Some users however might find those two programs complicated to use. FreeSizer could be an alternative for some users, despite the fact that it only seems to support the jpg image format.

It is possible to resize images with two clicks. The program displays a drag and drop area for images after startup. You can drag and drop jpg images from your local computer to that area. Each image is shown with its filename, dimensions, size and estimatations about the new dimension and size.

The output images can be previewed individually with a double-click which is handy to evaluate the quality and size after the operation.

FreeSizer is profile based which means that the images are resized and optimized for specific usage scenarios. Available profiles include e-mail, instant messenger, social networks, iPhone and custom. Only the custom profile can be edited under the Settings tab, all other profiles use fix parameters that cannot be changed.

They differ in maximum resolution and quality. A maximum width and / or height, as well as a quality setting (original, high, medium, low) can be defined in the settings for the custom profile.

The settings offer additional options to set a custom output directory. A click on the start resizing button processes all images in the drag and drop area. Images are by default saved into the same directory as the original images, but with different file names.

FreeSizer has several shortcomings that make it a less than ideal product for most users. Among them are lack of support for popular image formats like png, a missing option to modify the profiles and only four quality settings. It should be fine for users who only work with jpg images.

The program is available as a 32-bit and 64-bit edition for the Windows operating system at the developer website.

Bordermaker is an interesting program that offers image resizing and manipulation options. Best of all, it is completely free and multi-platform.

The application is offered for the Microsoft Windows operating system, Apple Macintosh OS X, Linux and as a generic Java program.

Images are resized and manipulated in the program in three straightforward steps. It begins with the selection of the root folder. BorderMaker will automatically process all images stored in that folder, and optionally recurse all subfolders to include all supported image formats stored in those folders as well. A preview image is automatically selected during this step, which can be used to preview all changes at anytime with a click on the Preview button. It is possible to select a different preview image manually.

A click on Settings loads the resizing and manipulation options. They are divided into different tabs.

• Image: Here it is possible to define the resize options. Image resize options include selecting a specific width and height for the image, keeping the aspect ratio, cropping the image or squeezing it. The same screen offers options to set the JPEG quality of the resulting image and sharpening settings.

• Text: Text can be added and positioned in this configuration menu. Various font types and settings are available, including color, transparency, font family and shadow effects. The position of each text phrase is controlled in this menu as well.

• Borders: Borders are added in a similar fashion as text. The program opens a new window in which one or multiple borders can be added to the images. Available for selection are border colors, sizes, rounded edges, transparency, a blur effect and the option to let the program pick an appropriate color for the border.

• Watermarks: Bordermaker supports several image formats that can be added as watermarks to each image. It is again possible to select a position and effects like transparency or shadows for each watermark. The images need to be available in the correct dimensions since they are not resized automatically.
• Settings: Bordermaker can save images as png or jpg images. It is furthermore possible to retain existing EXIF information, enable automatic image rotation and allow relative image sizes.

The image file name and destination is selected in the third and final step. Bordermarker supports saving images to a local folder or to a ftp server. Variables like a random number, a counter or the original file name can be added to resulting file names.

A click on the Process button runs all selected image manipulation and resizing operations on all images stored in the selected folder, and – if selected – subfolders of that folder. The images are automatically saved to the selected destination folder on the local drive or ftp server.

BorderMaker may not be the most sophisticated software to resize images, but it is easy to use and offers interesting options that many alternative tools do not offer. Especially the ability to add multiple text phrases and watermarks are noteworthy in this context.

Interested users can download the latest version of the application from the developer homepage

A new version of the program was just released, reason enough to take another look at it. VSO Image Resizer offers resizing and conversion options for many popular image formats. Among the supported formats are jpg, png, bmp, psd, tif and numerous other formats including digital camera RAW formats.

All operations are handled in the program interface. It begins by loading images from the local or a remotely connected system. Files are displayed in list format by default, which can be changed to thumbnails or a list format with image previews.

A click on Next or the selection of the Options tab at the top opens the extensive resizing and conversion options.

VSO Image Resizer comes with preconfigured profiles for various situations, for instance to resize the images to DVD, HDTV, Email, iPhone or iPod compatible formats. New profiles can be saved so that they can be loaded again whenever images need to be processed the same way at a later time. Additional profiles can be enabled in the program settings.

The options screen contains many resizing and conversion options. The resizing options alone are extensive. It is possible to specify a specific width and height in percent, pixels, centimeters or inches. Five resizing modes are available:

• Fit: Resize and fit images into the target resolution, keeps the original aspect ratio.
• Stretch: Resize and stretch images to the target’s aspect ratio.
• Center: Center image in the target resolution.
• Crop: Crop image to center with target resolution.
• Retarget (Seam Carving): Smart resize mode, may destroy image content if aspect ratio is different.

Four tabs below those options offer additional image manipulation settings.

• General: Filtering options, resizing policy to define when and if images are resized, the output format, image quality setting or size maximum, resolution in dpi and filename mask are configured here.
• Effects: Options to integrate a watermark image, invert colors, convert the image to grayscale, add a Sepia effect or add a border.
• Misc: Adjust resolution for portrait, keep original file date, copy metadata and action on name conflicts.
• Publish: Send by email.

The output images can be previewed at any time with a click on the Preview button in the header. Output options include the creation of image copies, resizing the original images, moving, compressing or creating PDFs.

A basic version of the interface can be enabled which basically hides the four tabs described above. VSO Image Resizer is a handy image resizing software. Option to create resizing profiles and seam carving are not found in the majority of free image resizing applications.

The software is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system from Windows XP SP2 to Windows 7. It can be downloaded from the official VSO Software website.

Multiple Image Resizer .NET offers to resize multiple images in one go. I have previously reviewed the application (see Resize Pictures With Multiple Image Resizer), a lot as changed since then. The developer has for instance completely redeveloped the application using Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0. Some of the more noteworthy changes are multi-core processor support, support for various RAW camera image formats, built-in update checker and new resizing methods.

The Microsoft .NET application is easy to use as you can see from the screenshot below.

Images can be added in multiple ways. It is possible to select individual images, single folders with images, and folders and their subfolders. All images are added to the table in the upper half of the screen. Their name, folder, image type and file size is displayed here.

Images that are selected are shown as previews on the right side. The application displays a copy of the unprocessed image and processed image so that it is easy to see the differences between the two.

The resizing and processing takes place in the footer bar. Here it is possible to select one of the available processing options.

Available are the following options:

• Processing Options: Select the options that should be processed. Only the select options are applied to the images. Available for selection are crop, resize, rotate and flip, border, add text and overlay image.
• Resizing Method: Select a resizing option like percentage, scale to height or width, maximum size, withing dimensions and scale by largest dimension.
• Rotate and Flip: Options to rotate and flip the image.
• Border: Borders can be added to the image. Available are one or two borders with individual width and colors.
• Cropping: Crop by X or Y coordinate or width and height.
• Text: Option to add text to every image. Font, text position, alignment and transparency can be selected.
• Image Overlay: Overlay a select image on all images that are processed, similar to a watermark. Again with detailed position and transparency options.
• Save Options: Select where and how the processed images should be saved. Different image types and options are available for selection.

Images are processed with a click on the Go button. The application is responsive and fast. It offers a lot of options to resize multiple images comfortably.

Multiple Image Resizer .NET can be downloaded from the developer website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems. This includes Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and the Server variants. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.

BatchBlitz is a free photo resizer for the Windows operating system that can be used for that purpose. The software program divided the resizing into three steps beginning with the selection of the photos on the local computer system.

It offers advanced file filtering options to find and process only the photos and images that the user of the software wants. Provided are for instance name, location and regular expression filters.

The output settings are defined in the second step with options to save all processed photos in a new folder or to overwrite the original images.

The actions menu is the final step of the process. The photo resizing end manipulation actions are defined in here. The actions are divided into pre-processors, processors and post-processors with file filters in the first category, photo editing options in the second and output options to convert and rename the photos in the third.

The main processors include resizing, rotating or colorizing photos as well as adding pictures or text and changing auto contrast and auto levels. The way the options are selected is probably not the most sophisticated one as each option has to be clicked on to open its configuration menu. It would probably be easier to display the options right in the same interface.

A click on the Start button initiates the photo resizing process. BatchBlitz is a nice program that can easily be used to manipulate a large amount of photos. The software can be downloaded from the developer’s website. (via Donation Coder)

All controls to resize and manipulate the images in the program are offered in the lower half of the screen. Options are divided into tabs that are located at the bottom. Some tabs are not active by default; They can be activated in the processing options tab at the bottom.

Available processing options including resizing the pictures, rotating, cropping or flipping them, adding text and an overlay image or putting a border around them.

It is possible to hide tabs that are not needed for a better overview of the process. It is usually the best way to start with the processing options to activate the options in the tabs.

The resizing options for the selected images offer options to resize the image by various methods including height and width, percentage, scaling to height or width, maximum file size, within dimensions or scaling by largest dimension.

The processed image can be previewed. This preview needs to be recreated whenever a value is changed in the processing options.

Multiple Image Resizer supports several output image formats and offers additional options to save the file including setting the picture’s resolution or interpolation method. The processed images can be saved into 16 different picture formats.

Multiple Image Resizer is an excellent program to resize pictures in Windows. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 to be installed.

But it is sometimes inevitable to send photos by email and the best option to reduce the impact of the operation on the email mailboxes of the recipients is to manipulate and resize the images before they are send.

Free Image Manipulator is an Open Source software program that can perform that semi-automatically.

The process can be divided into three steps.

• Step 1 adding photos: Multiple photos can be loaded into the program. These photos and images are then displayed with their path, resolution and image type in the program interface.
• Step 2 configuring the changes: A variety of options are available to the user. This ranges from adding text or image overlays the the photos to selecting a new resolution, image type, filename and quality.
• Step 3 previewing and processing the changes: The changes made can be previewed in the preview area after clicking on the Preview button. The process button will commence the changes.

One of the most interesting options that the program supplies is the option to select a maximum file size for each image that has been added to the program. The image manipulation and resizing options are easy to use and should not pose a problem. A save file dialog window appears after pressing the process button to save the manipulated images.

Free Image Manipulator can be downloaded from the project’s website over at Sourceforge.

The Auto Resize JPEG extension for the Mozilla Thunderbird email client offers another possibility. The extension will automatically resize pictures that are attached in the email client before they are send out by the user.

The Thunderbird extension will automatically recognize jpg image attachments and display a prompt after clicking on the send button. It is possible to optimize the images or skip the optimization. The options of the add-on contain settings to always optimize images in the email client (which will remove the prompt after clicking on the send button) and to specify a minimum height and width. The default values are set to 1024 pixels each. Options to change the quality level would be nice.

The extension for the Thunderbird email client can be very handy for users who regularly send image attachments in their email messages. It can save them time and bandwidth (and probably a few emails from angry recipients who received large emails). Auto Resize JPEG is available from the Mozilla Thunderbird website. It is currently only available for the Windows operating system.

It’s possible to specify a destination directory for the resized images, add a suffix to the filename – something like thumb or small would do – and if you want to overwrite existing images in that directory.

There is no preview of the output images, no information on file size, no choice of file extension. As I said it’s lightweight and does only one thing at the moment. I still like Squash because it is easy to use, mainly because of the missing options of course.

Squash is available for Windows and Linux. [via Genbeta]

I therefor decided to look for an easier way to resize the images and I found it in the software Image Resizer. All I need to do now is to select all images that I want to be resized and click on ok to process them all. I did create a new image profile before to add the best fitting size for my website and saved that as the standard profile that will be used when resizing images.

Image Resizer offers several other functions that could be useful for some users. It is possible to choose the output file format, the output quality, the name of the newly created images, watermarks and if the new images should overwrite the original ones and where they should be saved if not.

Read More:

Image Resizer

I only have paint at work which is a basic image manipulation program that supports only a few image formats. The only way to resize images for a forum for instance would be with an online converter. The second would be for users who have problems using a software that is able to do it. The online method is easy and requires little user input to use.

It takes five steps to resize an image, they are:

1. Browse your computer and select an image
2. Select the maximum image size from predefined formats.
3. Apply special effects (optional)
4. Set Compression level
5. Click Resize

This is very easy even for novice users. If you are looking for something like this bookmark it. Got other nice little sites that do similar things ? Let me know.