Batch image compression on Windows Server?

March 4, 2008 8:02 AM

Can anyone recommend a small/lightweight image compression program that can run on Windows Server 2003? Thanks

We are archiving large amounts of jpeg and tiff files but want to leave behind lower resolution reference images. Is there a program that you can say, right click over a folder and compress the entire contents of said folder?

posted by bloodniece to computers & internet (11 answers total)

Irfanview can't batch-process a folder from the Explorer view, but IIRC it's pretty easy to select all the files IN a folder for its internal batch-process dialogue. You add other commands to the batch process (where to put the processed files, what to name them, etc.) as well. It's an extraordinarily handy program for this sort of thing.

I'm no Windows Server 2003 expert, but it's a very lightweight program that has run on every other version of Windows I've ever tried it on (98, 2000, various flavours of XP).
posted by Shepherd at 8:23 AM on March 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

I recommend Irfanview as well. If you want to make your system more automated, I suggest using some shell scripts and ImageMagick. In my experience, pretty much any software that works on XP works fine on Server 2003.
posted by demiurge at 8:36 AM on March 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thirding Irfanview, been using it for years. It might be a little click-intensive though, to set up and start a batch-conversion. I make do, and I compress/resize/rename/reformat a lot of images.
posted by crunch buttsteak at 9:04 AM on March 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

I would use ffmpeg in a script to create the thumbnails. You might also think about doing just a single contact-sheet for each category, directory, or organizational unit. I believe Irfan can do contact sheets, but there are lots of other options there as well.
posted by rhizome at 9:25 AM on March 4, 2008

If think I like Irfanview the best. It runs quite well over RDP and little processor cost. Well, the server is a dual quad core :)


Thanks for all the advise. I have work to do now that I have the right tool.
posted by bloodniece at 9:36 AM on March 4, 2008

advice* oops
posted by bloodniece at 9:38 AM on March 4, 2008

Compressing the contents of a folder like you're asking about is built in to Windows.

Compressing Files or Folders on NTFS Volume
To compress a file or folder:

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Double-click the NTFS Volume that contains the folder or folders you want to compress.
3. Right-click the file or folder you want to compress, and then click Properties.
4. On the General tab, click Advanced.
5. Click to select the Compress contents to save disk space check box, and then click OK.
6. In the Properties dialog box, click OK.
7. In Confirm Attribute Changes, click the option you want.

posted by XMLicious at 9:43 AM on March 4, 2008

(though it depends on whether you're trying to save hard drive space or bandwidth.)
posted by XMLicious at 9:44 AM on March 4, 2008

ImageMagick is what you seek.
posted by SirStan at 10:11 AM on March 4, 2008

nthing imagemagick, it's fast and gets the job done
posted by motdiem2 at 11:14 AM on March 4, 2008

definitely imagemagick.
posted by polyglot at 4:39 PM on March 4, 2008