linux image compression

[Nifty Hat Mitch]

On Mon, Oct 18, 2004 at 10:29:16AM +0100, Paul Howarth wrote:
> Thornton wrote:
> >What is a good app to use on linux to do batch compressing of images?
> >
> >I used to use Ulead Smart Saver on windows but want to get away from as
> >many windows apps as I can.
> 
> Try convert, which is part of the ImageMagick package.

Of interest some images will not compress very much.
To save space it is common to degrade the image which 
may be fine for the curent screen resolution but may
not be fine when you want a quality print.

A good rule of thumb is to compare gzip, compress, bzip2
with various blocking flags to see if the data realy compresses
and if you should bother.  Some image formats are very compact
and other very inefficient.

Try it:
 $  bzip2 -v copy-of-foo.gif
  copy-of-foo.gif:  3.119:1,  2.565 bits/byte, 67.94% saved, 356033 in, 114133 out.


-- 
	T o m  M i t c h e l l 
	May your cup runneth over with goodness and mercy
	and may your buffers never overflow.