This evening I had the task of resizing 2000 images so that they all measured 300 pixels wide. My first thoughts were that I was going to have a number of late nights over the next month. I then figured that there should be a way to use a batch image resizer to shrink all the images down to those dimensions automatically. A quick search on Google and I came across IrfanView which is a freeware application, compatible with all versions of Windows.
After about 20 minutes of testing various configurations with the batch conversion tool I was ready to run my images through the program. It took less than 5 minutes to shrink and recreate all the files, in the original folder structure. For instructions on how to do this, read on below.
The process is relatively easy if you have a bunch of images to resize. The first step, even before starting with the software, is to make a backup of the images just incase you select a wrong folder to send the resized images to and accidentally overwrite your originals.
How to use the Batch Image Resizer
1.)Download and install IrfanView and then load the program.
2.)Click Batch Conversion/Rename at which point you will be presented with this menu…
3.)Top right, select the folder where your images are stored and drag the folder down to the box below. You should see a list of all your images load up.
4.)Select the output directory (left middle of the menu) and if you have images in folders with in folders, select “include sub-directories”.
5.)Select “use advanced options” and click Advanced.
6.)The batch image resizer tools can be selected in this menu. Here, you can set what width, height or both you want your images to be converted to. I selected the “use resample function” as it seems to give slightly better image quality.
7.)Hit OK, check your settings and then click Start Batch. A window will pop up showing the progress. For me a few thousand files resizing down to 300 pixels wide was fairly quick.
Let me know if you run in to any problems with this handy freeware tool.
