Zaaflixz is here, my dear readers! I often extract JPEG images with a quality range from 70% to 85% whenever I deliver high-resolution photographs to our clients or upload pictures to this website. Although some photographers extract their photographs at 100% quality on a regular basis, I don't often feel the need to do so because the file sizes grow and the quality variations are too slight (and typically hard to discern between) to distinguish between. I recently came across a program called JPEGmini Pro that is designed exclusively for photographers like me who are looking for a reliable approach to reduce file size without compromising image quality.
I typically extract JPEG files with a quality range from 70% to 85% when sending high-resolution photographs to our clients or posting images to this website. Despite the fact that some photographers regularly extract their photographs in their original state, I rarely feel the need to do so because doing so causes the files to increase and the quality changes are too slight (and typically impossible) to distinguish between. JPEGmini Pro is a program that is specifically provided for photographers like me who are looking for a good approach to minimize file size without compromising image quality. I've only started to become interested in it.
The Pro edition of JPEGmini differs from the normal version in that it processes images up to 50 MP in quality using all available processor cores at a rate that is up to 8 times faster. Additionally, if you wish to directly incorporate the JPEG compression engine into Lightroom, you need the Pro edition.
) JPEGmini Pro setup
The installation process for JPEGmini Pro is simple as a rule. After making a purchase and downloading the small installation file from JPEGmini's website, the larger package is downloaded and installed. Although JPEGmini can be used on both Macs and PCs, the instructions that follow are solely for PCs. When you click "Install," a security warning that asks if you wish to install the software or not may appear. When you make that choice, the downloading process begins.
The software is then prepared for use!
2) Installing the Lightroom plugin JPEGmini Pro
Unfortunately, the installation process for Lightroom is more complicated and requires extra steps after it is finished. You will receive a README text file with instructions on how to manually install the Lightroom plugin after the procedure is complete. I have to admit that I was a little surprised to see the following in the README file that contains the installation instructions.
- Transfer the jpegmini.lrplugin file to the hard drive of your computer.
- In Lightroom, go to File > Plug-in Manager.
- Click the "Add" button located below the plug-in list.
- When you locate the jpegmini.lrplugin on your computer's hard drive, click "Add Plug-in."
I think the instructions are fairly bad, especially for someone new to computers. First of all, the first phrase has the ludicrous instruction to "copy the file jpegmini.lrplugin to your hard drive." The "file" is already there on the computer when the installation is finished, even if the installer doesn't state where it is physically. Second, the referred-to "jpegmini.lrplugin" turns out to be a folder rather than a file, even if it can be accessed in "C:Program Files (x86)ICVTJPEGminiLightroomPlugin." Third, given that all it does is copy data to a folder on your computer, I ponder why the company even offers an installation. The folder's contents ought to have been contained in a straightforward ZIP file that came with explicit opening instructions.
The Lightroom Plugin cannot function without the following steps being taken:
- Once the installation is complete, start Lightroom.
- Choose File > Plug-in Manager when Lightroom opens.
- Click the "Add" button in the bottom left corner of the Plug-in Manager window.
- Open the C:Program Files (x86) directory on a 64-bit Windows installation.
- ICVT\JPEGminiLightroomPlugin
- After executing a single left-click on the "jpegmini.lrplugin" folder, choose it by clicking the "Select Folder" button.
- After clicking "OK," the following popup will appear.
- After inputting your activation code, click "Activate."
- Await the software's activation. When the process is complete, the text will change to "Activated."
- Click "Done" to close the Plug-in Manager window.
- The plugin is now functional and accessible.
3) Using JPEGmini Pro
Locate the JPEG images on your computer and drag them into the "Drop Photos Here" part of the interface, as seen in the first image above, if you're using the ordinary version of JPEGmini Pro to optimize existing photos in your file system. JPEGmini Pro will alert you if you attempt to modify the original photographs. The application will examine each file, recompress it, and then delete the original if you choose to "Continue." Before beginning this process, select "Export to Folder" from the Preferences menu by selecting the small gear icon in the top left corner of the screen if you wish to keep the originals just in case. The stored files will be backed up.
If you need to export images to your website or another medium, you may easily resize them to a different resolution using the Preferences box. You can type the precise pixel resolution and select "Max Width" or "Max Height." Some preset settings are 960 x 720 (Small), 1600 x 1200 (Medium), and 2592 x 1944. (Large).
After analyzing 45 files totaling 56 megabytes from my Landscapes Gallery, the software asserted to have reduced everything by a total of 11.79 megabytes, or 1.3x ratio, as shown below:
Due to the size of the reductions and the fact that the images were already 77 percent compressed before they exited Lightroom, I was a little dubious about them (which is the third quality tier from 100 percent ). When I absolutely have to shrink an image's file size, I almost always use Phil Harvey's excellent ExifTool application. As I described in my article on EXIF, I use this tool to remove extraneous information from JPEG images (such as XMP data and built-in thumbnails) while preserving the crucial EXIF data for our readers to utilize as a reference. I ran the original files though ExifTool once more because I couldn't remember if I had already done this with my files before the compression took occurred. Actually, I already did, which accounts for the additional space savings you can see above. That is simply fantastic! You might not believe that going from 56 gigabytes to 43 gigabytes poses a significant problem, but I think that a space reduction of roughly 25% for properly optimized data is significant. As a result, the assets on this page would load 25% quicker, and if I had chosen images with even greater degrees of compression, there would be significant potential space savings.
After watching the aforementioned video, I began reading about how JPEGmini actually operates. I was aware that JPEGmini engineers did not alter the JPEG standard because JPEG is a widely used and supported format. According to the company's website's "About Us" section, "JPEGmini is a patent-pending photo recompression technique." It is essentially a recompression technique that examines the current JPEG file and attempts to shrink it even further without adding more obvious artifacts to the image. The JPEGmini software's objective is to accomplish reduced file sizes as a result.
The second experiment looked at how much space could be saved by using full-size JPEG images that had been perfectly retrieved. I made use of a Tamron 150-600mm butterfly JPEG sample. The file was 27.939 MB in size at full size. The image was compressed again after a small interval, and this is what I saw:
Wow, a single file was compressed greatly, shrinking from 15.644 MB to just 11.535 MB, a reduction of more than 60%. I opened the JPEG image on my computer and examined each pixel closely because it didn't seem likely that the software would lead to such substantial space savings. I went back and forth several times and didn't see any variations in the standard. No forced noise reduction, no artifacts, and no posterization of any type.
I returned to the file after scanning it to see if the XMP and other metadata were still present by examining it in an ASCII editor. Nothing was harmed. Because the software did not change that data, I was able to run ExifTool on top of the compression to get an even smaller image. Once I was done, the file size dropped to 11.511 MB, freeing up an additional 24 KB. For a huge file, even a modest adjustment can result in cost savings.
Every JPEG file handled by JPEGmini has a marker to prevent unnecessary compression and the ensuing image deterioration. I therefore found the following when I double-checked the same file:
That is a rather clever method of making sure no further data is lost.
The "Total Space Saved" indicator at the top of the application is the one item that I was unable to figure out how to reset. Every time you process a JPEG image, the number just increases by one; closing and restarting the program has no effect on this. To allow users to see total savings each time a batch of photographs is processed, the JPEGmini team might think about adding a "reset" button next to it.
Scroll down to the comparison chart below to see how well this JPEG compression preserves the quality of the images.
Update: One of our readers informed us that the same result could be obtained by just using greater compression. Undoubtedly, it would be necessary to find the optimal compression ratio for each image, but I personally lack the time to do so. In order to do this experiment, I took an image from Lightroom and exported it at the second-to-highest quality level of 85%, resulting in a file size of 16.855 MB. Because the original was far larger than 11.535 MB, I was obliged to utilize a lower-quality image.
To re-extract the image, I lowered the quality level to 77 percent (third tier). This time, instead of the 11.154 MB that JPEGmini produced, the size was 11.154 MB. JPEGmini's images and mine, which I captured at a 77 percent quality level, were exactly the same. What occurs then when we load the Lightroom file into JPEGmini at a 77% compression level? The software was able to save an extra 22 percent of storage space by further compressing the file to 8.793 MB. The differences between the 77 percent quality image and the JPEGmini compressed image were very slight this time, but they were still present. Most people would not be able to see them.
This only implies that the image was "should be sufficient" because it was compressed using JPEGmini at a lower quality than I had chosen in Lightroom. It was, without a doubt.
4) Using the JPEGmini Lightroom plugin
Now that I'm aware of all the wonderful advantages that JPEGmini has to offer and have had a chance to test it out in Lightroom, it's time for me to integrate it into my workflow. It was only necessary for me to complete one stage of the export process as I've already demonstrated how to install and activate the plugin. Click the Export option after selecting the images from Lightroom that you want to extract. The Export window will now show up and look like this:
From here, all you have to do is select the JPEGmini sub-menu from the page's left side and click "Insert." The export window will then somewhat alter, with the JPEGmini sub-menu being added to its right side:
You can see that I'm using ExifTool to process exported JPEG photos in addition to the other programs mentioned in this post in order to save even more disk space.
5) Final Thoughts
My photographic workflow has stayed quite consistent over the past several years, but now that I have tested JPEGmini's fantastic recompression technology, it seems that whether I post photographs for this website or deliver images to my clients, it needs to be somewhat updated to include JPEGmini. I don't have to worry about changing any of my current methods because the product seamlessly integrates into Lightroom. Instead, the software takes care of everything automatically. I'm delighted to report that the program lives up to its claims after careful testing and comparisons. This is made possible by its innovative engine, which results in significant space savings without reducing speed.
Anyone who publishes photos on their website or has trouble with large files on their laptops, tablets, or other devices should take a close look at what the software has to offer, even though it may not be necessary for someone who does not care about file sizes while working with JPEG images. The aforementioned essay serves as an illustration of how significant space can be saved. JPEGmini is probably most useful for users who back up their photographs to the cloud because smaller files mean faster upload times.
Purchase location
Through September 12th, JPEGmini is available at B&H Photo Video for $70 less. Take advantage of the $79.00 price while you can, as it usually costs $149!
I hope this information has helped you understand the product and its effects. Thanks for reading the article.