Install jpegoptim with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage

Commands and aliases

• jpegoptim

Project history

The upstream README records copyright years beginning in 1996 and lists v1.0 as the first public release. The project was built around IJG libjpeg, with compatibility notes for libjpeg-turbo and mozjpeg, and it stayed close to the Unix tradition of a small binary that rewrites files in place unless directed otherwise.

The 1.2 and 1.3 series added metadata preservation and stripping controls, GNU autoconf support, progressive JPEG support, target-size compression, and better cross-platform handling. The 1.4 and 1.5 series added stdin/stdout workflows, parallel workers, safer marker handling, fuzzing integration, CI-built binaries, and options such as `--retry`, `--save-extra`, and `--auto-mode`.

Adoption history

jpegoptim became a standard packaging target because web developers, image pipelines, and static-site build scripts needed a scriptable way to reduce JPEG size without changing formats. Its presence across Homebrew, Debian, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Scoop, Ubuntu, winget, and openSUSE reflects broad use in both Unix and cross-platform developer environments.

How it is used

The tool is commonly run over directories of JPEGs to reduce file size, strip or preserve metadata, convert progressive mode, or cap quality. Because it can preserve modification times and permissions and can emit CSV progress, it fits automation as well as one-off cleanup.

Why package nerds care

jpegoptim is notable because it turns a libjpeg-compatible encoder into a packaging-era workhorse: tiny CLI surface, old-school C portability, and enough knobs for web-performance pipelines. It also shows the practical boundary between lossless JPEG optimization and deliberate lossy recompression.

Timeline

• 1996: Copyright period begins in the upstream README.
• v1.0: First public release, as listed in the upstream history.
• v1.3.0: Added progressive JPEG support and target-size lossy optimization.
• 2022-09-15: v1.5.0 added `--workers` for parallel processing.
• 2025-09-15: v1.5.6 added `--retry`, `--save-extra`, `--auto-mode`, initial unit tests, and OSSFuzz integration.

Related projects

• Related projects include IJG libjpeg, libjpeg-turbo, mozjpeg, jpeginfo, imageoptim-style GUI tools, and web image build pipelines.

Sources

• https://github.com/tjko/jpegoptim
• https://github.com/tjko/jpegoptim/releases
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tjko/jpegoptim/master/README
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tjko/jpegoptim/master/jpegoptim.1
• https://www.kokkonen.net/tjko/projects.html