JPEGMini Shrinks Photo File Sizes down by 5 Times

JPEGMini is a new service that has launched that aims to make images a lot smaller in file size. The bonus part with the service is that the quality of the image remains the same. The image below shows the interface of the site that has just processed an image we posted earlier today on the site. Below you’ll notice that the original filesize was 55Kb (which was actually compressed with Smush.it originally) and then JPEGMini managed to squash it another 1.9 times making it just 28KB in size. The results are impressive.

When testing the image optimiser out, you get a slider on the screen that lets you drag it left or right to reveal or hide the new image and show/hide the old image to get a comparison of how they look next to each other. The results are quite impressive.

The service is said to be able to compress images by about 5 times at the most. Most we tested were between 1.8 and 3 times which is quite impressive.

The way JPEGmini works is by compressing the image as much as possible without compromising on the image quality. To do this, it attempts to mimic what the human eye can see and then some how, cuts out the bits that you wouldn’t see.

When the most compact image is created it then is encoded back in to the standard JPEG format so that those on the web can use it without problems. This means that JPEGmini is not a format, but just a means to squash down the current JPEG format even smaller.

The service can be tested here and from what we understand, users can also do batch uploads to the service to compress a folder of files rather than one at a time. It’s also free to use. Here is a comment on TechCrunch that clarifies some of the details:

Hi, I’m the CTO of ICVT, the company who developed JPEGmini. Just wanted to add a few things:
1) You don’t need to process photos one by one. If you register for our service (for free), you can upload complete folders (albums) of photos at once.
2) With Photoshop “Save As Web”, you need to manually examine each photo to see if the quality was hurt – some photos require 60%, some 70% etc. With JPEGmini the quality is always guaranteed, and the compression rate changes automatically to match the input image. So you can actually batch-process millions of photos and reduce their size without having to examine them.
3) Regarding the terms of service, we don’t use any photo for promoting our service without confirmation from the owner.