For the past 18+ months, I have been telling a number of individuals out there in the fields of higher education and image optimization that one of the tools I really, REALLY want in my efforts to create some of the very-smallest .png file sizes possible was for someone to combine three wonderful optimization tools into one “master” script:
– OptiPNG (http://optipng.sourceforge.net/)
– AdvDef/AdvPNG (http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/comp-readme.html)
– PNGOUT (http://advsys.net/ken/utils.htm)
After my recent graphics optimization presentations at HighEdWeb2007, I finally decided to contact the developers of each of those services, to see what might be able to get done.
Lo and behold, David Blake at ardfry.com, who is heavily involved in the PNGOUT utility, emailed me this morning and said those types of collaborative efforts have been in the works for a few years now, with the end result being a program called PNGSlim. The program is essentially a batch optimizer of PNG images using PNGREWRITE, OptiPNG, PNGOUT, AdvDEF and DeflOpt to minimize file sizes. Too good to be true? Well, I’ve spent most of today playing around with that new tool, and it works like a charm. I’ve been consistently generating 1-2% smaller .png file sizes using PNGSlim, even after I had been previously running my .png graphics through xat.com Image Optimizer, OptiPNG, AdvDef/AdvPNG and PNGOUT. Not only that, but PNGSlim actually lets you do it with some simple drag-and-drop functionality (in a Windows XP environment), and runs PNGOUT as a batch process (something not possible when using it as a stand-alone tool).
It probably reveals the true depths of my “geek” related to image optimization! However, PNGSlim has to be the coolest tool (TOY, if I am being completely honest in how much I enjoy optimizing imagery) I have come across in several months. If you are serious about optimizing your 8-bit .png imagery on your web site, you MUST have this tool! PNGSlim is available for download, free of charge, at: http://people.bath.ac.uk/ea2aced/tech/png/pngslim091.zip. Enjoy!
Glad you’ve found the tool useful and fun!
Cheers,
Andrew
Left by Andrew Dent on November 13th, 2007
I’m not sure whether you follow the forum:
http://www.jonof.id.au/forum/index.php?topic=846.45
… but there is a new release.
Cheers.
Left by Andrew Dent on March 26th, 2008
[...] to a little program called PngSlim, that image is now only 799 bytes. Thats a loss of 226 bytes of 28%. All without changing a single [...]
Left by gabriel mcgovern (dot com) | » 1K Competition on April 22nd, 2008