14 DAY TRIAL // Changing the dimensions of digital pictures is a straightforward task that shouldn't take more than a few clicks. Image Squeeze is here to make sure that's exactly how things will get done.
Whenever someone needs to shrink some images to make them fit an e-mail attachment or be appropriate for posting on a website, insofar as their size is concerned, there must be some editing involved. Not too complicated, just a quick re-dimensioning, keeping the original aspect and quality if required.
Most programs that are designed for in-depth changing digital photos have this listed under effects or image options. However, they usually come at a hefty price and, besides, there's no need to install complex software to accomplish a simple task. Instead, you could try a little freebie that barely tips the scale with its 130 KB and can actually do the job.
It's called Image Squeeze and runs right out of the box, or ZIP archive, to be more precise, without the need to install a single thing onto your PC. With its easy to use interface and featuring simple to understand functions, this tool is a breeze to control. There are no fancy effects, eye candy elements, just the commands you'll need for operating it.
Certainly a noticeable plus is the fact that this tiny app can handle the most widespread formats, namely BMP, JPG, GIF and PNG. And you don't need to process them separately because the software works in batches, just as good as with single photos. This means that you won't have any problems in changing the dimensions of the images taken by the vast majority of digital cameras.
If adding the files is the simplest of operations, when it comes to choosing the output size, you'll need to manually input the desired width and height. The only preset that comes by default is 604 by 604 pixels and, unfortunately, there's no way of creating and then saving new settings. This could have come in quite handy for later uses, when a previously utilized preset would become required.
What's good, though, concerning the application's settings, is that it will enable you to preserve the aspect of the resized pictures. The correspondent check box is marked by default and this will prevent image distortion when the proportions you provide are very different from the originals, ensuring that the quality is kept at its best.
A minor but easily to spot drawback is the impossibility of customizing the names for the converted files. It would have been rather convenient to allow the user to give fresh titles to the whole lot of items that are processed. Instead, all the newly created pictures will go into a folder called ''Compressed'' that is automatically created in the same location as the program executable.
An interesting feature of Image Squeeze is the built-in viewer that will let you take a look at the photos from the list. You can highlight all of them or just a few, then press the ''View Selected'' button to access this feature. There's a catch though. You won't be able to see the whole image since the lower part of it will be unavailable. Also, if you maximize the window this doesn't make things better because it simply keeps the original format with the preview area and the commands remaining unmoved.
Moving on to the actual process of diminishing the photos, what needs to be pointed out firsthand is its speed that is decent, to say the least. For example, a batch of 66 JPG pictures that weighed in at over 94 MB was transformed, using the default width and height, in 50 seconds. It may not be the fastest runner around but it sure does it quick enough, not to mention that in doing so, this tool will not alter the image quality.
Nevertheless, we got some interesting figures with regard to the stress on the system's resources. The software idles using around 11 MB of RAM and during the operation it ate up 94 MB of the 2GB of physical memory available. The load on the dual-core 1.9 GHz AMD Athlon 64-bit CPU peaked at 52 percent, so overall, for such a small piece of kit, it squeezes quite a lot from the average PC.
The viewer further expands the functionality of this utility, while another definite plus is the support for the most common digital image formats. The ease of use that makes the application suitable for advanced and less experienced users alike. Another thing that should be mentioned here is the fact that the user interface is not too appealing and also not resizable. The impact on the system is not to be overlooked because it tends to become rather significant, especially when dealing with many high quality pictures at once. Free, lightweight, ready to work from a memory stick, although not impressive in terms of looks and advanced features, Image Squeeze will get the job done in a reasonable time and keep the original quality unreduced. Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
The Good
The Bad
The Truth
This article is also available in Spanish: Ofrece a tus fotos las dimensiones que deseas
