Converseen Review - A Very Simple and Fast Image Batch Converter

very good
key review info
application features
  • Fast conversion
  • (2 more, see all...)

Converseen is a batch converter application that runs on multiple platforms, including Linux. It's a relatively simple application, with few options, but it does have a couple of features that could really use a second look.

Batch image conversion is a rather specialized function, and it's not something that you would usually need. If you're doing this action when you're converting photos, for example, you probably don't need. Whatever application you're using to edit photos will also have some kind of batch conversion. There are situations, however, when you need to quickly transform some images, from one format to another, or to just resize them. Using a huge application just for this function is overkill.

Converseen is a simple and easy-to-use application, which means that you just upload the files and quickly transform them. You don't have to be an expert, and you don't need to learn a ton of new stuff just to go through a simple conversion process.

Also, as you can expect, Converseen uses ImageMagick, which is present in pretty much any major distribution out there. This ensures that the application is able to read any image format and the official number is over 100.

Installation

We tested Converseen in Ubuntu 15.04, and it works like a charm. The version we installed is 0.9.2, but this is not the one in the official repositories. This was to be expected, especially in Ubuntu, but other distributions shouldn't have this issue. In any case, the developers provide a link to a PPA, so we were able to install the 0.9.2 version, which is much newer.

You can either compile the latest version or use the PPA. Compiling the application is fine, but you won't get new releases automatically, and you'll have to do this every time. The PPA solution is much more elegant and quick. All you have to do is open a terminal near you and enter the following commands (root is needed):

code
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install converseen
If you want to just use the Ubuntu Software Center, you can do that, but you won't install the latest version of the application.

Usage

As I was saying earlier, this is a very simple app that doesn't have a lot of options. In fact, you will be amazed on just how few things you can do with it. On the other hand, it's good to have an app that focuses on one task and does it very well.

Users can load the files into Converseen and they will see all of them on the right-hand side. There is no limit to how many images you can load, and you can repeat the import process for different folders. On the left side, you will notice a small preview thumbnail, which is live and below the two small tabs.

One of those tabs is called Dimensions, and the other is Rotate and Flip. They are pretty self-explanatory, but basically they provide users with the means of resizing images by percentage or by resolution or flipping them in various ways. You can also choose the destination folder, a few rename options, and that's about it.

It's also possible to choose from a huge list of formats for the exporting process and even to replace the transparent background. You don't know just how useful this function is until you need to convert images like transparent PNGs.

I saved the best for last. Converseen can also import Windows icons, which is a nice touch, and can import PDF files. Not many applications allow this kind of action and it's good to see that it's implemented in such a simple and straightforward way.


The Good

Converseen is fast and extremely easy to use. Some might say that it lacks a lot of functions, but you can also look in the other direction and notice that it does exactly what it says and nothing more.

The Bad

The only function that I felt to be missing is the ability to apply watermarks to images. This is a very common scenario, especially for batch conversion, which is not covered at all in this case. I'm sure that other users will say that they need this and that, but in the end it's about user preference.

Conclusion

Converseen is one of those apps that only do a single thing. The fact that it can also convert PDF to images is a big plus, but it's a thin line between simple and easy to use and just lacking in features. If you only need something to transform quickly a lot of images without any fancy options, that Converseen is the application you are looking for. If you want something more, then you should look somewhere else.

user interface 5
features 3
ease of use 5
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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Converseen (5 Images)

Converseen
Converseen importConverseen file formatConverseen settingsConverseen PDF import