Top Free Image Optimization Tools!

Hello Readers!

Since a couple of days I was busy setting up my new photoblog called Pic Platter. So after publishing a handful of posts, I realized that if I open the blog then, the loading time has increased, of-course it has to, as being a photo blog it hosts a lot of images, each being about 500 to 750 KB.

Q-    So what’s the solution, how can I keep the load-time low?!

A-    The answer to this question is Image Optimization.

Q-    Yes now what exactly is this thing?

A-    Image optimization is the process to compress images in terms of it’s file-size ‘without’ loosing it’s visual acceptability.

Q-    Do we really need to be this miser by saving just a few bytes for our blog? Why should we get into this complexity if the result is a saving of few petty bytes!!?

A-    Answer is Yes we do need to go for Image Optimization (& if you have a photo blog…then you can’t skip this!)

The basic reasons for why you should go for Image Optimization are ...

(1) The Download time& 

(2) The Bandwidth use. 

Not every one has an unlimited access to internet as per month, so those who buy internet with a limited usage-per month basis then they really need to think twice before going in for a heavily, graphically ornamented blog or site. So being there, & said that, I started a hunt for “best, free Image optimization services” & this post is the result of my week long search. So here are some free Image Optimization services available for you…

Online Image Optimization Services:

Smush.it

Smush.it is a popular image optimization tool that able to reduce the image file size but retain the quality, which is what we called “lossless” image optimization! You can run Smush.it through the web site or through Firefox’s YSlow extension.

Dynamic Drive Online Image Optimizer

The Online Image Optimizer lets you optimize different image file formats such as GIF, JPEG and PNG. You  either upload the image from your local machine or paste the URL of an image. The limit is 200KB per file.

PunyPNG

PunyPNG uses several optimization techniques. It will first check your images and then determine which technique is the best for that particular image. PunyPNG supports most of the popular image file formats.

SiteReportCard Image Optimization Tool

SiteReportCard Image Optimization Tool support GIF, JPEG and PNG formats. You can either paste the image’s URL or upload it from your computer, and the tool will compress and optimize the image into various size and quality.

Desktop Image Optimization Services:

OptiPNG

An advanced PNG Optimizer, which will convert various file formats into optimized PNG. Windows users can integrate OptiPNG into the shell through the OptiPNG Windows Shell Integration project, or use OptiPNG as Paint.NET Plugin.

PNGOUT

PNGOUT is a command line application which has a lot of different options. It supports PNG, GIF,BMP, JPG, TGA and PCX formats.

PNGGauntlet

PNGGauntlet is a .NET application that use the PNGOUT to optimize PNG files. It is able to convert JPG, GIF, TGA, PCX and BMP files to PNG. If you are not familiar with Windows Command line, you can try PNGGauntlet.

JPEG & PNG Stripper

This application able to remove unnecessary metadata from the image files. It supports JPEG, JFIF and PNG file formats.

RIOT – Radical Image Optimization Tool

RIOT able to read and optimize different image formats by reading the magic number. So, it is able to optimize images with uncommon extensions, which makes it unique compare with other image optimization tools. RIOT will display the original and output images side-by-side, so that you can compare the quality of them easily.

Image Optimization is not just reducing the size of the image but it has some other aspects as well, like Image Tags, Alt Attributes & Image Anchors. Don’t worry It’s easy to optimize images & would take only 2-3 steps. Head over to TechKnowl to do the Image Optimization. Also the article about ‘Alt Attributes‘ written by John S. Britsios will be helpful for you. And That’s all about IO. 

Have a nice Day.

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