Compress videos, images, audio and PDFs without losing your mind.
Desktop app with GUI + CLI. Offline. Fast. Free.
Install · Usage · WhatsApp Preset · Build
I needed to send a video on WhatsApp. Simple, right?
Attempt 1: Send directly. WhatsApp compresses it. Video looks like it was filmed through a potato.
Attempt 2: Use an online compressor. Upload 200MB, wait 10 minutes, download, send. WhatsApp compresses it AGAIN. Potato quality, twice the wait.
Attempt 3: Try every compressor app out there. None of them understand what WhatsApp actually needs. The output either gets re-compressed on send or comes out looking worse than just sending the original.
Attempt 4: Ask AI for an ffmpeg command. Works once. Different video, different result. Every file needs a different command and you're back asking AI again.
Attempt 5: Build my own app. You're looking at it.
Drop a file. Pick a size. Get a smaller file. That's it.
- Video - WhatsApp preset that actually produces WhatsApp-quality results. No double compression.
- Image - Quality-based compression with smart PNG palette optimization. Keeps your format, actually makes files smaller.
- Audio - Pick a quality level, get a smaller file. Revolutionary.
- PDF - Low, Medium, or High quality. Requires Ghostscript installed separately.
macOS (Homebrew):
brew install --cask snsnf/crunch/crunchWindows: Download Crunch-Setup-windows-amd64.exe and run the installer.
Linux / Manual download: Grab the latest from the Releases page.
| Platform | Download |
|---|---|
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | Crunch-macos-arm64.zip |
| macOS (Intel) | Crunch-macos-amd64.zip |
| Linux | Crunch-linux-amd64.tar.gz |
The GUI comes with ffmpeg bundled — no extra setup needed.
macOS note: If you see "Apple could not verify", run:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Crunch.app
macOS / Linux (Homebrew):
brew install snsnf/crunch/crunch-climacOS / Linux (script):
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/snsnf/crunch/main/install.sh | shWindows (PowerShell):
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/snsnf/crunch/main/install.ps1 | iexOpen the app. Drop files. Click compress. Done.
The app figures out what type of file you dropped and shows the right settings:
| File Type | Settings |
|---|---|
| Video | Preset (WhatsApp/Generic) + target size in MB |
| Image | Quality slider (1-100) |
| Audio | Quality (Low / Medium / High / Best) |
| Quality (Low / Medium / High) |
Mix different file types? No problem - it shows all relevant settings and compresses each file with its own type's settings.
# Video - compress to 10MB for WhatsApp
crunch video.mp4 -t 10
# Video - generic preset, 30MB target
crunch video.mov -p generic -t 30
# Image - quality 60
crunch photo.png --quality 60
# Audio - 128kbps
crunch podcast.wav --bitrate 128
# PDF - medium quality
crunch document.pdf --pdf-quality medium
# Batch - compress everything
crunch *.mp4 -t 8| Feature | Crunch | Online Tools | Other Apps | Raw ffmpeg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works offline | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| WhatsApp-optimized | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | 🤷 if you know the flags |
| All file types | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Hardware acceleration | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | 🤷 |
| Pretty GUI | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| No PhD required | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
This is why Crunch exists. The WhatsApp preset is specifically tuned so that:
- The video is small enough to send as a media message
- WhatsApp doesn't re-compress it into oblivion
- The quality is actually watchable
- Go
- Wails (native desktop, not Electron)
- ffmpeg (bundled)
- Ghostscript for PDF (not bundled, app prompts to install if needed)
- Vanilla JS frontend
The squished cat is called Crunchy. He was a normal cat until he went through the compressor. He's fine with it. Look at that face - he's happy :)
# CLI
go build -o crunch .
# GUI (with bundled ffmpeg)
cd gui && bash build.sh
# GUI (without ffmpeg - uses system ffmpeg)
cd gui && wails buildRequires Go 1.26+, Node.js, and Wails.
MIT