Photo Compress Script

Batch-compress JPEG photos with Sharp and MozJPEG. Keeps full resolution, reduces file size, and outputs .jpg files to compressed-photos/.

What it does

• Reads all .jpg / .jpeg files from source_photos/
• Compresses each photo without resizing
• Auto-rotates using EXIF orientation
• Strips metadata to save extra space
• Writes compressed files to compressed-photos/ with the same filename

Original files in source_photos/ are never modified.

Requirements

• Node.js 18.17 or newer

Setup

npm install

Usage

1. Put your photos in source_photos/
2. Run:

npm run compress

1. Get compressed photos from compressed-photos/

Example output:

DSC05215.JPG: 7.50 MB -> 3.76 MB (49.9% smaller)

Total: 51.25 MB -> 25.02 MB (51.2% smaller)
Saved to compressed-photos/

Project structure

photo-compress/
├── source_photos/       # input photos (not committed)
├── compressed-photos/   # output photos (not committed)
├── compress-photos.js   # compression script
└── package.json

Adjust quality

Open compress-photos.js and change:

const JPEG_QUALITY = 75;

• 90–95 — near-original look, larger files
• 75–85 — good balance for most photos
• Lower — smaller files, more visible compression

Notes

• JPEG compression is lossy. This tool aims for visually clean results, not bit-perfect lossless output.
• Re-running the script overwrites files in compressed-photos/.