As web designers, image optimization is probably the best thing that we can invest in to make our websites faster. The bulk of the weight on 99% of the web is images. I thought it would be good to start a thread about some of the best image optimization apps out there. I will list he ones that I own and use.
I will admit that I am not 100% loyal to anyone of them. I flip flop between them most of the time. However, after using them for so long, I have my preferences on what apps I want to use for specific images. This is hard to quantify, I just look at a guess which app I feel may do the best with it.
This thread will only go over image optimization apps. It will not look at apps like Affinity Photo/Designer, Adobe, Pixelmator, etc. Those are more design/creation apps, instead of optimization.
Squoosh - FREE
This is a web app made by Google. I admit that it's VERY good. However, it's a web app and for some reason, I like using native apps. This may be the best option for WEBP images out there.
ImageOptim - FREE
This is probably the oldest image optimization apps out there. It's a classic that keeps getting updated. It's a must have in your arsenal. I tend to use this for PNG images.
ImageShrinker - FREE
This has been my go to for JPEG images for a long time. Its one of the few Mac apps that use the MozJPEG image compression library. In many cases this is better than WEBP. I do find that JPEG images that have large areas of a single color (such as a background in a graphic) are not the best for this app. If you have a photograph though, it probably can't be beat.
Squash - $29 to $39
Squash 3 from Realmac got a major overhaul and it's really good. It's one of the few Mac apps that actually supports exporting and compression to WEBP. Squash does a lot more than just image optimization. You can create reusable templates that you can them use to quickly optimize your images. It's only missing MozJPEG support in my opinion.
JPEGMini - $59
This app was my goto for many years. It does a nice job on JPEG images. It does not compress as well as Image Shrinker. However, if you are a photographer that needs good compression without sacrificing detail, this may be the app for you. It looks like the latest version supports video now as well.
RetroBatch - $29 to $49
RetroBatch is sort of in a different league. It can do so much more than image optimization. You can really automate image workflows with it, including optimizing. Think of it like Automator for images. It's a very powerful app. I so a good use case for it in my F6 Picture video.
https://flyingmeat.com/retrobatch/
PhotoBulk - $9
PhotoBulk has been around a very long time. It some automation on top of optimization. However, to be honest, I feel that it falls short of ones mentioned above. It has a very loyal following though.