image-compression

PC Advisor (UK)

BluBox offers a file-compression solution specifically for digital pictures.

Pros

  • Straightforward interface, simple drag and drop, detailed help files, easily add password protection

Cons

  • You will lose image quality if you were to compress highly detailed images, only handles .blu and .zip formats

Bottom Line

Since JPEGs are already compressed files, simply using a standard zipping program won't work. BluBox offers a slick solution specifically for digital images and gives more than impressive results with a minimum of quality loss. It's time to sort those albums out once and for all.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 45.00 (AUD)

Special Offers

Due to the success of digital photography you may never again buy another roll of film – but that doesn't mean your digital photographs can be stored for free. Even mobile phones can pack a 5Mp camera and all that crisp resolution needs megabyte after megabyte of extra hard drive space.

Worst of all, when you come to exchange an entire digital photo album across the Net you really can't expect granny to wait while her flyblown connection wrestles with multiples of hundreds of megabytes.

There's a simple solution to all this kerfuffle of course. Compress the files and you'll not only save HD space but a more diminutive file is far better suited for easy sharing.

BluBox offers a file-compression solution specifically for digital pictures, using its own compression format to render even the most gargantuan image folder relatively minuscule in mere moments.

Testing BluBox's claims to offer swift-and-easy compression of up to 95 per cent couldn't have been easier. The program's interface is straightforward, comes backed up with detailed yet largely unnecessary help files and you can either just drag-and-drop individual images into a new folder within the program or just access one that you've already made.

Our original set of JPEGs took up 210,765,992 bytes of space and, with the program compressing to a medium setting we were provided with an impressive 76,359,387 byte '.blu' file. The same folder compressed to maximum became 12,433,727 bytes in size. This isn't so much a quart fitting into a pint pot as a generous gallon in a thimble.

For reasons of image quality you wouldn't use BluBox to compress a set of highly detailed images quite so viciously, but the test proves the program's mettle.

BluBox is fast and effective, enables users to easily add password protection to their files and can even be used to view images after they have been compressed.

While it would be handier if BluBox could handle more than the .blu and .zip formats you won't find deeper compression for quite such a decent price.

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