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):
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install converseen
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.