PMTvoice

It turns out that being a company that sells a lot via the internet means working with lots and lots…and lots of images. Product images, collages, color swatches, and various other forms of product or display imagery are in no shortage in any e-commerce website. In terms of numbers, let’s just say that it is well into 5 digits. Dealing with these images takes all sorts of forms as some images get resized by some form of thumbnailing and others are made in whatever size they are specifically needed in. I am always in search of tools that make things easier or faster or more efficient. That said, I want to pass one of these tools along to the rest of you because I have found this so incredibly helpful when dealing with large numbers of jpgs or pngs at the same time.

ImageResizer

This is one of those applications that you always thought to yourself…”Somebody has to have made this”…and they have…and it’s called ImageResizer. It has options like proportional and non-proportional scaling, absolute resizing, fit-in-a-box scaling to do the heavy lifting. Since it is a Batch tool, it has some added functions like, File Naming, where you can choose whether the files get renamed or not, numbered or not. When it comes to saving the files you can choose between Jpeg(including quality settings) and PNG-24(which respects any pre-existing alpha channels…transparency).

The best part about this software is…it’s blazing fast. I’ve done the same processes using Photoshop(obvious choice) and even Automator workflows. These are certainly effective and valid methods for doing batch image resizing, but none are as fast or as easy to setup as Image Resizer. Photoshop requires you to walk through the actual process while recording your “actions” as you go, which is ok, but that means that it is using the same functions you would if you were doing one. Automator is good, but it requires a similar setup and also has no built in ability to show you progress. This is ok for smaller numbers (100 or less), but when resizing 3000 jpgs at the same time it’s nice to know where it is in the process.

Wait! Did I already say “the best part of this software is…”? Hmmmm, well actually the best part of this is…IT’S FREE!!! You cannot beat free. If you’re feeling especially philanthropic, you can click the various donate buttons and give to your heart’s content, but that is not required, so check out this link and give it a whirl…If you currently don’t have any batch image resizing needs, that’s ok, still check it out and keep it on your computer, because you may someday have a need or someone will come to you asking if you know a way to resize lots of jpgs, and you’ll have an answer to that question…Image Resizer…