently like your way, I like mine.

:):)

"Bigger" to start with is not "always" better.

Unless you are planning to view the photos 1 foot away from a billboard, anything over 2 mega pixels for general viewing is pretty much a waste.

When you manually "downsize" a photo you ARE throwing away ALL of that extra resolution you started with.

In other words you end up throwing out PIXELS in the process.

In reality you are doing the very same thing as setting the camera to a lower resolution.

There are some actual advantages to letting the camera do the sizing.. One of them is the camera is working with RAW data, this results in LESS ERRORS which results in less pixelization.

Downsizing a very lossy and highly compressed format such as a JPEG results in a lot of errors. If you understood how data compression works you would have an understanding of data errors that get worse when you compress, uncompress then recompress.

Data compression basically compares data, creates a "token" for common data then throws away the common data and inserts the token..

Errors in this process can and do happen and when they do you get pixelization. Editing software while it can resize the photo (IE throw out data) can introduce errors, cheap or free editing software can take good data and trash it.

As I mentioned before, a 2 megapixel photo gives you a 8x10 photo print, 1 mega pixel gives you a 4x6 photo print..

Just how big of a photo do you really want to look at is the question.. A billboard or a 22" computer screen?