Image Optimization (Designer-side)

The "drop a folder of PNGs in, get a folder of optimized assets out" workflow that runs before the developer-side pipeline in Image Editing (sharp, @squoosh/lib) or the CDN tools in File Uploads.

Drag-and-drop browser optimizers

• ★ Squoosh (Google) — free OSS; the canonical browser image optimizer. Side-by-side preview, all modern codecs (AVIF, WebP, JPEG XL, MozJPEG, OxiPNG). The default for one-off optimization in 2026.
• TinyPNG / TinyJPG — closed source; free for casual use (20 images / batch); aggressive PNG quantization and JPG compression.
• ShortPixel Online — closed source, freemium.
• Compressor.io — closed source, freemium.
• Optimizilla — closed source, free (ad-supported).

Desktop apps (drop a folder, get smaller files)

• ★ ImageOptim (macOS) — free OSS; the Mac power-user pick; lossless by default; optional lossy.
• ImageOptim CLI / imagemin — free OSS; scriptable equivalents.
• FileOptimizer (Windows) — free; aggressive multi-tool optimizer.
• Caesium — free OSS; cross-platform; good UI.
• ImageMagick / magick — free OSS; the venerable CLI swiss-army-knife.

Format conversion (PNG/JPG → WebP/AVIF)

• ★ Squoosh — see above; also a CLI: @squoosh/cli.
• ★ sharp — see Image Editing; sharp(input).avif().toFile(out).
• cwebp / avifenc — official codec CLIs; free.
• @jsquash/* — WASM single-codec packages.

SaaS optimizers (paid; honest free tiers)

• TinyPNG API — closed source; 500 free compressions / month.
• ShortPixel API — closed source; 100 / month free.
• Kraken.io — closed source, paid.
• Cloudinary / ImageKit — see File Uploads; transform-on-the-fly URLs are usually the right answer instead.

SVG-specific

• ★ SVGOMG — free OSS web UI for SVGO; the canonical "paste an SVG, get a smaller SVG."
• SVGO CLI / svgo — free OSS Node CLI.
• @svgr/cli — see Icons; SVG → React component with optimization built in.

Video & GIF

• ★ HandBrake — free OSS; the canonical video transcoder; AV1 / HEVC / H.264.
• ffmpeg — free OSS; the workhorse.
• gifski — free OSS; high-quality GIFs from video.
• gifsicle — free OSS; GIF optimization.

Build-pipeline integration

• See Image Editing for sharp / squoosh / @cf-wasm/photon.
• See File Uploads for Cloudinary / Bunny Optimizer / Cloudflare Images.
• <Image> / <picture> — let Next.js / Astro / Nuxt handle most of this at build time.

Pick this if…

• One-off, free, in a browser: Squoosh.
• Optimize a folder on macOS, drop-in: ImageOptim.
• Cross-platform desktop, OSS: Caesium.
• Build-pipeline image processing: sharp + Next.js Image.
• Reduce SVG file size: SVGOMG / SVGO.
• Compress a video: HandBrake (UI) or ffmpeg (CLI).