About The Software
Q:	What type of image files can be compressed by Image Compressor?
A:	Image Compressor 2008 can compress major image formats into industrial standard JPEG file. It can even re-compress JPEG created by other softwares or devices into a smaller JPEG files.
Q:	Will my photo quality ruined if i recompress it using Image Compressor?
A:	JPEG is a lossy compression. All software compressing photo to JPEG format will be lossy. That's where Image Compressor takes part. Image Compressor unlike any other software, will make sure that your image still looks good, automatically. If Image Compressor finds that your image can't be recompressed, it will use the original one. You can be sure the resulting image will still looks good even after the file has been compressed up to 90% of the original filesize.
Q:	So, Image Compressor compress JPEG file to smaller JPEG file. Why not compressing it to ZIP or such?
A:	First, by compressing it to the same JPEG format, the resulting compressed file can be directly viewed by any devices supporting standard JPEG file. That means, the resulting file can directly replace the original one. You can put the recompressed JPEG to your website, photo album, digital photo frame, cellphone, PDA, iPod. Any software and gadgets supporting standard JPEG file! You definetly can't upload zip to replace your photo in a website, can you? Second, ZIP compression may not perform as well as Image Compressor. Try it :)
Q:	I'm a scientist. How good is the JPEG image recompressed by Image Compressor compared with the original JPEG?
A:	It's very good indeed. One way to compare differences between two images is by using PSNR. Comparing the original JPEG with the recompressed JPEG will give PSNR above typical value. Our test images shows that Image Compressor can recompress JPEG files at PSNR rate betweeen 40-50db.
Using Image Compressor
Q:	What's the differences between normal and extreme compression method? When should i use one?
A:	Normal method basically scan each pixel and determine the compression level to make sure your image still looks good after recompression. Extreme method takes different approach. Image Compressor will manipulate your image first, recompress, and make sure your image looks good too. Use normal method if your image or photo contains lots of text. Or if you want to store the result in high-capacity storage such as CD, DVD or hard-drive. Extreme method applicable when you're transfering the photo to device which has low resolution, generally below 800x600, such as TV, digital photo frame, cell phone, PDA and others. You can use extreme method also for emailing or uploading photo to the internet.
Q:	Why do I need a preset?
A:	Preset stores your compression and effects settings. By saving it to preset you can use the same setting for more than one image with a single-click. Compare with other softwares that requires you to set JPEG compresion level for each image. Image Compressor and its presets save you lot of time.
Q:	Ok, my sample image looks good after recompression. How can i do batch process? Will all image looks good as well?
A:	To do batch process simply select more than one file from the file list. You can use Shift and Ctrl for multiple selections. Yes, definetly. All images will look good. Even if you're using the same preset, Image Compressor will still analyze each file individually to make sure quality does not degrade too much.
Q:	Do I have to set the JPEG Quality/Compression level for each image?
A:	No. Image Compressor unlike any other software, doesn't need to set JPEG compression level. Instead we're using another parameter called TQ, which behave different than JPEG Q. TQ defines the aggresiveness of our compression engine. In any other image processing software, setting JPEG Q to 100 will create larger file than the original. While setting to 0 will create a very bad image you really don't want to see. In Image Compressor, setting TQ either to 0 or 100 will give you a nice looking image. Try it.
Q:	I get an out of memory message while compressing a very large image (20MP). What shoud i do?
A:	Compressing a 20 mega pixel image is equal to compressing 60MB of data. And for Image Compressor to run properly it may requires up to 120MB of memory. So, you have two options: 1. Add more RAM to your system. 2. Increase Windows swap file size. Click here for guide to increase your Windows swap file.
Gadget Users
Q:	How can i compress photos from my digital camera?
A:	There are two options to do this: If your camera supports Twain, then simply click File -> Acquire Device. Select your digital camera from it, select destination folder, select the preset you want to use, and click "Acquire Image". You have to install your camera's Twain driver first. Copy your photos to hard drive first. Using camera's supplied software, USB cable or simply copy from your camera's memory card, you can copy photos to your hard drive. Then simply browse the folder you saved your photos to, and click compress.
Q:	How can i scan image and directly compress them?
A:	After you install your scanner's Twain driver, clcik File -> Acquire Device. Select your scanner from it, select destination folder, select the preset you want to use, and click "Acquire Image".
Q:	How can i transfer compressed photos from Image Compressor to my digital photo frame?
A:	There're several ways to do this. They depends on your digital photo frame capability. If your digital photo frame has a direct USB connection, internal memory and comes with a software/driver to copy from PC, then just use it. If your digital photo frame only has card reader capability, then simply copy the compressed images to your memory card, and insert it in the digital photo frame.
Q:	How can i transfer compressed photos from Image Compressor to iPod?
A:	First, make sure your iPod supports JPEG photo, such as iPod nano and video. Use iTunes to copy those compressed images to your iPod.
Q:	I have a cellphone, digital photo frame and iPod. What's the best image dimension to use in Image Compressor's preset?
A:	Most device supports a TV resolution. That's a maximum of 640x480. Create your own preset in Image Compressor, and set the resize function to maximum width: 640 and maximum height: 480. Use that preset to compress photos before transfering them to your gadgets. For cellphone users, usually the optimum image dimension is 320x240. You may want to create another preset to do so.
Licensing
Q:	I'm a single user, may i purchase Image Compressor with discounted price?
A:	Discounted price only applies for 9 or more licenses. If you are a member of some photography websites, ask the webmaster whether their website has partnered with us for discounted price. Also, there's another way to get better deal when purchasing Image Compressor. That is to get an extended free upgrade period. Click here for the detail.
Q:	Can i get a cracked version of Image Compressor???
A:	Well, probably yes. You may need to search some cracking sites out there. But please remember. To crack Image Compressor, the cracker needs to change our software. You will not find any serial number that works without an EXE file. The serial number is generated as such to make it secure. That's why the cracker has to change our EXE, and potentialy ruin the software itself. That also means the cracker can put other code to steal or break your data. They can put viruses into it, and much worse, they can add code to steal your credit card number, bank account details and any other valuable data in your computer. We believe $29.99 is much less than what's your data worth. So, why take the risk?