The virtual world is similar to the real world in more than a few ways, though probably not when it comes to size, because here the smaller, the better! When the World Wide Web was born, images were restricted to Polaroid scanned images or horizontal flowery bars whipped using Paint (ah the wondrous prime years), but as the internet grew, so did the quality and the quantity of images.

Today images are probably the most important components of a webpage, and where there’s an image, there’s an issue of size. These five online image optimization sites should help you make your images smaller without much loss in quality. So fire up that chainsaw, we’re gonna crunch some images!

Dynamic Driver – Online Image Optimizer

One of the most popular and probably one of the most used image optimizers available on the www. The interface is simple and to the point: Upload the image from your hard drive, select the output format and sit back.

Upsides

• Local file upload
• Shows upto 12 possible compressions for the uploaded image
• Supports PNG and JPG
• Supports animated GIFs
• Compressed image viewable

Downsides

• Does not support image URLs
• File size limit of 300kb
• Does not support multiple file uploads

Image Optimizer

An image optimization utility provided by Geeks Limited, a UK based system development company, allows streamline optimization for your static images.

Upsides

• Local file upload
• Supports JPEG and PNG images
• No image size limitation
• Free offline version downloadable after free registration
• Compressed image viewable

Downsides

• Does not support multiple file uploads
• Does not support image URLs
• Maximum width of 1200 pixels
• Maximum height of 900 pixels
• Does not support animated GIFs

SmushIt

Quote, “Image optimization is an art few have mastered,” and SmushIt claims to be one of them. It used be an independent Firefox plugin before it was integrated with Yahoo’s YSlow.

Upsides

• URL image upload
• Supports JPG and PNG images
• Supports upto five concurrent image compressions
• Compressed images downloadable in a zipped format
• Lossless image compression

Downsides

• No local file uploads
• Does not support animated GIFs
• Compressed images not viewable
• File size limit of 1024kb (1MB)

Puny PNG – Making the web more puny, one image at a time

A brilliant image optimization utility provided for free by Gracepoint After Five. With a dynamic flash based interface, compress your images in style!

Upsides

• Supports PNG, JPG, GIF and animated GIFs
• Local file upload

Downsides

• Requires browser to have flash support
• Does not support image URLs
• Does not allow multiple uploads
• Image size limitation of 500kb
• Compressed image not viewable

Script Socket – Image Optimizer

Upsides

• Supports GIF, JPG, JPEG, BMP, PNG, ICO and animated GIFs
• Local file upload
• Shows multiple possible compressions
• Possible compressions viewable

Downsides

• Image URLs not supported
• Image size limit of 150kb
• Does not support multiple uploads

Thumbnail image source: Omni Directional