My wife wanted a simple application which would take some of our digital photos and images and shrink or resize them down to the very small size of the screen of her digital media player, the iRiver H10 20GB. Although there must be a decent free application out there that can do that for Windows, I couldn't find one. So, I created one for her, and you! (I'm aware of the power toy, but it's not what she was looking for). By downloading it and installing it, you're agreeing to the legal text at the end of this post.

The installation is here (Zip with Setup/msi).

Requirements: .NET 2.0 Framework.

After installation, the application is installed in All Programs > WiredPrairie.us Applications > Photo Shrinker.

There are several ways to add photos: Click the Add button at the bottom of the application or drag photos (from Windows Explorer for example) onto the application. Only JPEGs (JPGs) are supported at this time.

Once added, the application shows thumbnails of the photos:

If your camera supports the orientation EXIF setting, the photos are automatically rotated.

The arrow on the right indicates the photo has been rotated. You can also rotate photos by using the rotate feature:

Click on an image and then click the Rotate 90 button. To select multiple images, hold down the CTRL key when you click or use SHIFT and click to select a range of photos.

After rotation:

The moose above was rotated. You can also right click on an image and rotate either clockwise or counter clockwise.No changes are made to the original images in either case.

Once you're ready to resize your images, click the Resize All button. The resize options are displayed:

You can adjust the size of the images to a size you specify or one of the predefined sizes:

You must provide the name of a directory where you want to save the resized images. The directory is created automatically if it doesn't exist.

If you want to rename the resized images with a common prefix, check the Rename images... box and in the Starts with field provide the prefix for the file names. For example, you might type Vacation. The photos are automatically numbered starting with 1. When you're ready to save the resized images, click the Start button. The various adjustments you made are automatically saved so that the next time you use the application, it's easy to apply the same resizing choices you made last time.

That's all there is to it. If you want to create other sizes, just repeat the resize process. At no point will the application overwrite a file that already exists. So, you may need to delete files occasionally if you want to try a different size or quality. And, it never changes the original file, even if you rotate it within the software.

Update (August, 2006): The PhotoShrinker now copies all of the source image's EXIF information to the new file.

If you have any comments or questions, e-mail me at my contact info on the about page.

Enjoy!

License Agreement

Copyright (C) 2005-2006 WiredPrairie.us (http://www.wiredprairie.us)

Redistribution and use binary forms without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
2. The name of the author and/or web site may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.