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Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

jpeg.rocks

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Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#11

Post by MaxBarraclough »

bsenftner wrote: post #6

Okay, privacy is achieved by never leaving one's browser. But how secure is that? One's browser is the home of an unknown number of trackers, as well as heavy interest and efforts in breaching tab boundaries. The browser has turned into something we need to completely start over, without Google or any of the FAANG crowds' participation.

> The browser has turned into something we need to completely start over, without Google or any of the FAANG crowds' participation.

That's very roughly what Gemini is going for. Related reading:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23161922

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23597834

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#12

Post by rouxz »

edualm wrote: post #5

Ahhhh the times we live in, when it specifically needs to be said that something like a image optimizer is privacy-aware. :( Anyway - looks nice and something I'll use from time to time, thanks!

Not just that, it is a "webapp". When did ImageMagick became old?

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#13

Post by usrusr »

edualm wrote: post #5

Ahhhh the times we live in, when it specifically needs to be said that something like a image optimizer is privacy-aware. :( Anyway - looks nice and something I'll use from time to time, thanks!

It's a very unique property. Not among image optimizers, but among tools that can be accessed with any web browser simply by typing a domain name in the address bar. Most of those tools are merely frontends for a server doing the work and as such something that wouldn't even be allowed in many lines of work.

I see what irks you, calling it "privacy-aware" and not something more technical like "installation-free client side", but it can be a pretty cool approach to many rarely-encountered problems.

I'm not much into "JPEG optimization" (whatever that is, I just bite the bullet and wait those ten seconds GIMP takes for startup on my otherwise comically fast Ryzen 9 Windows box whenever I feel like tweaking JPEG compression), but https://hexed.it/ has been a friend for many years: i rarely need a hex editor, but even if I happen to run into a "guess it's time for a hex editor!"-situation twice on the same OS installation (unlikely), the last time would be so long ago that I would have forgotten what I installed. hexed.it is a godsend. Jpeg optimziation is perhaps not quite the same level of problem/solution fit, but it doesn't have to be.

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#14

Post by cliffyton »

Looks nice! There’s more featureful tools like Squoosh. Built with the same tech, has side by side pre-post results, a CLI tool,, also done in the browser, OS & maintained by Google’s engineering team - https://squoosh.app/ - https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/squoosh

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#15

Post by usrusr »

bsenftner wrote: post #6

Okay, privacy is achieved by never leaving one's browser. But how secure is that? One's browser is the home of an unknown number of trackers, as well as heavy interest and efforts in breaching tab boundaries. The browser has turned into something we need to completely start over, without Google or any of the FAANG crowds' participation.

How many far more interesting (for an attacker, any attacker!) things we do in a browser are subject to those exact same attack surfaces? That's a bit like saying that a school library has weak security because the checkout desk wouldn't stand a chance against a focused attack of the Red Army.

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#16

Post by emteycz »

rouxz wrote: post #12
edualm wrote: post #5

Ahhhh the times we live in, when it specifically needs to be said that something like a image optimizer is privacy-aware. :( Anyway - looks nice and something I'll use from time to time, thanks!

Not just that, it is a "webapp". When did ImageMagick became old?

When my grandma couldn't figure it out. I personally think there is space for both tools, though, it's not necessary to replace one with the other.

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#17

Post by franga2000 »

purplecats wrote: post #9
neslinesli93 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good point, thank you. I could add some explanation on github and offer two kinds of optimization (lossless and lossy) and add a quality slider for the lossy one

is there a standard of proof these sites can provide about not sending data back to the servers? besides checking the network data, which it could delay to another visit or obfuscate easily

How exactly could it obfuscate it? You can see every request in its entirety and if you see a request that you can't read, that's already enough reason to not use it. As for delaying it, it would have to store it somewhere like localStorage, which is just as easily inspectable.

If you're worried about that, loading it in a private window and switching to offline mode, then closing it after you're done makes any exfiltration impossible.

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#18

Post by freedomben »

purplecats wrote: post #9
neslinesli93 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good point, thank you. I could add some explanation on github and offer two kinds of optimization (lossless and lossy) and add a quality slider for the lossy one

is there a standard of proof these sites can provide about not sending data back to the servers? besides checking the network data, which it could delay to another visit or obfuscate easily

If you're this concerned that the app might delay sending until later, I would probably suggest you just use ImageMagick or GraphicsMagick locally instead. I use it all the time for processing photos. If you want to clean exif data look at exiftool. It's in most repos.

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#19

Post by londons_explore »

purplecats wrote: post #9
neslinesli93 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good point, thank you. I could add some explanation on github and offer two kinds of optimization (lossless and lossy) and add a quality slider for the lossy one

is there a standard of proof these sites can provide about not sending data back to the servers? besides checking the network data, which it could delay to another visit or obfuscate easily

This is something the web platform is missing.

I'd like some API for a page to load, then become "offline". Then I can use it, and have the browser block any attempts to send/receive data from anywhere except local storage.

Re: Show HN: JPEG.rocks – Privacy-aware JPEG optimizer built with WebAssembly

#20

Post by usr1106 »

fireattack wrote: post #3

IMHO these JPEG optimizers need to explain what optimization they actually do. At the very least, it should mention if the optimization is lossless (by dropping metadata, optimizing Huffman table/progressive scan parameters etc.) or lossy: because they have very different use cases (sometimes you need the image to be pixel-wise identical). Even better, if lossy, "how lossy" it is. I'm aware it's using mozjpeg [1] whi…

> At the very least, it should mention if the optimization is lossless [...] or lossy

True, the UI is optimized a bit too much :)

By looking very carefully at some test image I see that it is not lossless, there are more compression artifacts. Well, lossless would have been a miracle, it reduced the size of my photo from nearly 600 KB to just a bit over 180 KB.

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