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Question

Compressing multiple images

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
November 3, 2021
3 replies
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Hello everyone,

I'm using Photoshop Elements 2021 to apply a camera profile to a lot of .raf images, the results I want to save as compressed .tif and .png files.

So far I've been using "process multiple files" but the resulting .tif files are twice the size of the original images. That's why I now want to use the LZW compression for all of them but there's no option in the "process multiple files" dialog to create compressed images.

If I pick a single image and do "File - Save As" another pop-up shows up (after pressing "save") with compression options. For .tif files I can choose the LZW compression (and a couple of other settings too), for .png there are only 2 options:

Compression: None/Fast or Smallest/Slow
Interlace: None or Interlaced

How do I pick LZW compression for pngs? And how do I use LZW compression with multiple files (with "process multiple files"?)?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

Maybe the reason Process Multiple Files doesn't offer LZW compression for tiff, is it uses actions that were quite possibly carried over from photoshop elements 1 circa 2001. So back then, many applications capable of opening tiffs would not support compression methods of LZW or Zip, so i guess adobe figured for the most compatibility, Process Multiple Files would save tiffs with no compression. Another caveat of LZW compression is that !6 Bit/Channel bit depth images can actually be bigger in file size using LZW versus no compression. In those cases one would want to use Zip compression.

Also there was a patent on LZW compression that expired in 2003.

J

JJ5C39Author

Known Participant

It's not 2001 anymore, is it? 😉 Windows' image viewer and even Paint can open the images I created with "File - Save As" just fine and the files all ended up with a size similar to the original RAF file, in comparison to double the size without compression. Checking the exported files and re-exporting the ones that are bigger won't be a problem and is still better than clicking "File - Save As" over a thousand times. And still: How do I do a batch export with compression for that many images? There has to be some way within PSE that doesn't require me to keep clicking "File - Save As" for a week.

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

You can try this Image Processor Pro script (3_b25), which has LZW compression (encoding) for tif files.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/ps-scripts/files/Image%20Processor%20Pro/v3_2%20betas/

Put the following files into

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 2021\Presets\Scripts

Image Processor Pro.jsx
Image Processor Pro.xml
icons
Image Processor Pro

Then the Image Processor Pro should be under File>Automation Tools in the pse 2021 editor in Expert mode.

MichelBParis

Legend

That's not your precise question which is how to get a batch of 'rendered' compressed lzw tiff file from a batch of raw RAF files.

However, I am curious to know why you need precisely that lzw compressed tiff format for big batches of your files. Your posts do show that you are able to do this for individual files. I wonder why you would want to process a big part of your library like this.

If you are looking for the best ratio of quality and size, keeping edited raw files with their xmp sidecar files (or saved DNGs) insures 100% quality with minimal size. My RAF files are about 32 GB whereas a compressed 16-bits Tiff version are more than 110 GB. I can view, print or export them as needed without needing to save the 'rendered' tiff version in my computer. That's what is called 'parametric' editing. You don't save a rendered photo format version, only the recipe as a small text file. It's something the Lightroom users are using routinely.

What is different with Elements and the organizer? Not much, what may change in your own situation is the percentage of your files which need an additional step of pixel edition after the raw conversion. LR has a number of local editing tools which may result in perhaps 5% of further pixel editing, whereas PSE may need 10 to 15%.

In my case, knowing that more than 90% of my edits (global color, contrast, cropping, straightening...) are ok in the ACR, I am used to always issue a rendered full size jpeg for all my files. With very small sizes, they are perfect for nearly all my needs for displaying, printing, exporting; compositing etc. They are used like 'full size previews' in LR. They come as top of version sets in the organizer, which makes browsing and searching extremely comfortable. Very easy to come back to the raw original for specific needs or versions in rare cases.

From the organizer, I could select a batch of raw files to export them as new files in tiff format, just like Bridge, but without the compression option. I'd just use Faststone to compress the batch. To be fair, In my case, I have never neede to export as lzw tiffs...

J

JJ5C39Author

Known Participant

Short version: Someone else takes images, I correct the colors using a camera profile, then hand them over to a third person. I don't actually want to do fancy Photoshop editing stuff with them (the third person doesn't either), that's why I don't care about the xmp file. All I need is a rendered image with the correct colors that can be viewed with pretty much any image viewer (yes, even the Windows one) and CameraRaw did a good job in the trial version, that's why I bought the full PSE version.

The original RAF files are around 35mb each, if I export them as .tif or .png file, they double in size (more than 70mb each). You wouldn't really notice too much of a difference if you only had 10 images but I've got thousands (try doing "File - Save As" with that many...). LZW compression is lossless and it brings the files down to around 35mb again (still 24bit), which makes handling them much easier. Sure, I could probably export them as 2mb jpgs to make them take up even less space but that's not what the third party is asking for.

MichelBParis

Legend

Short version: Someone else takes images, I correct the colors using a camera profile, then hand them over to a third person. I don't actually want to do fancy Photoshop editing stuff with them (the third person doesn't either), that's why I don't care about the xmp file. All I need is a rendered image with the correct colors that can be viewed with pretty much any image viewer (yes, even the Windows one) and CameraRaw did a good job in the trial version, that's why I bought the full PSE version.

The original RAF files are around 35mb each, if I export them as .tif or .png file, they double in size (more than 70mb each). You wouldn't really notice too much of a difference if you only had 10 images but I've got thousands (try doing "File - Save As" with that many...). LZW compression is lossless and it brings the files down to around 35mb again (still 24bit), which makes handling them much easier. Sure, I could probably export them as 2mb jpgs to make them take up even less space but that's not what the third party is asking for.

By @JJ5C39

Ok, then I won't discuss the choice of LZW compression tiffs for 8-bits versions. Note that to get the full information data of the raw file, you need 16-bits. What you call 24 bits is 3 RGB channels of 8 bits. Using the 16 bits setting of ACR would result in much bigger sizes. That's why ZIP compression would be better as explained by @Jeff Arola .

By far, the simplest batch process starts with editing by batches in ACR then clicking 'Done' as explained in my other posts. Using the xmp sidecar files does not double the size of your raw files as creating dngs would do. Applying the 'default' correction works surprisingly well to start each batch. Then, use the organizer and just 'export as new files' in the tiff format for even one thousand files batches as a night job. Yes, you get non compressed temporary tiff files, but you don't create useless dng files in the process.

Now, install the free Faststone Resizer which can convert big batches of non compressed tiffs into LZW tiffs.

When converted, you can safely delete the temporary full size tiffs.

MichelBParis

Legend

Did you consider using Bridge, which comes for free with the free Desktop Creative Cloud?

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/benefits-creative-cloud-free-membership.html

You have more options to export your files. I don't think you don't have the option for LZW Tiff, but you have the ZIP compression available. Please, PS users, correct me if I am wrong.

Of course, there are several good free external resizing alternatives (like Fastone Resizer) offering LZW.

J

JJ5C39Author

Known Participant

I can do the first step (apply camera profile) in Camera Raw, which is part of Elements, just fine, it's just the actual saving/exporting part that I'm having problems with.

I'd rather not save the images as huge .tif files, then import them into another app just to export them again as a compressed version. The docs even mention LZW (scroll down to "File Compression"), so there has to be a way to do it for multiple images directly in Elements. Also, I don't want my images in the cloud (or did I mis-understand you?).

MichelBParis

Legend

I can do the first step (apply camera profile) in Camera Raw, which is part of Elements, just fine, it's just the actual saving/exporting part that I'm having problems with.

I'd rather not save the images as huge .tif files, then import them into another app just to export them again as a compressed version. The docs even mention LZW (scroll down to "File Compression"), so there has to be a way to do it for multiple images directly in Elements. Also, I don't want my images in the cloud (or did I mis-understand you?).

By @JJ5C39

I should have read your other discussion with Andrew Rodney ( @TheDigitalDog ). That shows that you need more explanations about what Elements can do for your project compared with the full Photoshop. What Andrew explains is valid for Photoshop but only partly for Elements.

The first difference is in the initial stage where you 'edit' your raw files. The ACR conversion and editing module is more limited in Elements, and many features of PS are not available if they can be processed normally after exiting the ACR module (Done, Open or Save). What is common in PS and PSE ACR is the editing process which does not change a single pixel of the original, but saves your corrections as metadata, the 'recipe'.

Most of the time, you can ignore the 'Save' option which only converts your raw file into a new universal raw format (DNG) combining the unchanged data plus the 'recipe'. You don't 'save as' nor 'convert to jpeg, tiff or...)

So, you are left with 'Done', which saves your 'recipe' as a very small text file called a sidecar file, with the same file name followed by the extension /xmp. No file in photo format is created (no 'rendered' file format). PSE and the organizer recognize this sidecar file so that they can create the correct rendition in memory for the normal pixel editor to process the image further and display the changes.

Or you choose 'Open', which opens a 'rendered' version in memory for further editing; that's what enables you to really 'save as' or 'convert to' any photo (not raw) format. In that process, you can open lets say 50 .RAF files and save them either individually or all together. If you select all those opened image in the process multiple files option of the editor, you can save them into the .tiff format. But the LZW compression is not available.

External tools like Faststone Resizer are apt to batch resize/compress any photo file format (not raw) very fast and with many options.

Bridge is similar in this respect, but it can read directly the raw files (.dng or .RAF+xmp) and batch process a folder or selection. Note that Bridge uses the PSE ACR version in your case, not the full PS ACR version.

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