JPEGOPTIM(1)

NAME
jpegoptim - utility to optimize/compress JPEG/JFIF files.

SYNOPSIS
jpegoptim [ options ] [ filenames ]

DESCRIPTION
jpegoptim is used to optimize/compress jpeg files. Program supports lossless optimization, which is based on optimizing the Huffman tables. And so called "lossy" optimization where in addition to optimizing Huffman tables user can specify upperlimit for image quality. NOTE! By default jpegoptim modifies the input files (if they are optimized), to preserve original files use option -d to specify alternate directory for saving the optimized files to. Only normal files are optimized (symbolic links and special files are skipped). Also, any other hard links to the file being optimized (as created using link(2)) are unaffected.

OPTIONS

Options may be either the traditional POSIX one letter options, or the GNU style long options. POSIX style options start with a single ``-'', while GNU long options start with ``--''. Options offered by jpegoptim are the following:

-d<path>, --dest=<path>
    Sets alternative destination directory where to save optimized files (default is to overwrite the originals). Please note that unchanged files won't be added to the destination directory. This means if the source file can't be compressed, no file will be created in the destination path.

-f, --force
    Force optimization, even if the result would be larger than the original file.

-h, --help
    Displays short usage information and exits.

-m<quality>, --max=<quality>
    Sets the maximum image quality factor (disables lossless optimization mode, which is by default enabled). This option will reduce quality of those source files that were saved using higher quality setting. While files that already have lower quality setting will be compressed using the lossless optimization method. Valid values for quality parameter are: 0 - 100

-n, --noaction
    Don't really optimize files, just print results.

-S<size>, --size=<size>
    Try to optimize file to given size (disables lossless optimization mode). Target size is specified either in kilobytes (1 - n) or as percentage (1% - 99%) of the original file size.

-T<threshold>, --threshold=<threshold>
    Keep the file unchanged if the compression gain is lower than the threshold (%). Valid values for threshold are: 0 - 100

-w<max>, --workers=<max>
    Set the maximum number of parallel processes to launch. (Default is 1)

-b, --csv
    Print progress info in CSV format.

-o, --overwrite
    Overwrite target file even if it exists (when using -d option).

-p, --preserve
    Preserve file modification times.

-P, --preserve-perms
    Preserve file permissions (owner/group) by overwriting the original file. This is slightly less safe than the default mode of operation (where new file is first saved as temporary file and then renamed over the original file). In this mode a backup of the original file is made with .jpegoptim.bak extension, and this file is removed after the original file has been successfully replaced. NOTE! if running jpegoptim as root there is generally no need to use this option, as jpegoptim is able to preserve file permissions when run by root in default mode.

-q, --quiet
    Quiet mode.

-r, --retry
    Recursively re-try compression until output file size does not get smaller anymore. This can result a few bytes smaller output file, but with the expense of lot more computing time used. NOTE! This option is on only effective when used in compbination with -m (--max) or -S (--size) option.

-t, --totals
    Print totals after processing all files.

-v, --verbose
    Enables verbose mode (positively chatty).

--auto-mode
    Select progressive vs non-progressive mode based on which one produces smaller output file. By default mode (progressive vs non-progressive) is preserved.

--all-normal
    Force all output files to be non-progressive. Can be used to convert all input files to non-progressive JPEGs when used with --force option.

--all-progressive
    Force all output files to be progressive. Can be used to convert all normal (non-progressive) JPEGs input files to progressive when used with --force option.

--all-arith
    Force all output files to use Arithmetic Coding. This option is experimental and only available if jpegoptim was compiled with Arithmetic Coding support enabled.

--all-huffman
    Force all output files to use (traditional) Huffman coding. This option is experimental and only available if jpegoptim was compiled with Arithmetic Coding support enabled.

--nofix
    Skip processing of any input files that have any errors/warnings during decompression. By default jpegoptim will attempt to optimize any file that it is able to decompress, even if decompression generates warnings. This will 'fix' some (corrupt) JPEG images automatically. If this behaviour is not desired, this option can be used to make jpegoptim to skip any input files that contain any errors.

--save-extra
    Save extraneous data after end of the JPEG image in the input file (default is to discard any extraneous data after the end of image that may be present). This may be useful if JPEG image contains non-standard extensions that are not part of the JPEG image format. NOTE! This option does not work if input JPEG image is read from standard input (stdin).

--stdout
    Send output image to standard output. Note, if optimization didn't create smaller file than the input file, then no output original image is passed through unmodified (except any extra data after JPEG image will be discarded).

--stdin
    Read input image from standard input and send output to standard output (--stdout is assumed when this option is used). When this option is used then only one image is read from standard input. Any (other) input files specified on command-line are ignored. Note, if input file '-' is seen on command line then standard input is also assumed.

--files-stdin
    Read names of files to process from standard input. One filename per line.

--files-from=<filename>
    Read names of files to process from a file. One filename per line.

METADATA OPTIONS

By default jpegoptim will keep common metadata (JPEG markers) and discard any other (unknown ones). Following markers are kept by default:
 - EXIF
 - IPTC
 - ICC
 - XMP
 - COM (JPEG Comment markers) JFIF marker will be regenerated (by libjpeg) during the process (this cannot be changed). However, Adobe marker is also generated (or omitted) by libjpeg based on the image colorspace, etc. This behavior depends on libjpeg library version being used. To make sure Adobe marker is preserved option --keep-adobe can be used. To remove additional markers one or more the --strip-* options can be used.

For example:
    --strip-icc --strip-xmp --strip-com Alternatively it is possible to specify --strip-all and then one or more of the --keep-* options to explicitly list which markers to keep

For example:
    --strip-all --keep-exif --keep-iptc

Options for controlling metadata (markers) in output files:

-s, --strip-all
    Strip all markers from output file. (NOTE! by default only Comment & Exif/IPTC/PhotoShop/ICC/XMP markers are kept, everything else is discarded). Output JPEG still likely will contains one or two markers (JFIF and Adobe APP14) depending on colorspace used in the image, as these markers are generated by the libjpeg encoder automatically.

--strip-none, --keep-all
    Preserve "all" markers in the image. This will leave all markers untouched in the image, except JFIF (APP0) and Adobe (APP14) markers as those get regenerated by the libjpeg library. NOTE! If this option is specified then any other --strip-* or --keep-* options are ignored.

--strip-com
    Strip Comment (COM) markers from output file.

--strip-exif
    Strip EXIF markers from output file.

--strip-iptc
    Strip IPTC / Adobe Photoshop (APP13) markers from output file.

--strip-icc
    Strip ICC profiles from output file.

--strip-xmp
    Strip XMP profiles from output file.

--strip-jfif
    Strip JFIF markers from output file.

--strip-jfxx
    Strip JFXX (JFIF Extensions) markers from output file.

--strip-adobe
    Strip Adobe markers from output file.

--keep-com
    Do not strip any Comment (COM) markers from output file.

--keep-exif
    Do not strip any EXIF markers from output file.

--keep-iptc
    Do not strip any IPTC / Adobe Photoshop (APP13) markers from output file.

--keep-icc
    Do not strip any ICC profiles from output file.

--keep-xmp
    Do not strip any XMP profiles from output file.

--keep-jfif
    Do not strip any JFIF markers from output file.

--keep-jfxx
    Do not strip any JFXX (JFIF Extensions) markers from output file.

--keep-adobe
    Do not strip Adobe markers from output file.

BUGS
When using --size option, resulting file is not always exactly the requested size. Workaround is to re-run jpegoptim on the same file again which often will result file closer to target size.

SEE ALSO
jpeginfo(1)

AUTHOR
Timo Kokkonen <tjko@iki.fi>

COPYING
Copyright (C) 1996-2025 Timo Kokkonen This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.