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View Full Version : Easily reduce graphic file sizes for posting, while keeping much of their quality.



fmihm
01-21-2009, 08:23 PM
It is really easy to reduce the file size of your pictures with IrfanView, a FREE graphics viewer and editor (irfanview.com). It is even possible to compress JPEG- and GIF-files to specific file sizes, particularly handy if you want to post them on a forum. This file-size option is available during batching operations by clicking the Options button (just above the Advanced button).

Smaller file sizes will greatly facilitate sharing your pictures. You can reduce graphic file sizes by resizing your images. For example, convert them from 2600 pixels wide to 800 pixels wide (a good display width for most people’s systems), Preserve their Aspect Ratio and use appropriate JPEG compression (I sometimes use 95%). IrfanView will handle both kinds of these compressions. The file sizes of files with these compressions are only about nine percent the size of the original pictures!

You can use IrfanView to conveniently view individual graphics files of virtually any graphic format. The Space key will display the next graphic and the Backspace key will display the previous one. You can zoom the display size.

While viewing a graphic, you can see the effect of applying various filters, such as the Auto Adjust Colors filter (Shift-U). The effect of this filter on some pictures can be quite amazing. It is great for fixing pictures that are over- or under-exposed, or that have a lot of haze in the air. You can un-apply the filter (Control-Z).

You can also display your files as pages of thumbnails (select this option from the File-menu). The thumbnail size is configurable from 50X50 pixels to 800X800.

It’s really EASY to do both automatic color adjustment and file compression as batch operations in IrfanView. It takes very little time to set up IrfanView for batching and very little time to process your files – processing takes about one second apiece. Simply use IrfanView to view a file in your directory of interest, then from IrfanView’s File menu, click Batch Conversion. Select the files to be processed (Add or Add all) and your conversion choices. Since you can also batch rotate graphics, you might find it desirable to have two source directories, one for your NoRotate graphics and one for the Rotate ones, and then do two batch runs, one on each directory with the appropriate rotation choices. To prevent overwriting your original files in their source directories, it is very important that you use a different directory for your Output directory for result files.

Note that resizing, automatic color adjustment and rotation are choices from the Set for All Images window. To access this window from IrfanViews Batch Conversion window, check the Use Advanced Options box (it’s to the left of the Advanced button), then click the Advanced button. Consider saving your enhanced files with their original date and time. (Batch processing will be even easier your next time because IrfanView will remember your last choices.)

We hope this is helpful to you.