Copyright: Copyright 1999-2001 WinSoftMagic Development


Overview of features

The key features of Advanced JPEG Compressor are:

•	Interactivity - the process of compression becomes visual, effectively trading image quality with file size by adjusting the compressor's settings. It also offers a preview of the resulting image immediately in the result image preview window.

•	 Multi-document interface allows you to work with many images at the same time, enabling you to view and compare different compression parameters applied to either the same or different images .

•	 Compression profiles considerably improve the processing of multiple images with similar characteristics. A compression profile contains the most important compression parameters along with resizing information. You can create, save, edit and apply named compression profiles.

•	 Batch Image Processing let you to easily process multiple images. You can select the compression profile, naming and other options. It is possible to get processed images with modified names.

•	 Graphic Detail Quality Equalizer is a unique feature that gives you the significant flexibility in adjusting the compressed image quality. Its 5 bands are intended to tune the compression level applied to the image details with different sizes (ranging from large to small).

•	 Compression-oriented image prefiltering helps to achieve better compression/optimization results and improve the visual appearance of an image. You can choose one of five effects, change the level and radius (depth) of applying the active effect.

•	 Separate compression sliders for Luma(intensity) and Chroma(color) channels allow to gain better compression results and eliminate the color artifacts, significantly improve the compressed image quality.

•	 Hold the defined compression ratio is a unique feature for graphic software that allows you to create images whose file size is limited by the defined compression ratio (like the "bitrate" parameter for audio files), and does not depend on their content.

•	 Selective image compression - some areas of the image can be compressed more or less than others. This useful feature allows you to save the high quality for most important parts of the image (faces,etc.), and lower for the rest, achieving excellent compression results.

•	 Progressive JPEG images support; images in this format being published on the Web will be incrementally displayed (gradually improving their quality) during loading from the Internet or other communications.

•	Integrity marks being inserted in the created JPEG image allow the decompression to be resumed if an image will be damaged during transmitting. This feature is extremely useful for creating images that will be transmitted across unreliable networks.

•	 Additional options for adjusting precision of compression allow you to get the best result depending on the priority: small file size, or high image quality (which means large file size).

•	 Ability to acquire images from TWAIN compliant devices - such as scanners or digital cameras.

•	 Image Resizing(Resampling) by using one of three implemented high quality interpolation methods. Remembering the last applied parameters makes it easy to process multiple images. Easy creating of thumbnail images.

•	Viewing/Editing the invisible text (signature, copyright notice, comments, etc.) embedded in your JPEG files.

•	Possibility to crop unnecessary portions of the image.

•	 Easy to use and highly customizable user interface.

Advanced JPEG Compressor also offers  different modes of zooming, centering, different arrangements of source and result images, visual replacement of result by source image for better examination of compression results, image preview before opening, E-mail option, Windows clipboard support, and more.

Advanced JPEG Compressor handles over 20 image formats, including the most popular - Windows bitmap images(.BMP .DIB .RLE), JPEG-JFIF images (.JPG, .JPEG .JPE), TIFF, GIF, PNG images.

See also

Introduction

How to get started

What's new in this release?

What is JPEG?


Introduction

Advanced JPEG Compressor for Windows, from WinSoftMagic Development, is quite simply the best, most comprehensive utility available for compressing images in JPEG format.

Excellent for storing true color images, JPEG format has become the de-facto standard for photographic images on the Internet, and one of the most popular image formats in the world.

Containing the most powerful and flexible JPEG compression engine, specially optimized for higher image quality, Advanced JPEG Compressor offers you the possibility to considerably reduce the file size of the images.

This allows you to:

•	make your existing image files smaller - to save the storage space;

  considerably decreases download time for Web published images.

•	store images acquired from a scanner, digital camera, or from a graphic application with the same size, but preserving the image quality much better than could be produced using their default options.

One of key features of Advanced JPEG Compressor is interactivity. It makes the process of compression visual, effectively trading image quality with file size by adjusting the compressor's settings. It also offers a preview of the resulting image immediately in the result image preview window.

See also

Overview of features

How to get started

What is JPEG?


Installation

Installation and Uninstallation

Installation

The installation is quite simple - unzip ajpegcompr.zip, just run the ajpegcompr.exe and follow the directions given in the screen. The automatic installation procedure will copy all the necessary files to the specified directory and create a shortcut for the program. After installing, Advanced JPEG Compressor can be launched from the Start menu.

Uninstallation

You can uninstall the program from the Control Panel  Add/Remove Applications window.  Open the Control Panel from the Start menu, double click Add/Remove Programs, and double click on the Advanced JPEG Compressor entry in the dialog box.

See also

System Requirements

How to upgrade to the new version


What is registration ?

Advanced JPEG Compressor is commercial software.

The unregistered version of AJC is available to you for free evaluation. You are entitled to evaluate the software as long as you wish. This allows you to try out all the features in AJC to confirm that they work to your satisfaction.

Evaluation (non-registered) version of Advanced JPEG Compressor has only one limitation. You cannot save a compressed image to any storage device, but you can see it. This limitation does not prevent trying all the features of AJC. The purchase of the license (registration) is required to get the fully functional, licensed version of Advanced JPEG Compressor.

See also

Why should I register ?

How can I register ?

License Agreement


Why should I register ?

•	You`d like to use the fully functional software as long as you wish

•	You`d like to get free technical support

•	You`d like to get free upgrades to this software

Plus other benefits for registered users, such as large discounts on major upgrades and other high quality products of WinSoftMagic Development.

Finally, by registering the software, you provide us with the resources and incentive to add new features and improvements in this software, making it the best in its field. Additionally, your registration help us to develop additional quality software products in the future.

See also

How can I register ?


How can I register ?

According to the License Agreement, the purchase of the license (registration) is required to get the fully functional, licensed version of Advanced JPEG Compressor.

We sell two types of licenses:

•	Single or Multi-User License

The use of this software is granted for one user (single user license), or for a defined number of users (multi-user license).

•	Unlimited License

Permits a company or organization the use of this software for any number of users on all computers belonging to this company / organization.

The current pricing structure for Single / Multi-User Licenses:

Number of users	Price per user, US$

1 (Single)	$25

2 - 4	$22

5+	$19

The current price for Unlimited License is $595

If you have any questions, contact us by e-mail at sales@winsoftmagic.com .

For your convenience and protection, we provide the following secure methods of ordering:

•	Internet (Online)

•	Telephone (TOLL-FREE if you are in the USA or Canada)

•	Fax

•	Postal mail

•	Purchase order

We recommend you use the online ordering - it is secure, reliable and the fastest method. Your encrypted credit card information will be sent by using the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) transaction protocol.

We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover(Novus) and checks or money orders (by postal mail).

You can start registering this software by using the Registration Wizard or going to the "Order" page on our web site: http://www.winsoftmagic.com/order.html

After processing your payment your registration information will be sent to you by e-mail (immediately , or within 24 hours in several cases). You can enter your registration information by using the Registration Wizard.

Note: In case of any problem, please contact us by e-mail at sales@winsoftmagic.com

See also

Registration Wizard

License Agreement


License Agreement

Advanced JPEG Compressor ™

Copyright © 1999-2001 WinSoftMagic Development

All rights reserved.

This software and all accompanying documentation are protected by both United States and International Copyright laws and treaties.

End-User License Agreement

("License Agreement")

For the purposes of this agreement, "SOFTWARE" refers to any and all executable files, help files and other documentation that accompany the Advanced JPEG Compressor product. "WSMD" means WinSoftMagic Development.

By installing, copying or otherwise using the SOFTWARE you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this License Agreement. If you do not agree to the terms of this License Agreement, WSMD is unwilling to license the SOFTWARE to you. In that case, do not install, distribute or use the SOFTWARE.

This is not free software. Subject to the terms below, you are hereby licensed by WSMD to use the unregistered SOFTWARE for evaluation purposes only. You are entitled to evaluate the SOFTWARE as long as you wish. This allows you to try out all the features to confirm that they work to your satisfaction. To do not violate the terms of evaluation, you may not save any results of working the unregistered SOFTWARE. Purchase of the license (registration) is required to get the fully functional, licensed version of SOFTWARE.

If this is a single user license, the licensed (registered) SOFTWARE may be used by one person on one computer at one time. If this is a multi-user license, you may make, install, and use additional copies of the SOFTWARE up to the number defined by the license purchased. If this is an unlimited license, you may install and use the SOFTWARE on any or all of the your computers within your company / organization. You may access the licensed (registered) SOFTWARE through a network, provided that you have obtained a multi-user license for all computers that will access SOFTWARE through the network, or an unlimited license for your company / organization.

Neither the evaluator nor registered user are not allowed to attempt to reverse engineer, disassemble, or decompile the SOFTWARE and products. You may neither modify, rent, or resell for profit this software, nor may you create derivative works based upon this software.

Any logo or graphics included in the SOFTWARE, name and all parts of the SOFTWARE are copyright protected.  No program, code, part, image, algorithm, video clip, audio sample, text, or computer generated sequence of images may be copied or used in any way by the user except as intended within the bounds of the single user program.

The sale or distribution of registered copies of the SOFTWARE is strictly forbidden.  It is a violation of this agreement to loan, rent or resell, lease, borrow, or transfer the use of registered copies of SOFTWARE.

DISCLAIMER. This software is provided on an "as is" basis, without any other warranties, or conditions, expressed or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantable quality, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose, or those arising by law, statute, usage of trade, or course of dealing. The entire risk as to the results and performance of this software is assumed by you. Neither we nor our dealers or suppliers of SOFTWARE will have any liability to you or any other person or entity for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages whatsoever, including but not limited to loss of revenue or profit, lost or damaged data, or other kind of loss, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages or they are foreseeable; or for claims by a third party. You may have other rights which vary from state to state.

GENERAL. This license gives you the right to use this software, but all rights not specifically mentioned in this agreement, including ownership rights, intellectual property rights, trademarks and copyright, are reserved by WSMD.

RESTRICTIONS. The Software may be subject to United States Export control. You agree to fully comply with all applicable United States export regulations.

DISTRIBUTION. You may allow other users to evaluate copies of the unregistered SOFTWARE. All evaluation users are subject to the terms of this agreement. The SOFTWARE may be freely distributed, provided that:

1. Such distribution only includes the original archive supplied by WSMD, taken directly from our web site: http://www.winsoftmagic.com/

You may not alter, delete, or add any files in the distribution archive.

2. The distribution does not include a registration information.  In particular, you may not distribute a registered version of the SOFTWARE.

For more information about distribution of the SOFTWARE contact WSMD by e-mail: info@winsoftmagic.com

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS AGREEMENT, UNDERSTAND IT, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS.


Getting program updates

To check whether you have the most recent version of Advanced JPEG Compressor, please visit the AJC home page at http://www.winsoftmagic.com

Registered users are entitled to free minor upgrades and large discounts on major upgrades and other high quality products of WinSoftMagic Development.

See also

Getting support

Feedback


Getting support

Registered users are entitled to technical support, should the need arise.  Please contact us by email at support@winsoftmagic.com .

We also provide limited technical support to persons evaluating our products.

When reporting problems, please include the following information:

1)	Name of registered user

2)	Full description of your problem - provide as much information as possible.  Is the problem reproducible?  If so, how?

3)	What version of Windows are you running?  For example, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, etc.

4)	What version of Advanced JPEG Compressor are you running?  Select About from the Help menu to find out what version of AJC you are using.

5)	If a dialog box with an error message was displayed, please include the full text of the dialog box, including the text in the title bar.

Note: You can press F1 any time while Advanced JPEG Compressor is active for context sensitive help.

Before requesting technical support, please ensure you are using the latest version of Advanced JPEG Compressor available from http://www.winsoftmagic.com/download.html

See also

Getting program updates

Feedback


Feedback

If you have any comments or concerns about Advanced JPEG Compressor please direct them to feedback@winsoftmagic.com .

Your feedback is important to us in order to get an idea of how to make Advanced JPEG Compressor a better product for you.  Therefore, if you have a great idea for a new feature, or a better way of doing something, please send us a note, and we'll implement it in a future version.

See also

Getting program updates


Acknowlegements

Acknowledgments

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

•	Thanks to the beta testers who help track down some problems before AJC is publicly released

•	Finally, thanks to all users who supported the development of this software by registering and recommending it to their friends


How to upgrade to the latest version

You can easily upgrade your Advanced JPEG Compressor to the latest version.

To upgrade your version to the latest version of AJC, just install the latest version to the folder, which contains a previous version of AJC.

See also

File Menu

Installation and Uninstallation


Keyboard shortcuts

Advanced JPEG Compressor is easier to use with a mouse, but you can also use the standard Windows keyboard interface.

The following shortcuts is available within the AJC main window:

Key	Function

Ctrl+O	Open an image

Ctrl+P	Compress

Ctrl+M	Batch processing

Ctrl+S	Save the active image

F12	Save the active image with a new name

Shift+Ctrl+O	Open a compression profile

Shift+Ctrl+S	Save the active compression profile

Shift+M	E-mail the compressed image

Ctrl+Alt+S	Displplay the context menu

Ctrl+C	Copy

Ctrl+V	Paste as new image

Ctrl+X	Crop the image, leaving the selected area

Shift+S	Resize the active image

Alt+T	View / edit the text embedded in the JPEG image

Alt+P	Edit the active compression profile

Ctrl+D	Delete the last selection

Ctrl+Alt+D	Delete all selections

Alt+A	Change the application preferences

Ctrl+Up	Zoom in the active image

Ctrl+Down	Zoom out the active image

Ctrl+Ins	Zoom to fit to the window size

Ctrl+1	View the image at its actual size (no zoom)

Ctrl+Home	Center the image

Alt+H	Arrange images horizontally

Alt+V	Arrange images vertically

Alt+R	Show the result (compressed) image only

Shift+I	View details about the active image

Shift+D	Duplicate the active image

Ctrl+W	Fit the window to the image

F1	Display help contents

See also

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview

Toolbars overview


File menu

Commands in the File menu let you open and acquire images, export, save and e-mail compressed images, exit Advanced JPEG Compressor.

Open..

This command opens existing images. The keyboard shortcut of this command is Ctrl + O.

Batch Processing...

Use this command to process multiple images by using the same set of compression parameters. Displays the Select Images dialog which enables you to select a group of images, then the Batch Options dialog box will be displayed.

Pressing Ctrl + M has the same effect as selecting Batch Processing.

See How to process multiple images for more details.

Save

This command saves the compressed image, replacing the source or the previously saved one. You can also press Ctrl + S to perform the same action.

Save As...

This command allows you to save the compressed image with a new name, or to other folder, or storage device. The keyboard shortcut is F12.

Export To >> Windows Bitmap

This command displays the Export To dialog. Use this dialog to select the path and file name of the exported image.

Close

This menu item closes the currently active image.

Load Profile >>

This menu item contains several subitems that are divided into a group of names of saved compression profiles and the Load From... item. You can load a profile by clicking on its name. To load a profile from other location or storage device use the Load From... command.

Note: AJC finds the profiles within the "Profiles" folder. This folder is located in the AJC folder, and it is the default folder for storing/loading the compression profiles.

Save Profile...

This command displays the Create/Edit Compression Profile dialog. This dialog allows you to check or change parameters of the profile, then save it with a selected name. The keyboard shortcut is Shift + Ctrl + S.

Select Source

This command displays the Select Source dialog. This dialog allows you to choose one of available TWAIN compliant devices (like a scanner, or a digital camera) which will be used to acquire images.

Acquire

Acquire an image from the chosen TWAIN compliant device.

Mail Image

The Mail Image menu item makes it easy to mail the compressed image. The keyboard shortcut is Shift + M.

System Menu

Displays the system context menu for the result image. This menu allows you to use the system Send To > menu, or functions of other context menu integrated software (eg. archivers). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + Alt + S.

Exit

This menu item is used to quit  AJC.

See also

Main Menu overview

Keyboard shortcuts

How to work with compression profiles

Acquiring an image from a scanner or digital camera


Edit menu

Commands in the Edit menu let you compress, copy and paste, crop and resize images, add text comments to the JPEG image.

Compress

This command forces the current compression parameters to be applied to the active image.

Note: By default, the option to compress automatically when parameters changed ( see Options menu) is turned on, and you don't need to click this command until this option will be turned off. Pressing Ctrl + P has the same effect as selecting Compress.

Stop

Interrupts the current process of compressing or resampling. The keyboard shortcut is Shift + P .

Copy

This command copies the selection or the whole image and puts it on the Clipboard. Pressing Ctrl + C has the same effect as selecting Copy.

Paste as New Image

Inserts Clipboard contents as a new image. This command is very useful for working in Advanced JPEG Compressor with the images, whose formats are not supported by  AJC. You can also press Ctrl + V to perform the same action.

Crop

Crops the image, leaving the selected area. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + X.

Comment...

This menu item displays the JPEG Comments dialog box, which allows to view / edit text information to be written to the JPEG file. You can also press Alt +T to perform the same action.

Resize...

This menu item displays the Resize/Resample Image dialog box.  You can also press Shift + S to perform the same action.

Edit Profile...

This command displays the Create/Edit Compression Profile dialog. This dialog lets you to change some parameters of the profile (others are set from interface controls). Use this dialog to select the most appropriate compression ratio, or resizing options for the profile you are creating. The keyboard shortcut is Alt + P.

See also

Main Menu overview

Keyboard shortcuts

How to crop an image

How to resize an image

How to work with compression profiles


Options menu

The Options menu allow to choose a tool to work with the active image, and contains the compression parameters that apply to the active image.

Tool >>

This menu item contains three subitems: Move, Selection, Zoom

You can choose one of these tools to:

•	Move on the image (by default)

•	Select areas on the image for selective compression mode, cropping or copying

•	Zoom in/out and move on the image simultaneously

Plain, Selective

Check one of these options to set the desired mode of compression.

Optimized, Progressive (Web)

Check one of these options to:

•	Create the highly optimized non-progressive JPEG image (by default)

•	Create the progressive JPEG image (better for the Web - incremental displaying)

True Color (24 bit), Gray Scale (8 bit)

•	Produce the True Color 24-bit JPEG image (by default)

•	Produce the gray scale JPEG image

Precision >>

This menu item contains three subitems:

Normal (2 Luma : 1 Chroma)

Check this option to set the sampling factors that give a good quality for most images.

High (2 Luma : 2 Chroma)

Check this option to set the sampling factors that preserve the color better (often almost invisible), but increase file size.

Low (1 Luma : 2 Chroma)

Check this option to set the sampling factors that produce the smallest file size, but blurred image.

Equalizer >>

This menu item contains two subitems:

Adjustment

Use graphical equalizers for fine tuning of the Luma compression values

Full Control

Use graphical equalizers as a base tool for the compression level control

Integrity marks...

This menu item displays the Integrity marks dialog box. Within this dialog you can enable or disable inserting integrity marks, set the interval between marks.

Compress on >>

This menu item contains two subitems:

Options change (automatically)

This default option forces the compression to be applied automatically when compression parameters changed. It is one of base features of Advanced JPEG Compressor, which makes the process of working - interactive. You can easily evaluate how the change of some compression parameters influence on the result image.

Command

Check this option if you'd like to set the compression parameters without automatic applying them to the result image. To apply the current compression parameters you can:

•	Use the Compress button from the File toolbar

•	Use Compress from the File menu

•	Press Ctrl + P

This option may be useful for working with large image file, that require a lot of time (mainly depends on your CPU speed)  to proceed the compression on every change of parameters.

Reset

This command resets all compression options to their default values.

Note: The default values are not optimum values for an image. In some cases, the file size of the result(compressed) image may be greater, or quality may be lower.

Program Preferences...

This menu item displays the Preferences dialog box. Within this dialog you can change many interface and compression engine settings, such as: e-mail method, default compression parameters, delay between changing and applying new parameters, and others.

See also

Main Menu overview

Keyboard shortcuts


Help menu

Commands in the Help menu allow you to see this help, get support or send feedback, open the Registration Wizard to purchase a license, visit Advanced JPEG Compressor's Home Page, display information about AJC.

Contents...

This command displays this help file.  Pressing F1 has the same effect as selecting "Contents..".

Help Topics...

This command displays the help topic list of this help file.

Support...

This command allows you to get the technical support.  It displays the "Send message" dialog of the current mail program with the filled address field. Describe a problem in the message field and press the "Send" button. You can also send message to support@winsoftmagic.com to get technical support.

See the Getting support topic for more details.

Feedback...

Use this command to send your comments or ideas of new features to the developers of Advanced JPEG Compressor.  It displays the "Send message" dialog of the current mail program with the filled address field. Sending message to info@winsoftmagic.com has the same effect.

Tell Your Friends...

Use this command to support development of this software. Registering and recommending this software to your friends is the best way of doing it.

License Agreement

Displays License Agreement.

Purchase a license...

Displays the Registration Wizard.

Web Site...

This command runs the current Internet browser to go to WinSoftMagic.com - the home of Advanced JPEG Compressor.

About...

This command displays the About window, containing information about Advanced JPEG Compressor, version and copyright.

See also

Main Menu overview

Keyboard shortcuts

Getting program updates

Getting support

Feedback

License Agreement


Window menu

The Window Menu contains the following entries:

Cascade

This command cascades the Image Windows on the Workspace in an overlapped fashion.

Tile Horizontally

This command arranges Image Windows as non-overlapping tiles.

Tile Vertically

This command arranges multiple opened images side by side.

Minimize All

Use this command to minimize all of the Image Windows on the Workspace.

Duplicate

This command duplicates the current image. It creates a new Image Window that contains the copy of the active image.

Fit to window

This command sets for the current image a zoom level that makes this image fit to its Image Window.

See also

Main Menu overview

Keyboard shortcuts

Image Windows

Workspace


Status Bar

The Status Bar occupies the bottom of the Main Window.

The left area of the Status Bar describes actions of menu items as you use the arrow keys to navigate through menus. This area similarly shows messages that describe the actions of toolbar buttons as you move the mouse pointer over them. The information displayed on the Status Bar is usually a complement to the message displayed by the tool-tip.

The right area of the Status Bar displays:

•	Information about the active image

•	The progress bar and the current status of the active image.

See also

Main Window overview


Main Window overview

The Main Window contains the following objects :

•	Title Bar

•	Main Menu

•	Toolbars

•	Workspace

•	Status Bar

Advanced JPEG Compressor remembers the size and position of its Main window, plus positions and states (docked/undocked) all of its toolbars.


Main Menu overview

The Main Menu contains the following entries:

•	File

•	Edit

•	Selection

•	Options

•	View

•	Window

•	Help

Using the Menus

1	You open a menu by clicking on it, or by pressing <Alt> plus the letter that is underlined in the menu's title. For example, to open the File Menu, you press <Alt> + <F>.

2	You choose a menu item by clicking on it, by pressing its underlined letter, or by using the cursor keys to highlight it and then pressing <Enter>.

Menu items that appear in grey are not currently available.

See also

Main Window overview

Toolbars overview


View menu

Commands in the View menu control zooming, displaying, arranging of an image within its Image Window. This menu also let you view information about the current image, and let you control the displaying of some interface objects - show or hide toolbars.

Zoom In

This command increases the apparent size (zoom level). The keyboard shortcut of this command is Ctrl + Up.

Zoom Out

This command decreases the apparent size (zoom level). The keyboard shortcut of this command is Ctrl + Down.

Zoom to Fit

Use this command to set a zoom level to fit the window size. Pressing Ctrl + Insert has the same effect as selecting Zoom to Fit.

Actual size

This command resets the zoom level to 100% (1:1). The keyboard shortcut of this command is Ctrl + Home.

Center

This command displays the center of the image. Pressing Home has the same effect as selecting Compress.

The following three menu items allow to set the arrangement of source and result images within the Image Window.:

Arrange Horizontally

Arrange Vertically

Compressed only

Select one of these items to arrange images horizontally, vertically, or display the result image only.

By default, the source and result (compressed) images arranged horizontally. The source image is placed at the left, result - at the right.

Image Information

This menu item displays the Image Information window. It contains information about the current image. You can also press Shift + I to display this window.

Toolbars >>

Subitems of the Toolbars item let you show or hide corresponding toolbars

Each of these subitems can be checked or unchecked. By clicking on the item it switches to the inverse state. If the item is checked, then corresponding object is visible. You can show or hide an object by clicking on any item.

See also

Main Menu overview

Keyboard shortcuts

Image Window

Toolbars overview


System requirements

Advanced JPEG Compressor is a 32 bit Windows application. It runs under Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98, 95, NT 4.0.

It is compact: when installed it occupies about 1 Mb of disk space.

True color (24 or 32 bit) or hi-color (16 bit) display mode, and display resolution at least 800x600 are recommended.

See also

Installation and Uninstallation


Registration Wizard

The Registration Wizard dialog box allows you to perform registration easily. To open this dialog box:

1.	Click on the Help item in the main menu

2.	Click on the Purchase a license item

3.	Press the Purchase button in the opened dialog box

At first it let you choose one of our registration service companies.

[Currently our distributors are 2 companies: RegSoft, United States and SWREG, United Kingdom.]

Then you can get information about the methods of registration: Internet - Online, Telephone, Fax, Postal Mail.

After that the Registration Wizard launches your Internet browser to open the AJC order page from the chosen registration service company Web-site. This page contains instructions about each methods of payment.

After processing your payment, the registration service company will send a registration code to you by e-mail. To complete the registration, open the Registration Wizard again and enter your name and registration code in the corresponding fields.

•	 If you've registered AJC without using this Wizard, to enter your registration code open the Registration Wizard and click on the registration logo image(not a small icon), which placed at the top left corner of the first page. The page which allow to enter your code will be opened.

Note: The registration code contains from 30 to 40 case-sensitive symbols. It is better to copy the registration code from the letter you received by using the Windows clipboard to avoid manual typing errors.

Note: If you have your registration information entered, the Purchase a license item turns into Purchase more licenses. If you would like to enter your registration information again (e.g. if you have entered incorrect data before), click on this item to display the Registration Wizard. You don't have to fill the online order form again.

Note: In case of any problem, please contact us by e-mail at sales@winsoftmagic.com

See also

What is registration ?

Why should I register ?

How can I register ?

License Agreement


Getting started

The simplest (and the most frequently used) sequence of actions is:

1	Open an image.

2	Adjust the compression levels (by moving sliders in the Compression toolbar ,- it is the bottom left toolbar), and / or other compression parameters.

3	Look at the result (compressed) image to examine its quality, and at the result file size (displayed in the image status bar).

4	If result image quality / file size is acceptable, save the result;  if no - go to the step 2 (see above).

See also:

How to open an image

How to compress/optimize an image

How to save an image

Image Windows overview

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview


Selection menu

Commands in the Selection menu let you work with selections.

The following three menu items allow to select, what kind of area you'd like to select on the image:

Rectangular

Elliptic

Polygonal

Only one of these items can be checked.

Delete

This command deletes the most recent selection (NOT the image within the selection). Pressing Delete has the same effect as selecting Delete.

Delete All

Deletes all selections. You can also press Ctrl + Del to perform the same action.

Hide All

This command hides or shows all selections (selection frames). It may be useful for better examining of the result image quality.

See also

Main Menu overview

Keyboard shortcuts

How to use selective compression


Toolbars overview

Toolbars

The toolbar is composed of short-cuts to frequently used features. You can either use the menu commands or the buttons on the toolbar. The toolbar can be in docked or floating mode and located (in docked mode) at all sides of the Main Window of Advanced JPEG Compressor.

AJC has 11 toolbars:

•	File

•	Edit

•	Selection

•	Tools

•	Zoom

•	View

•	Windows

•	Options

•	Controls

•	Compression

•	Image Prefiltering

In its floating mode, a toolbar has a thin title bar and can appear anywhere on your display. A floating toolbar is always on top of all other windows.

In its docked mode, a toolbar is fixed to a dock along any of four borders of the application window. You cannot modify its size when it is docked.

To move a toolbar from a dock:

1	Position the mouse pointer in a blank area in the toolbar (not on a button or control).

2	Drag the toolbar away from the dock, and move it to the desired position, either on the desktop or in another dock.

To dock a floating toolbar:

1	Position the mouse pointer over the toolbar title bar or in a blank area in the toolbar.

2	Drag the toolbar to any of the top or bottom window borders of the application window.

3	When the mouse pointer reaches the boundary of the docking area, the toolbar window becomes a single horizontal row of buttons.

Toolbar buttons that are not currently available appear grayed out.

Right-click on the toolbar displays the following pop-up menu:

Show Tips

This command turns on or off the tips. Tip is the short bit of text, displayed whenever the mouse pointer pauses over a button.

Flat Buttons

Highlight Pressed Buttons

Determines the corresponding visual properties of the toolbar buttons.

Program Preferences...

This menu item displays the Preferences dialog box.

Help

This command displays this help file.

See also

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview


Image Resizing(Resampling)

How to resize/resample an image

Resampling an Image

To resize / resample an open image:

1	Select "Resize..." from the Edit menu to display the Resize/Resample Image dialog box.

2	Choose the Purpose of resampling: Resized image or Thumbnail.

3	Select desired Interpolation method (B-Spline, Bell or Mitchell).

4	Select new size. You can type the value in the corresponding edit box, use up-down buttons to adjust values, or choose from the list of the Most recently used options. Note: when you open this dialog box, the last applied options are set by default. It makes the same actions with multiple of images much easier.

•	If you have selected Resized Image as the purpose:

The new size you are setting is the size of the resulting resized image. You can choose in what units size to be displayed (Percents or Pixels). The Maintain aspect ratio checkbox allows turn off/on keeping the image proportions.

•	If you have selected Thumbnail as the purpose:

The new size you are setting is the size of the bounding rectangle which can contain the resulting resized image without loosing of its proportions.

5	Click OK and wait the process to be completed. The Progress bar within the main window indicates the current stage of the process.

AJC will open the resulting image in a new image window.

See also:

Overview of features

Edit menu


TWAIN

TWAIN Standard

TWAIN is an industry-wide compatibility standard, developed by five companies (Aldus, Caere, Eastman Kodak, Logitech, and Hewlett Packard) to enable communication between imaging hardware and software.

According to the terms of TWAIN, imaging hardware (scanners, digital cameras, ...) are Data Sources that communicate with Host Applications (graphic or other software).

Advanced JPEG Compressor supports TWAIN-compliant image devices, such as scanners and digital cameras.

Note: Provided that drivers for your TWAIN-compliant device is installed.

See also:

Acquiring an image from a scanner or digital camera


What is JPEG?

JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a standardized image compression mechanism. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard.

JPEG is designed for compressing either full-color or gray-scale images of natural, real-world scenes.  It works well on photographs, naturalistic artwork, and similar material; not so well on lettering, simple cartoons, or line drawings.  JPEG handles only still images, but there is a related standard called MPEG for motion pictures.

JPEG is "lossy," meaning that the decompressed image isn't quite the same as the one you started with.  (There are lossless image compression algorithms, but JPEG achieves much greater compression than is possible with lossless methods.)  JPEG is designed to exploit known limitations of the human eye, notably the fact that small color changes are perceived less accurately than small changes in brightness.  Thus, JPEG is intended for compressing images that will be looked at by humans.

A useful property of JPEG is that the degree of lossiness can be varied by adjusting compression parameters.  This means that the image maker can trade off file size against output image quality.  You can make *extremely* small files if you don't mind poor quality; this is useful for applications such as indexing image archives.  Conversely, if you aren't happy with the output quality at the default compression setting, you can jack up the quality until you are satisfied, and accept lesser compression.

Another important aspect of JPEG is that decoders can trade off decoding speed against image quality, by using fast but inaccurate approximations to the required calculations - to obtain remarkable speedups in this way.

 Advanced JPEG Compressor  contains the most powerful and flexible JPEG compression engine, specially optimized to gain the highest image quality possible.

Note. The Advanced JPEG Compressor's engine does not use any speedups that work at the expense of image quality.

See also

Why use JPEG?

JPEG Compression

Progressive JPEG

Introduction

Overview of features


Why use JPEG

Why use JPEG?

There are three good reasons:

1.	to make your image files  smaller - to save the storage space;

2. 	considerably decrease load / download times across networks (e.g. for 	the Web published images);

3.	to store full color information - 24 bit (16M colors);

Making image files smaller is a win for transmitting files across networks and for archiving libraries of images.  Being able to compress a 2 Mbyte full-color file down to, say, 80 Kbytes makes a big difference in disk space and transmission time!  And JPEG can easily provide 20:1 compression of full-color data.  If you are comparing GIF and JPEG, the size ratio is usually more like 4:1.

Now, it takes longer to decode and view a JPEG image than to view an image of a simpler format such as GIF.  Thus using JPEG is essentially a time/space tradeoff: you give up some time in order to store or transmit an image more cheaply.  But it's worth noting that when network transmission is involved, the time savings from transferring a shorter file can be greater than the time needed to decompress the file.

The third fundamental advantage of JPEG is that it stores full color information: 24 bits/pixel (16 million colors).  GIF, the other image format widely used on the net, can only store 8 bits/pixel (256 or fewer colors).

A lot of people are scared off by the term "lossy compression".  But when it comes to representing real-world scenes, no digital image format can retain all the information that impinges on your eyeball.  By comparison with the real-world scene, JPEG loses far less information than GIF.

The real disadvantage of lossy compression is that if you repeatedly compress and decompress an image, you lose a little more quality each time. This is a serious objection for some applications but matters not at all for many others.

See also

What is JPEG?

JPEG Compression

Progressive JPEG

Introduction

Overview of features


JPEG Compression

For full-color images, the uncompressed data is normally 24 bits/pixel.  The best known lossless compression methods can compress such data about 2:1 on average.  JPEG can typically achieve 10:1 to 20:1 compression without visible loss, bringing the effective storage requirement down to 1 to 2 bits/pixel.  30:1 to 50:1 compression is possible with small to moderate defects, while for very-low-quality purposes such as previews or archive indexes, 100:1 compression is quite feasible.  An image compressed 100:1 with JPEG takes up the same space as a full-color one-tenth-scale thumbnail image, yet it retains much more detail than such a thumbnail.

For comparison, a GIF version of the same image would start out by sacrificing most of the color information to reduce the image to 256 colors (8 bits/pixel).  This provides 3:1 compression.  GIF has additional "LZW" compression built in, but LZW doesn't work very well on typical photographic data; at most you may get 5:1 compression overall, and it's not at all uncommon for LZW to be a net loss (i.e., less than 3:1 overall compression). LZW *does* work well on simpler images such as line drawings, which is why GIF handles that sort of image so well.  When a JPEG file is made from full-color photographic data, using a quality setting just high enough to prevent visible loss, the JPEG will typically be a factor of four or five smaller than a GIF file made from the same data.

Gray-scale images do not compress by such large factors.  Because the human eye is much more sensitive to brightness variations than to hue variations, JPEG can compress hue data more heavily than brightness (gray-scale) data. A gray-scale JPEG file is generally only about 10%-25% smaller than a full-color JPEG file of similar visual quality.

The exact threshold at which errors become visible depends on your viewing conditions.  The smaller an individual pixel, the harder it is to see an error; so errors are more visible on a computer screen (at 70 or so dots/inch) than on a high-quality color printout (300 or more dots/inch). Thus a higher-resolution image can tolerate more compression ... which is fortunate considering it's much bigger to start with.  The compression ratios quoted above are typical for screen viewing.  Also note that the threshold of visible error varies considerably across images.

See also

What is JPEG?

Why use JPEG?

Progressive JPEG

Introduction

Overview of features


Progressive JPEG

A simple or "baseline" JPEG file is stored as one top-to-bottom scan of the image.  Progressive JPEG divides the file into a series of scans.  The first scan shows the image at the equivalent of a very low quality setting, and therefore it takes very little space.  Following scans gradually improve the quality.  Each scan adds to the data already provided, so that the total storage requirement is roughly the same as for a baseline JPEG image of the same quality as the final scan.

The advantage of progressive JPEG is that if an image is being viewed on-the-fly as it is transmitted, one can see an approximation to the whole image very quickly, with gradual improvement of quality as one waits longer; this is much nicer than a slow top-to-bottom display of the image.  (If the data arrives quickly, a progressive-JPEG decoder can adapt by skipping some display passes.  Hence, those of you fortunate enough to have T1 or faster net links may not see any difference between progressive and regular JPEG; but on a modem-speed link, progressive JPEG is great.)

See also

What is JPEG?

Why use JPEG?

JPEG Compression

Introduction

Overview of features


What's new in this relese?

What's new in this release?

What's new in Advanced JPEG Compressor 4.1 :

Improved JPEG compression engine

•	 New command - "Stop" allows you to interrupt lengthy image processing

•	 The memory usage is optimized. Now it requires less memory than before

User interface changes

•	 "Compress" and "Stop" commands placed in the "Edit" menu

•	 The "Compress" button is now multifunctional: it works as "Stop" when possible

•	 The Image Window's pop-up menu now contains the "Stop" command

Other changes

•	 Fixed several bugs

•	 Improved installer and uninstaller

•	 Updated help file

What's new in Advanced JPEG Compressor 4.0 :

Advanced JPEG Compressor 4.0 includes significant enhancements for all Advanced JPEG Compressor users. New improvements and possibilities implemented in Advanced JPEG Compressor 4.0 significantly boost the productivity, make it more easy to use and functional than ever.

Support of 20+ image formats

•	 Added the support of 20+ image formats to load images, including the most popular formats (TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSP, PCD).

•	 Advanced JPEG Compressor can now recognize image files with wrong file name extensions.

Enhanced Open / Save Image dialog

•	 This dialog now contains the "Image Information" panel which shows the information about an image (file size, pixel format, compression ratio, date, etc)

•	 Two modes of calculating the compression ratio of the selected images are available

•	 Several options to display file size units (bytes, Kbytes, download times)

•	 The pop-up menu let you select different options of displaying the image information

•	 Faster loading and displaying preview images, possibility to turn on/off loading images to preview

•	 Smooth transition effect from one image to another

•	 The list of Recent Directories allows you to easily find and open the folder you used to open images before

Batch Processing

•	 The "Batch Processing" mode allows you to select and process multiple images

•	 You can choose the compression profile which will be used to process the selected group of images

•	 Different naming options to modify names of resulting images. It is possible to add the textual or numeral prefix and/or suffix to the original file name.

•	 Can works as a background / foreground process. In the first case, it is possible to run the processing of several different group of images at the same time, or work with Advanced JPEG Compressor as usually while the batch processing is running.

•	 Advanced JPEG Compressor displays an animated progress dialog during lengthy batch operations (when it's working as a foreground process).

Enhanced Compression Profiles

•	 The possibility to view and edit the mask of the profile. This mask defines what the parameters should be changed / assigned when you apply the compression profile. You can edit the mask from the "Create / Edit compression profile" dialog

•	 Another important improvement is the possibility to keep selections along with the compression profile

•	 Selections are stored in absolute coordinates, that makes it possible to apply the compression profile with selections to the resized image, or images with different dimensions

System Shell Integration, more Windows-like interface

•	 The support of drag-and-drop operations. You can select an image / group of images in Windows Explorer, and drag-and-drop them to the Advanced JPEG Compressor's icon or main window

•	 When you click the right mouse button on a graphic file in Windows Explorer, the context menu now displays the "Open using Advanced JPEG Compressor" command

•	 The "Send To >" context menu now contains the "Advanced JPEG Compressor" item

•	 When you click the right mouse button on a picture in Internet Explorer, the context menu now displays the "Open using Advanced JPEG Compressor" command

•	 Added the possibility to display the system context menu for the result image. This feature allows you to use the system "Send To >" menu, or functions of other context menu integrated software (eg. archivers)

Other changes

•	 Improved and sped up image scrolling. You can now scroll images faster. The movement of both images (source and result) is better synchronized

•	 From the Image Window pop-up menu you can select options of displaying file size units (bytes, Kbytes, download times)

•	 Minor bugs fixed and several tweaks / enhancements added

•	 Updated help file

What's new in Advanced JPEG Compressor 3.0 :

•	 Added the possibility to work with named  Compression Profiles. This feature considerably improve the processing of multiple images with similar characteristics. You can create, save, edit and apply named compression profiles. A compression profile contains the most important compression parameters. Also it may contain the information about resizing, so you can create a profile to make thumbnails with a defined size.

•	 The Compression-Oriented Image Prefiltering is implemented in our compression engine. This function helps to achieve better compression / optimization results and improve the visual appearance of an image. You can choose one of five high-quality image processing algorithms (filters), change the level and radius (depth) of applying the active effect. There is a possibility to apply different effects to different areas of an image (base / selected), like it is possible for different compression levels.

•	 Added the possibility to Hold the defined Compression Ratio. It is the unique feature for graphic software that allows to create images whose file size is limited by the defined compression ratio (like the "bitrate" parameter for audio files), and does not depend on their content.

•	 Added the possibility to Keep the active Compression Profile. Turning this function on generalizes the active compression profile. It becomes the common (general) for all images - open and that will be opened.

•	 Three additional methods of creating e-mails with attached images are implemented. There is no an universal method that could works with all of the existing e-mail software. Simply try them all, and set the method which works with your e-mail program.

•	 Added the Program Preferences dialog. This dialog allows to change many interface and compression engine settings, such as: e-mail method, default compression parameters, delay between changing and applying new parameters, priority of the compression engine process and others.

•	The user interface Localization support has been added. Now it is easy to create a localized version of AJC. If you would like to use AJC with the user interface (commands, tips, messages, etc.) translated into your native language, and you have the time to translate several hundreds of words and sentences from English, you are welcome. Please contact us at info@winsoftmagic.com to receive instructions and more information.

•	Redesigned the Compression and Selective compression toolbars. Added the new area page control to switch between pages (base / selected) that contain the corresponding area parameters. Now the Image Prefiltering toolbar is placed instead of the Selective Compression toolbar.

•	Added the Export To BMP function. It allows to export the source image into the Windows Bitmap format.

•	Added the toolbar pop-up menu. This menu allows to set several interface options, such as: show tips, flat buttons, pressed buttons highlighting, and others.

•	Added the image pop-up menu. It allows to perform basic image processing actions.

•	Minor bugs fixed and several tweaks / enhancements added.

•	Updated help file.

Changes since version 2.0 beta

•	Minor bugs fixed and improvements added.

•	AJC now remembers the size and position of its Main Window, plus positions and states (docked/undocked) all of its toolbars.

•	Automatic remembering and opening directories that have been used in the last action to open / save images.

•	Enhanced Resize/Resample Image dialog box functionality:

•  added the possibility of choosing from the list of last applied values. You can now easily resample multiple of images with the same parameters without of setting the same options every time you resample the next image.

•  A new option to make thumbnail images has been added. Together with the previous enhancement, creating thumbnails for a gallery of images becomes much easier and faster.

•	Integrity marks is the new feature that has been added to allow the decompression to be resumed if an image will be damaged during transmitting. This feature is extremely useful for creating images that will be transmitted across unreliable networks. Most of JPEG decoders support this feature (because it is a part of the JPEG/JFIF standard), but very few of compressors allow to use it (AJC does now).

•	AJC asks now the confirmation on save the compressed image over its original.

•	Help file is updated.

See also

How to get started

Overview of features

How to upgrade to the new version


Title Bar

The Title Bar displays "Advanced JPEG Compressor" and the version number.

Control Icon

At the left end of the Title Bar is the Control Icon, which you use to access the Control Menu (see following section).

Control Menu

You open the Control Menu by clicking on the Control Icon. You can use the Control Menu to position the Main Window or to exit  AJC.

Window Buttons

The window buttons appear at the right end of the Title Bar. You use the buttons to minimize or maximize the Main Window, or to exit  AJC.

See also

Main Window overview


Workspace

As the name implies, the Workspace is where you do your work. It is the space within the Main Window which contains open Image Windows.

Advanced JPEG Compressor opens a new Image Window within the Workspace when you:

•	Open an image

•	Acquire an image from a TWAIN-compliant device

•	Paste an image from the Windows clipboard

•	Duplicate an image

•	Resize an image

•	Crop an image

Ways to maximize the Workspace:

•	Maximize the Main Window

•	Hide, undock or re-arrange toolbars

See also

Main Window overview

Toolbars overview


Acquire an image from a scanner or digital camera

Advanced JPEG Compressor supports TWAIN-compliant image devices, such as scanners and digital cameras (provided that drivers for your TWAIN-compliant hardware is installed).

Selecting a TWAIN-Complaint Device

To select a TWAIN-complaint device for acquiring images:

1	Choose "Select Source" from the File menu.

2	Highlight the device that you want to use.

3	Click on the OK button.

Acquiring an Image

To acquire an image using the selected TWAIN-complaint device:

1	Select "Acquire" from the File menu.

2	Use the interface to set the image acquisition options. For help using the interface, consult its on-line help or the device software's help file. When the device and its software finish processing the image, it will be sent to AJC.

See also:

TWAIN

File menu


Selective compression

Selective image compression is the process of image compressing that produces the image, some areas of which are compressed more or less than others.

This useful feature of Advanced JPEG Compressor helps to achieve excellent compression results. For example, you can save the high quality for most important parts of the image (faces,etc.), and lower for the rest. The resulting image looks almost as the original, having significantly smaller file size.


Integrity marks

Integrity marks are special marks(markers) that allow the decompression to be resumed if an image will be damaged during transmitting.  These marks  allow a JPEG decoder to

resynchronize after a transmission error.  Without them, any damage to a JPEG image will usually ruin the image from the point of the error to the end of the image; with these marks, the damaged area will be localized between two marks.

This feature is extremely useful for creating images that will be transmitted across unreliable networks. Most of JPEG decoders support this feature (because it is a part of the JPEG/JFIF standard), but very few of compressors allow to use it (AJC does now).


Compression

Compression is a process of reducing the file size without loosing its content.


Optimization

Optimization is a process of removing the extra data from a compressed file, or applying the higher compression level.

Image optimization implies an optimization without visible loss of image quality.


Luma and Chroma channels

Compressing an image to the JPEG format includes several complex steps. One of them is converting an image from the RGB color space (RGB channels) to one Luma and two Chroma components.

Luma (Luminance) channel  keeps the information about intensity of each pixel.

Chroma (Chrominance) channels keep the transformed information about color of each pixel.


Grayscale JPEG

Grayscale JPEG image consists of one component (channel) - Luma, or intensity. It does not store the information about the color  - Chroma components.


Resizing/Resampling

Resizing is changing an image's width and height.

Resampling is resizing by using a process called interpolation. Interpolation minimizes the raggedness normally associated with changes in image width and height . Interpolation smoothes out rough spots by estimating how the "missing" pixels should appear (or "extra" pixels for enlarged image), and filling them with the appropriate color. Advanced JPEG Compressor contains three high quality interpolation methods.


Selection

Selection is a selected part, or area of an image. The selection is bounded by lines.

Advanced JPEG Compressor allows you to create rectangular, elliptic and polygonal selections.


JPEG Comments

JPEG Comments, or embedded signatures is one of features of the JPEG format. The JPEG format allows for text information to be placed in the JPEG file. You can use this feature to store information about an image - like your copyright, comments, date, description, etc.

This text is normally invisible (and will not displayed over the image, of course) but may be read by some graphic software.


Open an image

How to open an image

Opening an image

To open an image from an existing image file:

1	Access the Open dialog box

The Open dialog box is a standard Windows dialog box. There are two ways to access the Open dialog box:

•	Select "Open" from the File Menu.

•	Click on the Open button in the File toolbar.

2	Select an image file

Click on the file that you want to select in the list box. The preview of the selected image file will be displayed in the Preview box.

3	Press the Open button

To open the file, click on the Open button.

Advanced JPEG Compressor will open the file in a new Image Window.

See also:

Open Image dialog

File menu

Image Windows overview

How to acquire an image from a scanner or digital camera


Save the image

How to save an image

Saving an image

•	If you want to save the compressed image instead of the original image file:

1	Use the Save command

There are two ways to execute the Save command:

•	Select "Save" from the File Menu.

•	Click on the Save button in the File toolbar.

If you are saving a new file, the program will open the Save dialog box.

NOTE: The source image will be replaced (overwritten) by the compressed image. The size, quality, or other values of the original image may be lost. Use Save As... if you'd like to keep the source image (and save the compressed image with another name).

•	If you want to save the compressed image with a new name, or to another folder or storage device:

1	Access the Save dialog box

The Save dialog box is a standard Windows dialog box. There are two ways to access the Save dialog box:

•	Select "Save As..." from the File Menu.

•	Click on the Save As... button in the File toolbar.

2	Enter the file name

You enter a name for the new file in the File Name Text Box.

Don't worry about the file name extension. The ".jpg" extension will be added automatically.

3	Click on the Save button

To save the file, click on the Save button. One of two things will happen:

•	The program will save the image file and close the Save dialog box.

•	You will be asked if you want to overwrite an existing file. Click on Yes to overwrite it. Click on  No to don't overwrite the existing file and return to the Save dialog box.

See also:

File menu

Image Windows overview


Compress/optimize the image

How to compress/optimize an image

Compressing / Optimizing an image

To compress or optimize an open image:

1	Set the compression parameters

Advanced JPEG Compressor has a lot of compression related controls:

•	Compression level sliders for Luma and Chroma channels

•	5-band graphic Detail Quality Equalizer

•	Compression Oriented Image Prefiltering

Also you can access many options from the Compression toolbar, Options menu or Options toolbar.

The Luma compression level has the most significant value on the resulting image's quality and file size.

2	Apply the current settings to get the compressed image.

To apply the current compression parameters:

•	If the default option Compress on Options Change is turned on:

•	Do nothing, go to 3

This option forces the compression to be applied automatically when compression parameters changed. You can easily evaluate how the change of some compression parameter influence on the result image.

•	If the Compress on Command option is turned on:

•	Use the Compress button from the File toolbar

•	Use Compress from the File menu

•	Press Ctrl + P

The Status Bar of the Main Window displays the progress and the current status.

When the process of compression will be done, the resulting image will be displayed (changed) in the Result Image area.

3	Examine the compressed image's quality and file size.

See and compare the result image with the source image, their file sizes and the quality of the result image.

•	If the quality and file size of the result image is acceptable,  save the result image.

•	If  not acceptable, go to 1 to adjust the parameters.

See also:

How to open an image

How to save an image

Image Windows overview

Compression toolbar

Image Prefiltering toolbar

Options menu

Status Bar


Use selective compression

How to use selective compression

Using selective compression

To apply selective compression to an open image:

1	Set the Selection Tool

There are two ways to turn on the Selection Tool:

•	Select "Tool >> Selection" from the Options menu.

•	Click on the Selection Tool button in the Options toolbar.

2	Select an area on the image

You should select an area on the image to be compressed more or less than other part of this image. The selected area can consist of one or more selections. To make a selection you can use one of three selection tools (see Selection toolbar and Selection menu topics).

Rectangular is set by default. Press the left mouse button at the top left corner of the area you want to select, and while the mouse button is pressed, move the rectangular frame to the bottom right corner of this area, then release the mouse button. A new selection will be created.

3	Adjust the compression parameters

To set compression levels for the base and selected areas, use the Compression toolbar.

See also:

Main Menu overview

Toolbars overview

How to compress / optimize an image


Precision

The Precision term is used in Advanced JPEG Compressor to characterize the sampling factors of a JPEG image. Larger sampling factors indicate a higher resolution component (channel).


Image Windows overview

When you open a file or create a new file, Advanced JPEG Compressor displays the image in an Image Window. Image windows appear within the Workspace.

One of features of AJC is multi-document interface. It allows you to work with many image windows at the same time.

An Image Window contain:

•	Title bar

•	Source and Result images

•	Status bar

See the Image Window's details topic for more information on these objects.

As the Main Window, an Image Window can be maximized or minimized (within the Workspace).

Selecting an Image Window

You can select an Image Window by clicking on it, or you can choose the image's filename from the Window Menu.

Only one Image Window can be active at a time. The selected image:

•	Receives all commands.

•	Appears on top of any other image windows.

•	Has a highlighted title bar.

•	Has a check next to its filename on the Window Menu. Its filename also appears in the Main Window's Title bar.

Closing Image Windows

When you close an Image Window, you are also closing the image's file. If you have changed the compression parameters and haven't saved the resulting (compressed) image, you will be prompted to confirm your decision.

To close an Image Window:

1	Select the Image Window.

2	Select "Close" from the File Menu, or click on the image window's Close button.

Arranging the Image Windows

The Window Menu contains three items that arrange all of the image windows:

•	Cascade

•	Tile Horizontally

•	Tile Vertically

These commands only affect the non-minimized windows.

See also

Image Window's details

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview


Crop the image

How to crop an image

Cropping an Image

To crop an open image:

1	Select the part of the image that you want to retain. The area outside of the selection will be deleted. See this topic for more information about selecting.

Note: The selection must be rectangular. If there are many selections, the last will be used.

2	Use the Crop command

There are two ways to execute the Crop command:

•	Select "Crop" command from the Edit menu.

•	Click on the Crop button in the Edit toolbar.

AJC will open the resulting image in a new image window.

See also:

Main Menu overview

Toolbars overview


Image Window's details

The Image Window  (number of colors decreased to 16)

The Image Window contains the following objects :

Title bar

An Image Window's title bar displays the image's filename and zoom level.

Source image area

Displays an original image.

Result image area

Displays the image which is resulting after applying all the current parameters to the source image.

Status bar

Indicates:

•	Placement of the corresponding image within its Image Window (as blue rectangle on a small picture).

•	File sizes of source and result images.

•	Percentage by which the source and result image's file sizes are related.

•	Result image's Compression Ratio. This ratio is calculated by using the compressed image's file size and the size of uncompressed source image.

Scrolling the Image Area

If an image is larger than its window's image area, you can view it by scrolling through the image area. There are two ways to do this:

•	Using the Mover Tool. Click on the image, and drag it, while the mouse button is pressed.

•	Using the Scrollbars.

Arrangements of the Image Areas

There are three variants of the source and result image's arrangement:

•	Horizontally [by default]. The source image is placed at the left, result - at the right.

•	Vertically. The source image - at the top, result - at the bottom.

•	Compressed only. The result image will be displayed only.

See the View toolbar and View menu topics for more information about switching between these modes.

See also

Image Window overview

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview


Edit toolbar

{ ajc.bmp}Edit toolbar

Copy

This button the selection or the whole image and puts it on the Clipboard. Pressing Ctrl + C has the same effect as pressing Copy.

Paste as New Image

Inserts Clipboard contents as a new image. You can use this possibility to copy the images to Advanced JPEG Compressor, whose formats are not supported by  AJC. You can also press Ctrl + V to perform the same action.

Crop

Crops the image, leaving the selected area. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + X.

Resize...

This button displays the Resize/Resample Image dialog box.  You can also press Shift+S to display this dialog box.

Comment...

This button displays the JPEG Comments dialog box, which allows to view / edit text information to be written to the JPEG file. The keyboard shortcut is Alt +T .

Edit Profile...

Displays the Create/Edit Compression Profile dialog. This dialog lets you to change some parameters of the profile (others are set from interface controls). Use this dialog to select the most appropriate compression ratio, or resizing options for the profile you are creating or editing. The keyboard shortcut is Alt + P.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview

How to work with compression profiles


File toolbar

Open..

This button opens existing images. The keyboard shortcut of this button is Ctrl + O.

Acquire

Acquire an image from a TWAIN compliant device. The Select Source dialog will be displayed to select one of available TWAIN compliant devices (like a scanner, or a digital camera) which will be used to acquire images.

Batch Processing

Use this command to process multiple images by using the same set of compression parameters. Displays the Select Images dialog which enables you to select a group of images, then the Batch Options dialog box will be displayed.

The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + M.

See How to process multiple images for more details.

Compress

This button forces the current compression parameters to be applied to the active image.

Note: By default, the option to compress automatically when parameters changed ( see Options menu) is turned on, and you don't need to click this command until this option will be turned off. Pressing Ctrl + P has the same effect as pressing Compress.

This button is multifunctional: it works as Stop during processing. Then it can interrupt (when possible)  the current process of compressing or resampling.

Save

This button saves the compressed image, replacing the source or the previously saved one. You can also press Ctrl + S to perform the same action.

Save As...

This button allows you to save the compressed image with a new name, or to other folder, or storage device. The keyboard shortcut is F12.

Load Profile >>

Use this button to load a compression profile. The click on the arrow displays a pop-up menu that contains the names of found compression profiles. You can load a profile by clicking on its name.

The click on the picture displays the Load From... dialog. This dialog allows to load a profile from other location or storage device.

Note: AJC finds the profiles within the "Profiles" folder. This folder is located in the main AJC folder, and it is the default folder for storing/loading the compression profiles.

Mail Image

The Mail Image button makes it easy to mail the compressed image. The keyboard shortcut is Shift + M.

Image Information

This button displays the Image Information window. It contains information about the current image. You can also press Shift + I to display this window.

Help

This button displays this help file.  Pressing F1 has the same effect as pressing Help.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview

How to work with compression profiles


Selection toolbar

The following three buttons define the selection tool (kind of area) to make selections on the image:

Rectangular

Elliptic

Polygonal

Only one of these buttons can be hold down (selected).

Delete

This button deletes the most recent selection (NOT the image within the selection). The keyboard shortcut is Delete.

Delete All

Deletes all selections. You can also press Ctrl + Del to perform the same action.

Hide All

This button hides or shows all selections (selection frames). It may be useful for better examining of the result image quality.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview


Tools toolbar

These buttons define the tool to work with the active image:

Move

Move on the image (By default)

Selection

Select areas on the image for selective compression mode, cropping or copying

Zoom

Zoom in/out and move on the image simultaneously

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview


Zoom toolbar

Zoom In

This button increases the apparent size (zoom level). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + Up.

Zoom Out

This button decreases the apparent size (zoom level). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + Down.

Zoom to Fit

Use this button to set a zoom level to fit the window size. Pressing Ctrl + Insert has the same effect as pressing Zoom to Fit.

Actual size

This button resets the zoom level to 100% (1:1). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl + Home.

Center

This button displays the center of the image. Pressing Home has the same effect as pressing Compress.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview


View toolbar

The following three buttons define the arrangement of source and result images within the Image Window:

Arrange Horizontally

[Default] The source and result (compressed) images arranged horizontally. The source image is placed at the left, result - at the right.

Arrange Vertically

The source image - at the top, result - at the bottom.

Compressed only

The result image will be displayed only.

Quick Compare

While pressed, it displays the source image instead of the result image. This button help you examine the quality of the compressed image.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview


Windows toolbar

Cascade

This button cascades the Image Windows on the Workspace in an overlapped fashion.

Tile Horizontally

This button arranges Image Windows as non-overlapping tiles.

Tile Vertically

This button arranges multiple opened images side by side.

Minimize All

Use this button to minimize all of the Image Windows on the Workspace.

Duplicate

This button duplicates the current image. It creates a new Image Window that contains the copy of the active image.

Fit to window

This button sets for the current image a zoom level that makes this image fit to its Image Window.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview

Image Window

Workspace


Options toolbar

The following two buttons set the compression mode:

Plain

Selective

The following two buttons set the type of the result JPEG file:

Optimized

Create the highly optimized non-progressive JPEG image (by default).

 Progressive (Web)

Create the progressive JPEG image.

True Color (24 bit)

Produce the True Color 24-bit JPEG image (by default).

Gray Scale (8 bit)

Produce the gray scale JPEG image.

The following three buttons define the precision:

Normal (2 Luma : 1 Chroma)

Click this button to set the sampling factors that give a good quality for most images.

High (2 Luma : 2 Chroma)

Click this button to set the sampling factors that preserve the color better (often almost invisible), but increase file size.

Low (1 Luma : 2 Chroma)

Click this button to set the sampling factors that produce the smallest file size, but blurred image.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview


Controls toolbar

Adjustment

Use graphical equalizers for fine tuning of the Luma compression values

Full Control

Use graphical equalizers as a base tool for the compression level control

Options change (automatically)

This default option forces the compression to be applied automatically when compression parameters changed. You can easily evaluate how the change of some compression parameter influence on the result image.

Command

Select this button if you'd like to set the compression parameters without automatic applying them to the result image. To apply the current compression parameters you can:

•	Use the Compress button from the File toolbar

•	Use Compress from the File menu

•	Press Ctrl + P

Reset

This button resets all compression options to their default values.

Note: The default values are not optimum values for an image. In some cases, the file size of the result(compressed) image may be greater, or quality may be lower.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview


Image Prefiltering toolbar

The Image Prefiltering toolbar allows you to use to choose and tune one of five high-quality compression oriented filters (image processing algorithms). The Image Prefiltering function helps to achieve better compression / optimization results and improve the visual appearance of an image.

Area tabs

There are two tabs: Base and Selected. These tabs switch between pages that contains controls used to set the parameters for different areas of the image.

Base is the default page that contains the controls to set the compression parameters for the whole image (if plain compression is turned on), or for the non-selected area (if selective compression is turned on).

Selected is used to set the parameters for the selected area of the image (enabled if selective compression is turned on).

Filters

There are five filters:

Unsharp Masking

Noise Removing

Luma Equalizing

Range Equalizing

Smoothing

You can select a filter by clicking on the button (at the left of the slider), or clicking on the slider.

Sliders set the level (strength) of applying, ranging from 0 to 100. The value should be 1 for minimum strength to 100 for maximum strength. 0 means no applying. Additionally, you can change the Radius value.

Radius

Determines the radius in pixels that will be used by the image processing algorithm to calculate the result values of pixels. In other words, it means the depth of applying the active filter.

For better results, we recommend using the greater values for large size images, and the smaller values for small images.

For the Smoothing filter, Radius greater than 1 produces blurring

Reset

This button resets all the options of this toolbar to their default values.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview


Compression toolbar

The main purpose of the Compression toolbar is allow you to set and tune the compression level for the source image. It contains a variety of controls that let you select from the full range of possible values the best compression levels for your images.

Area tabs

There are two tabs: Base and Selected. These tabs switch between pages that contains controls used to set the parameters for different areas of the image.

Base is the default page that contains the controls to set the compression parameters for the whole image (if plain compression is turned on), or for the non-selected area (if selective compression is turned on).

Selected is used to set the parameters for the selected area of the image (enabled if selective compression is turned on).

Compression sliders

Compression sliders let you tune the compression level to be applied to the source image to get the result (compressed) image. The value is ranging from 1 (minimum compression level, but maximum file size and quality), to 100 (maximum compression level, minimum file size and quality).

The top slider applies for the Luma channel, bottom - for the Chroma channel.

The top slider (Luma channel) has the most significant value on the resulting image's quality and file size.

Use this button to tie/untie Luma and Chroma compression values:

   Tied	    Untied

Detail Quality Equalizer

The graphic Detail Quality Equalizer is the unique feature, one of base features of Advanced JPEG Compressor. It lets you tune the compression level applied to the image details with different sizes, ranging from large to small (sliders is placed from left to right, correspondingly).

The leftmost slider adjusts the compression level applied to the large details on the image. The rightmost slider adjusts the compression level applied to the small details on the image. Under "large" we mean the maximum size of the JPEG compression block for the Luma channel (up to 8x8 or 16x16 pixels), under "small" - down to 1 pixel.

There are two variants of functioning the Detail Quality Equalizer:

•	Adjustment

The Equalizer is used for fine tuning Luma compression values for the image details with different sizes, while the Compression slider control the base value of the compression level.

•	Full Control

The Equalizer is used to set the full range of compression levels, from minimum to maximum. Instead of the Luma Compression slider (which is disabled) you get five sliders to set full ranges of compression levels for the image details with different sizes.

The Adjustment mode is set by default. Use the Controls toolbar, or the Options menu to switch it.

Hold Compression Ratio

Ability to hold the defined compression ratio is the unique feature for graphic software that allows to create images whose file size is limited by the defined compression ratio (like the "bit rate" parameter for audio files), and does not depend on their content.

For better understanding, remind the following information:

•	Use a defined compression ratio, when there is a need to limit the resulting file size, make it predictable (you will be able to calculate it by knowing the dimension of an image), or make it the same for a group of images with the equal dimensions.

•	Use other compression controls (level sliders, detail quality equalizer), when you need to limit the possible level of distortions carried by the current compression parameters. In this case, the resulting file size mainly depends on the content of the image.

While the button is pressed,  this mode is turned on. The compression engine will hold the compression ratio about the value defined in the edit box at the left of this button.

The resulting compression ratios will slightly differ from the defined value, because:

1	 It is not always possible task to gain the selected compression ratio.

2	To gain the more exact match, there is the need in much more CPU time.

You can set two options for this compression mode - the maximum difference and the maximum number of attempts (internal loops) from the Program Preferences dialog.

Note: This compression mode changes the behavior of other controls: Compression Level sliders, and the Detail Quality Equalizer. Their values become relative.

For example, if you will set a lower level of compression for the Chroma channel, this change improve the colors in the result image (while the compression ratio is still the same), but this improvement made at the expense of the higher compression level applied for the Luma channel (to hold the resulting file size and compression ratio).

Keep Compression Profile

Turning this function on generalizes the active compression profile. It becomes the common (general) for all images - open and that will be opened. When there are several open images, all changes the parameters will have effect for all images, not for the active image only.

Reset

This button resets all the options of this toolbar to their default values.

Note: The default values are not optimum values for an image.

Selected page

The Selected page is used to set the parameters for the selected area of the image (selections). The controls on this page are enabled if the Selective Compression mode is turned on.

Threshold

This slider sets the threshold of inclusion to the selected area. It is ranging from 1 to 100. The threshold value defines how large the part of the compression block within the selected area should be to include this block.

See also

Toolbars overview

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview

Program Preferences dialog


Cropping

Cropping an image is cutting off one or more edges of the image, eliminating unwanted parts of the original image.


Work with compression profiles

How to work with compression profiles

Ability to work with named  compression profiles is one of key features of Advanced JPEG Compressor. It considerably improves the processing of multiple images with similar characteristics. You can create and edit, load, save, and apply named compression profiles.

Creating / Editing a compression profile

1	Open an image

This image should be an example of those type of images that would be processed by using the compression profile you are creating.

2	Set the compression parameters

Set the desired compression parameters that produce the acceptable image quality and file size. You can access the most of compression parameters from the Compression toolbar, Image Prefiltering toolbar, Options menu and Options toolbar.

3	Use the Create / Edit Compression Profile dialog

You can access this dialog by 3 ways :

1. Click on this button [image] from the Edit toolbar.

2. Select "Edit" from the main menu. Then select "Edit Profile..." from the "Edit" pull-down menu.

3. Press Alt + P.

The Compression Profile dialog allows you to change some parameters of the profile, or check all of the parameters of this profile.

You can select one of the most recently used parameters for resizing from the list. If the list is empty, firstly resize an image with the desired parameters, then open the Compression Profile dialog again, and the applied set of resizing parameters will be available in the list.

Saving a compression profile

1	Use the Save Profile command

You can access this command by selecting the "Save Profile..." item from the File Menu.

The Compression Profile dialog will be displayed.

2	Check or edit the parameters and click OK.

The "Save As..." dialog box will be displayed

3	Specify the the folder and file name to save the created profile (optionally).

Click OK.

The default folder for storing/loading the compression profiles is named "Profiles" and located in the AJC main folder.

Loading / Applying a compression profile

1	Load a compression profile

There are the following ways to do this:

•	Click on the "Load Profile >>" from the File Menu, select one of the subitems that contains the names of available compression profiles.

•	Click on the "Load Profile >>" from the File Menu, then click on the "Load Profile From..." subitem. The standard "Open From..." dialog will be displayed.

•	Click on the arrow in the Load Profile toolbar button, select a name from the pop-up menu that contains the list of available compression profiles.

•	Click on the picture in the Load Profile toolbar button. The standard "Open From..." dialog will be displayed.

2	If the option to compress automatically on changes is turned on, the new compression parameters will be applied automatically. If the "Compress on command" option is turned on, use the Compress command.

See also:

How to open an image

How to compress / optimize an image

Main Menu overview

Toolbars overview


Preferences dialog

The Program Preferences dialog allows you to change the interface options and additional compression engine parameters.

You can access the Program Preferences dialog by 2 ways :

1. Select "Options" from the main menu. Then select "Program Preferences..." from the "Options" pull-down menu.

2. Press Alt + A.

The preferences in this dialog are grouped under two tabs (pages): "General" and "Compression Engine"

•	"General" page

This page contains the following controls :

Main Window

Options in this group being checked or unchecked determines whether to perform or do not perform the corresponding actions:

Save window size

Save window position

Save toolbar position

E-mail

The Method list box let you choose one of four available methods of creating e-mails with attached images: MAPI, MIME EML, MIME MSG, MAILTO.

This option was created because there is no an universal method that could works with all of the existing e-mail software. Simply try them all to select the method which works with your e-mail program.

Default Compression Parameters

This group box allow you to select what compression parameters will be set when an image will be loaded. You can choose one of the following options:

Reset to program default values

Load the most recently used profile

Load the following compression profile >>

If this option is turned on, you should select one of available compression profiles from the list

•	"Compression Engine" page

This page is used to change the settings for compression engine.

Delay

This option let you change the time interval, used to start applying of changed parameters. By default, this interval is 1500 milliseconds (1.5 sec).

Priority

This value determines the compression engine's priority, relative to other processes in the system. Priority ranges from Lowest to Highest (default value is Normal). Increasing the Priority value speeds up the process of compression, but slows down other processes (applications).

•	Set the lower priority if you would like to run AJC in the background to perform batch processing while other applications are running (image processing and compression consumes a lot CPU time).

•	Set the higher priority if you would like to process images at the higher speed, and without a concern about the speed of working other running applications.

Compression Ratio

This group box allow you to tune two parameters, used when the mode to hold the defined compression ratio is turned on. See the Compression toolbar topic for more details about this mode.

Maximum Difference

This value determines the maximum difference with the defined compression ratio (in percents). The lesser value causes the slower compression.

Maximum Number of Attempts

This value determines the maximum number of attempts (internal loops) used to gain the defined compression ratio. The higher value lets to achieve the more exact match with the defined compression ratio.

You can access a page by clicking on its tab.

You can use F1 key any time to get help on a specific screen.

Press the OK button to save changes, or Cancel to cancel the changes and close this dialog box.

See also

Main Window overview

Main Menu overview


Compression Profile dialog

The Compression Profile dialog allows you to change some parameters of the profile, or check all of the parameters of this profile, view / edit the mask of the profile.

You can access the Compression Profile dialog by 4 ways :

1. Click on this button [image] from the Edit toolbar.

2. Select "Edit" from the main menu. Then select "Edit Profile..." from the "Edit" pull-down menu.

3. Select "File" from the main menu. Then select "Save Profile..." from the "File" pull-down menu.

4. Press Alt + P.

This dialog box contains two tabs (pages): "General" and "Mask"

•	"General" page

This page contains the following controls :

Name

This field let you to edit the name.

Compression Parameters

This table contains all the parameters of the profile that are set within the main window interface.

Compression Ratio

This group box allow you to choose one of two modes of compression:

•	The compression ratio depends on compression related parameters (default mode)

•	The compression ratio is hold at the defined level

See the Compression toolbar topic for more details.

Size

You can select from the list one of the most recently used parameters for resizing. If the list is empty, firstly resize an image with the desired parameters, then open the Compression Profile dialog again, and the applied set of resizing parameters will be available in the list.

This option is helpful when you need to create thumbnails, or resize multiple images.

•	"Mask" page

This page contains the list box that enables you to view and edit the mask of the profile. This mask defines what the parameters should be changed / assigned when you apply the compression profile. You can check / uncheck each of list box entries that causes inclusion or exclusion corresponding parameters.

The Restore Defaults button resets the mask to its default state.

Press the OK button to save changes, or Cancel to cancel the changes and close this dialog box.

See also

Main Menu overview

Toolbars overview

Compression toolbar

How to work with compression profiles

How to resize an image


Compression Profile

Compression Profile is a set of compression and resizing parameters that can be saved, loaded and applied.


Open/Save Image dialog

The Open / Save Image dialog allows you to select an image file to open, or select the name / path for the image to be saved.

You can access the Open / Save Image dialog by the following ways :

Open Image dialog

1. Click on this button [image] from the File toolbar.

1. Select "File" from the main menu. Then select the "Open..." menu item.

2. Press Ctrl + O.

Save Image dialog

1. Click on this button [image] from the File toolbar.

1. Select "File" from the main menu. Then select the "Save As..." menu item.

2. Click the right mouse button on the Image Window to access the pop-up menu. Then select the "Save As..." menu item.

3. Press F12.

This dialog contains:

Recent Directories

The list of Recent Directories allows you to easily find and select the folder that you used to open or save images in previous operations. The most recently used directory is always placed at the top of the list.

Standard Windows File dialog controls

These controls let you choose the folder, view and browse the contents of the currently selected folder, select the type of files to display (from the list of supported formats), select / view / edit the file name. Use the Open (Save) button to confirm the operation, or Cancel to cancel and close this dialog box.

Image Information

This panel displays the image preview and the basic information for the selected image file. The information includes the file format, image size, file size, compression ratio and the date of creation. Click the right mouse button on the Image Information panel to access the pop-up menu.

Use the "Show Image Preview >>" check box to turn off/on loading images to preview.

The pop-up menu entries:

Open (Save)

Use this command to confirm the operation and close this dialog box

Show Image Preview

Turns on/off loading images to preview

File Size Units >

The submenu lets you to choose the options of displaying the file size (Bytes, KBytes, Download Time)

Compression Ratio Units >

The submenu lets you to choose the options of displaying compression ratio (Compressed / Uncompressed, Bits per Pixel)

Help

Displays this help file

See also

Main Menu overview

Image Windows overview

How to acquire an image from a scanner or digital camera

How to get started


Batch Options dialog

The Batch Options dialog lets you to set different parameters that will be used to process the selected group of images. Advanced JPEG Compressor displays this dialog after selecting graphic files in the "Select Images" dialog box.

This dialog box contains the following controls :

Destination Folder

This panel allows you to select the destination folder for processed images. You can choose Source or Other folder. In the latter case, you should press this [image]  button to select the folder from the displayed dialog box, or type the name of folder in the text field.

Resulting File Name

This group box lets you to set options that define how to modify file names of processed images. It is possible to keep the original file name. In this case, if the Destination Folder is set to Source, processed images will replace original images.

A prefix and/or a suffix can be specified for inclusion to the resulting file name. There are two types of the prefix and suffix: Textual and Numeral. You can set them by using the corresponding drop-down list boxes.

The example of modifying the file name for the current options is displyed at the bottom of this panel.

Compression Profile

This panel allows you to choose a compression profile that will be used for processing selected images. The drop-down list box contains all the profiles from the Profiles folder.

This [image]  button lets you to choose a compression profile from other location.

Run as a foreground process

Use this check box to set the mode of working. Uncheck this control to set the background process. In this case, it is possible to run the processing of several different group of images at the same time, or work with Advanced JPEG Compressor as usually while the batch processing is running. When it is working as a foreground process, Advanced JPEG Compressor displays an animated progress dialog.

Keep the main window minimized while processing

Check this control to the main window of Advanced JPEG Compressor be minimized during batch processing.

Press the OK button to confirm set parameters and proceed batch processing, or Cancel to cancel the current operation and close this dialog box.

See also

Main Menu overview

Open/Save Image dialog

How to process multiple images


Process multiple images

How to process multiple images

Advanced JPEG Compressor has the batch processing mode, that allows you to quicklly and easily process multiple images by using the same set of compression parameters (a compression profile).

Processing multiple images

1	Select images

Use the Batch Processing command to access the Select Images dialog box. This dialog lets you to select a group of image files.

You can access the Select Images dialog by the following ways :

1. Click on this button [image] from the File toolbar.

2. Select "File" from the main menu. Then select Batch Processing... .

3. Press Ctrl + M.

After selecting image files and pressing the OK button, Advanced JPEG Compressor displays the the Batch Options dialog box.

2	Set batch processing parameters

The open Batch Options dialog box lets you to set various parameters of batch processing. The most important parameters:

•	 Destination Folder

•	 Resulting File Name

You can set different naming options to modify names of resulting images. It is possible to add the textual or numeral prefix and/or suffix to the original file name.

•	 Compression Profile

You must select the most appropriate compression profile which will be used to process the selected group of image files.

3	Press OK

Press the OK button to confirm set parameters and proceed batch processing.

If it is working in a foreground mode, Advanced JPEG Compressor displays an animated progress dialog.

When the batch processing is working in a background mode, it is possible to run the processing of several different group of images at the same time, or work with Advanced JPEG Compressor as usually while the batch processing is running.

See also:

Select Images dialog box

Batch Options dialog box

How to work with compression profiles


View/edit the invisible text

How to view/edit the invisible text

Advanced JPEG Compressor enables you to use one of features of the JPEG format - viewing / editing the embedded text (also called JPEG Signatures, or Comments). The JPEG format allows for text information to be placed in the JPEG file. These comments are normally invisible (and will not displayed over the image, of course) but may be read by some graphic software.

You can use this feature to store information about the image - like your copyright, comments, date, description, etc.

Note: JPEG Comments are stored uncompressed and will increase the size of your file. But for several words or sentences it is not sufficient increase, which almost makes no difference in file size.

Viewing / Editing JPEG Comments

To view or edit JPEG Comments:

1	Select "Comment..." from the Edit menu.

2	View or edit the text in the edit box.

3	Click OK to save the edited text, or Cancel to don't save modifications that have been made.

See also:

Overview of features

Edit menu


Select Images dialog

The Select Images dialog allows you to select multiple image files to proceed batch processing. This dialog is an enhanced form of the Open Image dialog. The major difference is the possibility to select more than one image file.

You can access the Select Images dialog by the following ways :

1. Click on this button [image] from the File toolbar.

2. Select "File" from the main menu. Then select Batch Processing... .

3. Press Ctrl + M.

Selecting image files

To select multiple files:

1	Click the left mouse button on the first file you want to select

2	Release the mouse button

3	Press the Ctrl key, and without releasing it, click with the left mouse button on each other file you want to add to the selection. Each file you click on should become highlighted to indicate that was added to the selection. All the previously selected files should remain highlighted as subsequent files are added to the selection.

 To select all files on the folder:

1	Press Ctrl+A.

To select all files between two files:

1	Click the left mouse button on the first file and release the mouse button

2	Move to the last file

3	Press the Shift key, and without releasing it, click with the left mouse button on the last file. All files between the first and last file will be selected.

To deselect one file from the list

1	Position the mouse pointer over the file name that you want to deselect

2	Press the Ctrl key and without releasing it, click with the left mouse button on the file. It will be deselected, while all other previously selected files remain highlighted, denoting that they are still selected.

See also

Open Image dialog box

How to process multiple images


E-mail the compressed image

How to e-mail the compressed image

This page applies if you are running the registered version of Advanced JPEG Compressor.

Advanced JPEG Compressor makes it easy for you to e-mail compressed image files to others via the Internet.

Sending the compressed image by e-mail

To e-mail the open and compressed image:

1	Use the E-Mail command

You can execute this command by 3 ways :

1. Click on this button [image] from the File toolbar.

2. Select "File" from the main menu. Then select "E-Mail" from the "File" pull-down menu.

3. Press Shift + M.

Advanced JPEG Compressor saves the compressed image into a temporary JPEG file, creates an e-mail message, and attaches the JPEG file to the message. You can then address the message, add any desired text, and send the e-mail as you usually would.  Advanced JPEG Compressor automatically deletes the temporary JPEG file when it is no longer needed.

Note: The support for e-mailing image files requires that you have an e-mail program installed and properly configured. If there is a problem with your e-mail configuration, then this feature will be nonfunctional.

•	If the E-Mail command does not work with your e-mail configuration:

The Program Preferences dialog box allows you to select one of four available methods of creating e-mails with attached images: MAPI, MIME EML, MIME MSG, MAILTO. You can try them all to select the method which works with your e-mail program.

•	You can use the system context "Send To >" menu for the compressed image. To do this, use the System Menu command from the File menu, or the same command from the Image Window pop-up menu.

See also:

How to open an image

How to compress/optimize an image

How to work with compression profiles

Program Preferences dialog

File menu