qmcgaw/tinier repository overview

⁠Tinier

⁠Features

Tinier is a safe, easy to use program to make your media files tinier, with a small quality loss.

• Video files (using libsvtav1 by default)
• Image files
• Audio files (using libopus by default)

⁠Setup and usage

⁠Windows

Compatibility: amd64, 386, arm64

1. Download the pre-built program for your platform from the Github releases⁠.

2. Run with

   tinier.exe
   

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3. 💁 If your CPU is 386 or arm64, you need to install ffmpeg⁠ manually.

⁠Mac OSX

Compatibility: amd64, arm64

1. Install ffmpeg⁠, usually brew install ffmpeg does it.

2. Download the pre-built program for your platform from the Github releases⁠.

3. Run with

   chmod +x tinier
   ./tinier
   

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⁠Linux

Compatibility: amd64, 386, armv5, armv6, armv7 and arm64

1. Download the pre-built program for your platform from the Github releases⁠.

2. Run with

   chmod +x tinier
   ./tinier
   

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⁠From source

1. Install go⁠

2. Install tinier from source:

   go install github.com/qdm12/tinier/cmd/tinier
   

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3. 💁 Depending on your platform, you might have to install ffmpeg⁠ manually.

⁠Docker

Compatibility: x86_64, x86, aarch64, armhf, armv7, ppc64le and s390x

docker run -it --rm -v /your/path:/tmp/tinier qmcgaw/tinier -input-dir-path /tmp/tinier/input -output-dir-path /tmp/tinier/output

You can also use the following environment variables if you prefer:

⁠General usage

tinier -help
Usage of tinier:
  -audio-bitrate string
        Audio ffmpeg codec bitrate string value. (default "32k")
  -audio-codec string
        Audio ffmpeg codec. (default "libopus")
  -audio-extensions string
        CSV list of audio file extensions. (default ".mp3,.flac")
  -audio-output-extension string
        Audio output file extension to use. (default ".opus")
  -audio-qscale int
        Audio ffmpeg QScale value. (default 5)
  -audio-skip
        Skip audio files.
  -ffmpeg-minversion string
        FFMPEG binary minimum version requirement. (default "5.0.1")
  -ffmpeg-path string
        FFMPEG binary path.
  -image-codec string
        Image ffmpeg codec. (default "mjpeg")
  -image-crf int
        Image ffmpeg crf value, only used by the libaom-av1 codec. (default 35)
  -image-extensions string
        CSV list of image file extensions. (default ".jpg,.jpeg,.png")
  -image-output-extension string
        Image output file extension to use. (default ".jpg")
  -image-qscale int
        Image ffmpeg qscale:v value, only used by the mjpeg codec. (default 5)
  -image-scale string
        Image ffmpeg scale value. (default "min(1280,iw):-1")
  -image-skip
        Skip image files.
  -input-dir-path string
        Input directory path. (default "input")
  -output-dir-path string
        Output directory path. (default "output")
  -override
        Override files in the output directory.
  -video-codec string
        Video ffmpeg codec. (default "libsvtav1")
  -video-audio-codec string
        Video audio ffmpeg codec. (default "libopus")
  -video-crf int
        Video ffmpeg CRF value. (default 23)
  -video-extensions string
        CSV list of video file extensions. (default ".mp4,.mov,.avi")
  -video-output-extension string
        Video output file extension to use. (default ".mp4")
  -video-preset string
        Video ffmpeg preset. (default "auto")
  -video-scale string
        Video ffmpeg scale value. (default "min(1280,iw):-2")
  -video-skip
        Skip video files.

⁠Implementation details

⁠Ffmpeg detection

tinier manages its own dependency ffmpeg by:

1. looking at the user given ffmpeg path
2. looking at any ffmpeg in the system path
3. falling back to downloading a static ffmpeg build for your platform

In all cases it skips a certain ffmpeg if it doesn't match the default minimum version 5.0.1, which can be changed with -ffmpeg-minversion.

The encoders of the chosen build are read too: a video encoder the build does not provide is replaced by libx265, then by libx264, and the replacement is reported. The libaom-av1 encoder is never picked as a replacement, being an order of magnitude slower than the others. The preset follows the same path. It defaults to auto, which is the preset of the encoder which converts — 8 for libsvtav1, and fast for libx264, libx265 and libaom-av1 — preset values being encoder specific. A preset you give is kept as it is, and one the encoder cannot take is refused before any conversion.

⁠Metadata

FFMPEG writes no metadata when it re-encodes an image, which is why tinier copies the metadata of the input file into the output file itself. It is transplanted as it is, never re-serialized, so information FFMPEG cannot express survives: maker notes, GPS coordinates, embedded thumbnails, XMP, ICC profiles and IPTC data.

Two parts of the EXIF data describe the pixels, and FFMPEG changes them:

• the rotation of the image is applied to the pixels, so the orientation tag is reset to normal
• the dimension tags are updated to the dimensions of the new pixels

The metadata of a JPEG, PNG or AVIF input file is copied, and written to a JPEG output file, which -image-output-extension defaults to. The metadata of a file of another format, such as HEIC, is not read, and no metadata is written to a non-JPEG output file.

Only the metadata which can be made consistent with the new pixels is copied: EXIF, XMP, ICC profile, IPTC and the comment. The remaining application specific segments of a JPEG input file (APP14 for Adobe, APP6 for MPF, ...) and the chunks of a PNG input file which a JPEG file has no equivalent of are left out: the transparency and pixel density chunks, and the text chunks whose keyword means nothing in a JPEG file, such as Title, Author or Description. The contents of a JPEG segment can also point at positions of the file which the new pixels no longer match.

⁠Safety

• tinier can be stopped at anytime and pick up again safely
• tinier copies over all files from the input directory to the output directory, even if untouched.
• tinier encodes videos to a temporary directory and only moves them to the output directory when completed.
• when a conversion comes out bigger than the file it converts, tinier throws the conversion away and copies the input file under its own name, so a file never holds bytes of another type than the one its extension announces
• tinier does not delete any file from the input directory

⁠Limitations

• AVIF files are left untouched by default: converting one to JPEG loses the transparency and the high dynamic range it can hold, and the conversion is most of the time bigger than the file it converts. Add the .avif extension to -image-extensions to convert them anyway, metadata included
• the metadata of a HEIC input image is not preserved, and converting one to JPEG loses the high dynamic range it can hold, so converting this format is best avoided
• a motion photo, taken by most Android phones, holds a JPEG photo and an MP4 video in the same file: only the photo is kept, as a single JPEG still image, and the video part is lost
• FFMPEG keeps one track of each kind, so the extra audio tracks of a video, and the picture attached to an audio file, are not kept
• application specific segments of input JPEG files, and chunks of input PNG files which have no JPEG equivalent, are not copied, except EXIF, XMP, ICC profile, IPTC and the comment
• file creation time (OS dependent) is not preserved