CbxConverter - reducing size of comic books (cbr/cbz)

[tomeko]

CbxConverter is a batch-style cbz/cbr files (i.e. comic books) converter intended to reduce their sizes.
This is done in two ways: by converting images to WebP format (typically comic books use jpg) and optionally by resizing down images. When combining conversion to WebP with scaling down to 50% output files tend to be 10 times smaller than source (with good quality 1920px or 1988px width source files, poor quality scans in general should not be converted as WebP is lossy compression).
Output files are packed as zip (cbz) with no compression (copy mode).
WebP format is not supported by every comic book reader - make sure you can find reader(s) that suit your needs before converting your archive. My recommendation for PC/Windows is Sumatra PDF. Note: application does not alter source files in any way but creates converted files in its subdirectory.
Application uses cwebp and 7-zip command line tools (included in archive) for processing.
After unzipping (preferably to directory near the drive root - temporary subdirectories are created inside application directory while converting) use drag-and-drop to add source files, optionally specify resizing (context menu) and start conversion.

Tested with Windows XP and 7, 32-bit.

Permalink: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2662

[webfork]

From what I've read, WebP's quality is ideal for thumbnails rather than full images (more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebP#Criticism). Wouldn't JPEG 2000 work better (despite the patent issues)?

I do have high hopes for BPG.

[tomeko]

It's hard to find compression comparisons for graphics (not photo) source. I found http://geeks.everything.me/2013/04/24/why-we-like-webp/ and http://goldfishforthought.blogspot.com/ ... eg-xr.html and they seem to confirm high efficiency of WebP when working with graphics.
AFAIK JPEG2000 supports only only single prediction mode, so I doubt if it could match WebP (still talking about graphics, not photo).
Regarding BPG - licensing it (as part of H.265) requires probably some paperwork similar to required for H.264, even if distributing less than 100k units per year. Maybe WebP successor based on VP9 emerge sooner?

[webfork]

Permalink: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2662

I ran a bit of an edit on the entry to bring it more in line with the entry descriptions used here on PFW.

[Midas]

Topic update: CbxConverter v0.12.2 released (no date, full changelog at http://tomeko.net/software/CbxConverter/).