Riot compression program. RIOT, a free image size optimization program

One of the main characteristics of images posted on the Internet is their weight. Indeed, too heavy images can significantly slow down the operation of the site. In order to make images lighter, they are optimized using special programs. One of the best similar applications is RIOT.

The free solution RIOT (Radical Image Optimization Tool) allows you to optimize images as efficiently as possible, reducing their weight through compression.

The main function of the RIOT application is image compression. Conversion occurs on the fly to automatic mode, as soon as the picture is added to the main window. When images are compressed, their weight is significantly reduced. Result this process can be seen directly in the application, comparing it with the source. At the same time, the program itself will determine the optimal compression level. It can also be manually enlarged to the size you need, but this significantly increases the risk of quality loss. The converted file can be saved by specifying its location.

Basic graphic formats RIOT works with: JPEG, PNG, GIF.

Changing Physical Dimensions

In addition to compressing the image, the program can also change its physical dimensions.

File conversion

In addition to its main function, RIOT supports conversion between formats PNG files, JPEG and GIF. At the same time, file metadata is not lost.

Batch Processing

A very important feature of the program is batch image processing. This significantly saves time on file conversion.

Advantages of RIOT

1. The application is absolutely free;
2. Easy to use;
3. There is a possibility batch processing files.

Disadvantages of RIOT

1. Works only on the Windows platform;
2. Lack of Russian-language interface.

The RIOT app is quite simple, but at the same time functional program to compress files. Almost the only drawback of the application is the lack of a Russian-language interface.

Main functions

• opening of many image formats, including rare ones;
• optimization and saving of received files;
• dual viewing mode with original and optimized images;
• the ability to compare pictures;
• compression to specified dimensions;
• fast processing function;
• processing groups of images;
• kit necessary tools for scaling, rotating, panning, etc.;
• many settings: brightness, gamma, contrast, etc.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

• free distribution;
• compression results in the program are comparable to results in commercial products;
• support for everyone existing formats images;
• possibility of optimization without losses;
• support for PNG optimizers;
• fine settings for image compression.

Flaws:

• errors in automatic processing.

Alternatives

PhotoScape. A free graphic editor in which you can resize photos, adjust their parameters, process them in batch mode, divide them into separate parts, and much more. etc.

SmallFoto. Program for group image processing. It can edit sizes, convert photos to convenient formats, apply logos and perform many other operations with big amount files at the same time. Distributed free of charge.

Free Image Converter. A free application for resizing and determining the degree of compression of images. It can reduce the weight of photos up to 25 times, which allows you to optimize files for subsequent uploading to websites.

How to use the program

After starting the program, its working window will appear:

Working window

In order to optimize the image, open the file by clicking “File”, “Open”. If its size is more than 2 megapixels, the application will offer to reduce it, displaying a warning about the large size:

Change size

For viewing on a monitor, 640-1000 pixels are enough; for placement on a website, you should set the dimensions required by the layout. The program supports five resizing algorithms. New size will be visible in the blue bar located at the top of the window.

After completing the settings, click "OK". Next, two pictures will appear in the working window: optimized and original.

The next step is choosing a format (JPEG for photos, GIF, PNG for graphics).

Each format has its own settings.

For JPEGs, set the compression level by dragging the Quality slider, which determines the quality, and selecting color mode Chroma subsampling.

Compression ratio

For GIF and PNG, the compression degree must be determined by the number of colors, for which the Reduce colors to slider and the Color quantization algorithm are responsible for converting them. By selecting these parameters, you can achieve a minimum amount of compression with good quality.

Number of colors

RIOT is an excellent solution for optimizing photos for various needs.

I have one site where most of the content is pictures, and quite a lot of them big size. So as not to rack my brain too much, I adjusted the images to fit required sizes, its duty program for viewing graphic files. Recently, out of curiosity, I looked at how much files take up disk space, and was unpleasantly surprised that some of the images turned out to be too heavy. Visitors are dear to me, so I decided to try to optimize the largest graphic files. Rolling up my sleeves, I quickly found interesting program RIOT, which is designed to reduce the size graphic files.

RIOT can be installed as separate application or as an external plugin for popular programs working with graphics (GIMP, XnView). I decided to go with the first option (a separate, fully functioning application) so that I wouldn’t have to worry about trying to figure out how to get two programs to work together, even if they told me how easy it was to do it. The installation process is standard, you can automatically agree with all the points, only when you get to the insinuating offer to install DriverSacanner 2011. It’s better to refuse this super-useful program, because we are going to work with images, and not look for driver updates. We wait a few seconds and everything is ready to go.

By by and large RIOT doesn’t just reduce images, but helps optimize them by removing metadata and compressing them so that the loss of quality is not noticeable to the eye.

The program is extremely easy to use. The interface is divided into two parts: on the left side is the original image, and on the right is what it will look like after optimization, so that you can immediately assess what will happen, plus above each picture there is a caption indicating how much space it takes up. At the bottom there are settings with which we adjust the compression level.

The program supports more than 20 pieces various formats graphic files, including PSD and RAW, but you can only save in JPEG, GIF and PNG, which is not surprising, the most popular and are the standard for images posted on the Internet. Select what format you will save in at the bottom above the toolbar.

Then it’s a matter of technique, let’s go through all the tabs and do required settings. Here, it’s even difficult to give any specific advice; each of the formats has its own characteristics, which imposes different approaches to get a balanced image that is good enough but not too big. There are four tabs (in a particular case, not all may necessarily be displayed):

— “Options”, General settings vary depending on the selected file format.

- “Metada”, metadata that is saved in files, you can easily get rid of it.

— “Mask”, you can fill individual layers with a solid color and set transparency, although the original image must have several layers.

- “Image adjustments” anyone can adjust the brightness and contrast of the image.

After all the manipulations, making sure that the results obtained are satisfactory, click save.

Who doesn't want to play with different settings, but knows what size the file should fit into, look for the “Compress to size” button, in the window that appears, enter how much it should be in kilobytes and the program will do everything automatically, although the result is not always normal, sometimes images have strong artifacts that are noticeable .

As a bonus, you can consider the rudiments of a graphic editor that offers RIOT, rotation, mirror reflection images and resize the image (in pixels) using several different filters.

Some may ask what to do if you need to optimize many graphic files; should you really deal with each one individually? Everything is much simpler, let's do it first pre-setting, and go to batch file processing by clicking the “Batch” button. Add the necessary files, select the folder where the finished result will be written, and click “Start”. True, there is one problem here: the images need to be of the same type, otherwise some may turn out very Low quality everything is in squares.

With the help of RIOT, you can really easily shrink images by approximately 30-50 percent, while outwardly it is almost impossible to distinguish them from the original. Of course, you need to do a little research and practice so that you can pick it up right away correct settings immediately by eye without experimentation at random. Exactly what you need for fast optimization images, without having to delve into a bunch of nuances, I recommend using them.

Works great in 32 and 64 bit operating systems. The program interface is only on English language, without translation into other languages, so those who do not understand will have to learn a few English words.

Riot is just a wonderful piece of software. In addition to the fact that it reduces the weight of the image, it can also make a pale picture bright and vice versa.

Can completely remove color (in JPG format), make it sepia, change the background, rotate it, and so on... All owners of web resources know why to make a picture lighter. So as not to overload the blog once again and not slow down its loading.

The program is simply irreplaceable when you need to quickly change the weight or size of a picture in pixels or centimeters. But you don’t want to turn on Photoshop or you simply don’t know it, since it’s lightweight, loads quickly and performs all operations with lightning speed.

It is free, here is a link to the author’s website, to the page where you can download it https://luci.criosweb.ro/riot/download/, but there it is in English. And if that suits you, then go there. And if not, then you can easily find Russian versions of the program on the Internet. Just be careful! Be sure to check such downloads in your antivirus! This way you will save your time and nerves.

RIOT program for weight loss photo

You can upload an image to the program simple drag and drop or by clicking on File and selecting Open...Ctrl+O or on the yellow folder. After that, find it on your computer required file and click Open, as in any program.

After that, you first need to go through all the formats. Because it happens that you don’t need to change anything except the format. For example, here’s how the weight of the picture for my previous article about

The image was in PNG format and weighed 107 Kb, and when I clicked GIF, it changed the weight to 34.6 Kb without any adjustment. You can see this in one screenshot. And if in this way it is not possible to make the weight of the photo less, then you need to adjust it. First, in the Reduce color to 1 section, you need to move slider 2

And look at the weight indicators. And if at the same time the quality is greatly lost. Then you need to try to make it lighter or paler. You can do this by first clicking on the Image adjustments button, which is highlighted in white; it is located at the very bottom of the program. To do this, you need to move the sliders and look at the weight of the picture.

And yet, you definitely need to look at the image quality. To do this, click on the 1:1 button and the picture will be displayed in natural size.

If for you quality is more important, than the size in pixels (not weight), then it can simply be made smaller. You can watch how to do this in the video tutorial.

From this article you learned how to compress an image without losing quality. And also significantly improve the image.

Despite the significant spread of broadband high-speed Internet access, the issues of compression and optimization of web graphics still remain relevant. In this review I want to talk about great program compression and optimization of graphic files for use on websites. This program is called Riot - a radical image optimization tool or, as it seems to me, more correctly - radical image optimization tool. The concepts of compression and graphics optimization are so interconnected that they do not exist without each other. The subtleties of these complex processes I won’t touch on it, it’s more important for me to get the files smaller size to increase the speed of loading web pages.

There are quite a lot of programs for compressing and optimizing the main image formats for the web (jpg, gif and png), but they all usually work with the same format. I would like to have an image compression and optimization tool that would work equally effectively with all these formats. And there is such a program. This free application Riot (Radical Image Optimization Tool). Unfortunately, she is not yet so widely known. Yes on request Riot Major search engines display search results on the first few pages that are in no way related to this program. There is everything from the scandalous group Pussy Riot, some Riot game, and ending with a heavy metal group of the same name. It's a pity. This short review designed to promote this worthy program. If at least someone who looks at this page uses it, I will be glad.

Riot (Radical Image Optimization Tool)

The program is essentially graphical interface for well-known utilities command line optipng, pngout and libraries FreeImage. The author of the program has laid out the interface so well and simply that using this program to compress and optimize gif, png and jpg is a pleasure. You can download the program from the developer’s website http://luci.criosweb.ro/riot/, but I recommend using the Riot program in Russian; you can download the Russified version of the Riot program on the website http://www.wylek.ru/. To download the program from the mentioned link, you need to go through a simple registration procedure on the site, which is not very good. But nothing can be done.

Author of the translation and Russian assembly of the Riot program under the nickname Leserg did a titanic job. He Russified not only the program interface, but also the help file and the Readme file. Moreover, the Russian assembly of Riot has additions and latest versions programs used, and the help file is not only translated, but also significantly improved. It has added information explaining the processes of image compression and optimization and much more. Russification of this level is very rare. Honor and praise to the translator. (Knowing that a fairly large part of the interface elements and program messages does not have the ability to be translated in resources, but is hardwired into the program code, the more you respect the author of the translation and the work he has done).

A few words about the functionality of the Riot program. To show what the program can do, I will provide a list of main characteristics, copied from the already mentioned excellent translation.

• Open multiple image formats, including rare and scientific types.
• Saving and optimizing JPEG, GIF and PNG images using a simple user interface.
• Working in dual view mode (original – optimized image) or single (optimized image). Automatic preview of the result when changing optimization parameters.
• Comparison function (the original image is superimposed on the optimized image, which allows you to notice the slightest changes in pixels).
• Compress files to the desired size.
• Fast processing (all operations are performed in PC memory).
• Supports batch image processing (converting multiple files at once).
• Setting transparency.
• Removal of service information - metadata (comments, IPTC, Adobe XMP, EXIF ​​profiles, ICC profiles). Unsupported metadata blocks are removed.
• Transferring metadata between image formats (target format must support metadata).
• General tools: pan and zoom, rotate and flip images.
• Image settings: brightness, contrast, gamma, invert.
• Reducing the unique number of colors in PNG and GIF images in order to reduce the file size (two color quantization algorithms: Xiaolin Wu and NeuQuant neural net).
• Resize the image using well-known redrawing algorithms - filters (Lanczos3, Catmull Rom, Bicubic, and others).
• Support external programs to optimize the PNG format (optipng, pngout, etc.).
• Compression results are comparable to commercial products, and in some cases surpass them.
• Support for HDR images using adaptive tone compression (using the Drago algorithm).

The possibilities are impressive.

Riot's program can satisfy both experienced users who need quickly and with the necessary parameters convert to web formats a large number of graphics and ordinary users, who need to create two or three thumbnails and full-size photos to post in their web album.

Despite the ease of use of the Russified Riot program, I strongly recommend reading the program's help. This will make it easier to understand the essence of the processes. This is greatly facilitated by the quality of the translation of the certificate and additional materials added to the certificate by the translator (God bless him).
My review has no purpose detailed description functions of the program, methods of working with it, etc. I just want to introduce users to worthy program. I’ll just give screenshots of how the program compresses several files so you can see how well the program works. In addition, below them I will provide screenshots from the mentioned Russified help so that you can evaluate the quality of the translation and evaluate the optimization settings for each of the graphic formats.

jpg image

Image gif

png image

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the button highlighted in the screenshot of optimizing the PNG file. It is intended for visual viewing image changes before and after optimization. When you click it, the original image in the left panel is replaced by the optimized one, and vice versa in the right panel. It is very convenient to visually track changes when viewing at an enlarged viewing scale.

It remains to add that users of graphical Gimp programs, IrfanView and XnView can use special Riot modules in them. Functionality these modules are absolutely identical to those available in standalone program. Unfortunately, modules exist only for Windows versions of Gimp and XnView. You can download modules from the official Riot developer website.

Riot Modules

Riot at Gimp

Riot in XnView

Riot's module graphic editor Gimp embeds its option into the editor's File menu. In the screenshot it is highlighted with a green marker. To free graphic XnView program The Riot module is built into the “Filter” menu. In the screenshot, the corresponding item is highlighted with a yellow marker. Commonwealth of the most popular graphics programs with Riot allows you to first prepare the graphics you need in them, and then optimize them and save them in the desired web format using Riot modules. Everything you need to prepare web graphics in one bottle. You can't imagine anything better. It would be very good if the author of the translation of the Riot program transferred it to the appropriate modules.

The Riot program has recently been updated, the Russian assembly of it latest version 0.5.2 can also be found at the above link.

For users interested in image optimization, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with my other articles on this topic (some articles are already there, some are planned).

• - An article about a simple and highly effective program for optimizing photos without thinking or settings.
• - three modern programs image optimization