PixelBatch is a powerful, user-friendly desktop application for batch image optimization on Linux. Optimize hundreds of images at once while preserving quality, reducing file sizes, and saving disk space.

Main Interface - Batch image optimization with real-time statistics

Optimizer Settings - Fine-tune compression for each format

📷 View More Screenshots (click to expand)

• 🚀 Batch Processing: Optimize multiple images simultaneously with configurable concurrent task limits
• 📁 Drag & Drop: Simply drag images into the application to add them to the queue
• 🖼️ Multiple Formats: Support for JPEG, PNG, GIF, and SVG images
• ⚡ Parallel Processing: Process multiple images concurrently for maximum efficiency
• 📊 Real-time Statistics: See original size, optimized size, and savings for each image
• 🎯 Lossless Optimization: Reduce file size without quality loss using industry-standard tools
• ⚙️ Configurable: Customize output paths, file prefixes, and optimization settings
• 📈 Progress Tracking: Monitor the status of each task (Pending, Processing, Completed, Error)
• 🔍 Quick Actions: Open optimized images directly from the application
• 💾 Smart Defaults: Remembers your last used directories and preferences

• Web Developers: Optimize images for faster website loading times
• Photographers: Reduce storage requirements for image collections
• Content Creators: Prepare images for social media and online platforms
• System Administrators: Batch process server assets and reduce bandwidth usage
• Designers: Optimize graphics while maintaining quality

Make sure you have the following dependencies installed:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install qt5-default build-essential

# Required optimization tools
sudo apt-get install jpegoptim pngquant gifsicle

# SVGO (requires Node.js)
sudo apt-get install npm
sudo npm install -g svgo

# Note: pngquant 3.0+, gifsicle 1.9+, and SVGO 3.0+ recommended for best results

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/keshavbhatt/PixelBatch.git
cd PixelBatch/src

# Build the application
qmake PixelBatch.pro
make

# Run the application
./pixelbatch

# Install to /usr/local (default)
sudo make install

# Or install to custom prefix
qmake PREFIX=/opt/pixelbatch PixelBatch.pro
make
sudo make install

# Install from Snap Store (coming soon)
snap install pixelbatch

1. Launch PixelBatch from your application menu or terminal
2. Add Images:
   • Click "Add Images" button, or
   • Drag and drop image files directly into the window
3. Configure Settings (optional):
   • Set output directory for optimized images
   • Configure file naming prefix
   • Adjust concurrent task limit
   • Customize optimizer settings (Edit → Optimizer Settings)
4. Start Processing:
   • Click "Process Images" button
   • Watch real-time progress for each image
5. View Results:
   • See file size reduction statistics
   • Right-click tasks for quick actions (open, view, remove)
6. Re-process Images (optional):
   • Change optimizer settings if needed
   • Click "Re-process Images" to optimize again with new settings
   • Useful for testing different quality/compression levels

Access settings through Preferences menu:

• Output Path: Directory where optimized images will be saved
  • Default: ~/Pictures/optimized/
• File Prefix: Prefix added to optimized filenames
  • Default: optimized_
  • Example: image.jpg → optimized_image.jpg
• Max Concurrent Tasks: Number of images to process simultaneously
  • Default: 4
  • Recommended: Number of CPU cores
• Remember Last Directory: Auto-open last used directory when adding files

Access JPEG settings through Edit → Optimizer Settings → JPEG:

Quality Settings:

• Maximum Quality (0-100):

  • 100 = Lossless optimization (no quality loss)
  • 90-99 = High quality with some compression
  • 75-89 = Good quality, balanced compression
  • Below 75 = Higher compression, noticeable quality reduction
  • Recommendation: 90-95 for web, 100 for archival

• Target Size: Optimize images to a specific file size in KB

  • Useful for meeting file size requirements
  • Example: Set to 100 KB for profile pictures
  • Note: Overrides quality setting

• Compression Threshold: Skip optimization if savings are below this percentage

  • Example: Setting to 5% skips files with less than 5% size reduction
  • Helps avoid processing already-optimized images

Metadata Handling:

• Keep All Metadata: Preserves camera info, GPS, copyright (larger files)
• Strip All Metadata: Removes all metadata (smallest files)
• Keep EXIF Only: Preserves camera settings, dates
• Keep ICC Profile Only: Preserves color profile for accurate display
• Keep EXIF + ICC: Best balance for photographers
• Note: Stripping metadata can reduce file size by 5-30%

Output Format:

• Auto Mode (Recommended): Automatically chooses best format
• Force Progressive: Better for web (loads gradually)
• Force Baseline: Better compatibility with older software

Additional Options:

• Force Optimization: Re-optimize even if already optimized
• Preserve Timestamps: Keep original file dates
• Retry Until No Improvement: Multiple optimization passes (slower but better compression)

Performance:

• Parallel Threads: CPU threads per image (1-16)
  • More threads = faster but more CPU usage
  • Recommended: 1-2 for most users

Access PNG settings through Edit → Optimizer Settings → PNG:

Quality Settings:

• Minimum Quality (0-100%, default: 65%):

  • Don't save if quality falls below this level
  • Prevents over-compression
  • Lower = more compression risk

• Maximum Quality (0-100%, default: 80%):

  • Use fewer colors to stay below this quality
  • Higher = better quality but larger files
  • Recommendation: 65-80% for web, 80-95% for archival

Speed vs Quality:

• Speed Slider (1-11, default: 4):
  • 1 = Slowest processing, best quality
  • 4 = Balanced (recommended)
  • 11 = Fastest processing, rougher quality
• Note: Lower speeds produce better results but take longer

Dithering:

• Enable Floyd-Steinberg Dithering (default: enabled):
  • Creates smoother gradients
  • Reduces color banding
  • Recommended for photos and graphics
  • Disable only for pixel art or simple images

Color Precision (Advanced):

• Posterize Level (0-8, default: 0):
  • Reduces color precision
  • Use only for specific output formats (e.g., ARGB4444)
  • 0 = disabled (recommended for most users)

Additional Options:

• Strip Metadata: Remove optional chunks (reduces file size)
• Skip if Larger: Keep original if optimization makes file bigger
• Force Overwrite: Always overwrite existing output files

Compression Performance:

• Typical savings: 40-70% file size reduction
• Uses lossy compression with quality control
• Much more effective than lossless PNG optimization

Access GIF settings through Edit → Optimizer Settings → GIF:

Optimization Level:

• Level 1: Basic optimization (fast, safe)
• Level 2: Normal optimization (balanced, recommended)
• Level 3: Maximum optimization (slower, best compression)

Compression Type:

• Lossless: No quality loss (10-30% reduction)
  • Safe for all GIFs, including animations
• Lossy: Quality trade-off for smaller files (30-60% reduction)
  • Lossy Level (1-200, default: 80):
    • Lower = better quality, larger files
    • Higher = more compression, possible artifacts
    • Recommendation: 60-100 for web

Color Optimization:

• Reduce Color Palette: Checkbox to enable color reduction
  • Maximum Colors (2-256, default: 256)
  • Color Method: Diversity (default), Blend Diversity, Median Cut
• Reduces palette size for much smaller files

Dithering:

• Apply Dithering: Enabled by default
  • Creates smoother gradients when reducing colors
  • Disable only for pixel art or simple graphics

Additional Options:

• Crop Transparent Borders: Remove transparent edges (recommended)
• Enable Interlacing: Progressive loading (good for web)

Performance:

• Threads (1-16, default: 4): Multi-threaded processing

Compression Performance:

• Lossless: 10-30% reduction
• Lossy: 30-60% reduction
• Lossy + Color reduction: 50-80% reduction
• Works with both static and animated GIFs

Access SVG settings through Edit → Optimizer Settings → SVG:

Precision:

• Decimal Precision (1-10 digits, default: 3):
  • Controls rounding of coordinates
  • Lower = smaller files but less precise
  • Higher = larger files but more precise
  • Recommendation: 3-5 digits for most use cases

Optimization Options:

• Multipass Optimization: Enabled by default
  • Passes over SVG multiple times for best results
• Pretty Print: Disabled by default
  • Makes SVG human-readable with indentation
  • Increases file size but improves editability
  • Indent Spaces: 0-8 (default: 2) when pretty print enabled

Cleanup Options:

• Remove Comments: Enabled by default
• Remove Metadata: Enabled by default
• Remove Title: Disabled (accessibility)
• Remove Descriptions: Disabled (accessibility)
• Remove Editor Data: Enabled (Inkscape, Adobe, etc.)

Size Optimization:

• Remove Hidden Elements: Enabled
  • Removes zero-sized and invisible elements
• Remove Empty Containers: Enabled
  • Removes empty groups and attributes
• Merge Paths: Enabled
  • Combines multiple paths when possible
• Convert Shapes to Paths: Enabled
  • Converts basic shapes to compact path form

Advanced Options:

• Remove Width/Height: Disabled by default
  • Creates responsive SVG (viewBox only)
• Cleanup IDs: Enabled
  • Removes unused IDs and shortens used ones
• Inline Styles: Disabled by default
  • Moves styles from <style> to inline attributes

Compression Performance:

• Typical savings: 30-70% file size reduction
• Lossless optimization (no visual quality loss)
• Safe for logos, icons, and illustrations
• Works with complex SVG files

1. Menu Bar:

   • File: Add images, clear tasks, quit
   • Edit: Preferences, optimizer settings
   • Help: About, documentation

2. Task Table:

   • File Name: Original image filename
   • Status: Current processing state
   • Size Before: Original file size
   • Size After: Optimized file size
   • Savings: Space saved (bytes and percentage)

3. Status Bar:

   • Task summary (completed/pending/error counts)
   • Total savings statistics

4. Action Panel (shown when task selected):

   • Remove selected task
   • Open optimized image location
   • View optimized image
   • View original image

• Ctrl+O: Add images
• Ctrl+Q: Quit application
• Delete: Remove selected task
• Enter/Return: Open completed image in viewer
• Escape: Deselect current selection
• Ctrl+A: Select all tasks
• F5: Start processing

# Specify images to load on startup
pixelbatch image1.jpg image2.png image3.gif

# Open with specific working directory
pixelbatch --dir /path/to/images

1. Organize First: Group similar images for consistent optimization settings
2. Test Settings: Process a few images first to verify optimization quality
3. Re-process with Different Settings:
   • After processing, adjust optimizer settings
   • Click "Re-process Images" to try different quality/compression levels
   • Compare results to find optimal settings
4. Monitor Progress: Watch for error status to catch problematic files
5. Check Results: Compare before/after sizes and quality
6. Backup Important Files: Keep originals of critical images

• Concurrent Tasks: Set to number of CPU cores for optimal performance
• Large Batches: Process in smaller batches if memory is limited
• SSD Storage: Save optimized files to SSD for faster I/O
• Background Processing: PixelBatch can run in background while you work

Solution: Install required optimization tools:

sudo apt-get install jpegoptim pngquant

Possible Causes:

• Check that optimizer tools are installed
• Verify file permissions on source and destination directories
• Ensure sufficient disk space for optimized images

Solutions:

• Reduce max concurrent tasks if system is overloaded
• Close other resource-intensive applications
• Process smaller batches of images

Check:

• Qt libraries are installed (qt5-default)
• Run from terminal to see error messages
• Check system logs for conflicts

• Documentation: See DEVELOPER_README.md for technical details
• Issues: Report bugs on GitHub Issues
• Community: Join our discussion forums

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

• 🐛 Report Bugs: Open an issue with detailed reproduction steps
• 💡 Suggest Features: Share your ideas for improvements
• 📝 Improve Documentation: Fix typos, add examples, clarify instructions
• 🔧 Submit Code: Fix bugs or implement new features
• 🌍 Translations: Help translate PixelBatch to other languages

See DEVELOPER_README.md for comprehensive development documentation including:

• Project structure and architecture
• Coding conventions and patterns
• Build system details
• How to add new features

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes following our coding conventions
4. Test thoroughly
5. Commit with clear messages (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
6. Push to your fork (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
7. Open a Pull Request

• Operating System: Linux (Ubuntu 18.04+, Debian 10+, or equivalent)
• Qt: Version 5.9 or higher
• Optimization Tools:
  • jpegoptim (v1.5.0+) - for JPEG optimization
  • pngquant (v2.0+, v3.0+ recommended) - for PNG optimization
  • gifsicle (v1.9+, v1.95+ recommended) - for GIF optimization
  • SVGO (v3.0+, v4.0+ recommended) - for SVG optimization (requires Node.js)

• Qt5 development libraries
• C++17 compatible compiler (GCC 7+, Clang 5+)
• qmake build tool
• make

PixelBatch is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

This means you are free to:

• ✅ Use the software for any purpose
• ✅ Study and modify the source code
• ✅ Share the software with others
• ✅ Distribute modified versions

See LICENSE for full license text.

• jpegoptim: Utility to optimize JPEG files
• pngquant: Lossy PNG compressor
• Qt Framework: Cross-platform application framework
• Open Source Community: For continuous inspiration and support

• Project: PixelBatch
• Organization: ktechpit.com
• Version: 1.0
• Desktop ID: com.ktechpit.pixelbatch

• 🏠 Homepage: ktechpit.com
• 📚 Documentation: DEVELOPER_README.md
• 🐛 Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
• 💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions

• WebP format support
• AVIF format support
• Batch resize operations
• Image format conversion
• Custom optimization profiles
• Before/after image comparison viewer

• Initial release
• JPEG, PNG, GIF, SVG support
• Batch processing with concurrent tasks
• Drag & drop interface
• Real-time statistics
• Configurable settings

Made with ❤️ for the Linux community

If you find PixelBatch useful, please consider giving it a ⭐ on GitHub!