Swiss-based Balesio takes the knife to PDF files
Screws them down to less than half the size
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Swiss-based file compressor Balesio has added PDF file compression to its space reduction capabilities for Microsoft Office and image files.
Balesio's FILEminimizer Server software, uses a native format optimisation process, effectively recoding how data is stored in PDF target files without altering its format.
This means the files can be read by the originating application without having to be converted by a reader application first.
It suggests PDF files can be compressed between 50 and 90 per cent depending on their content. This implies PDF file storage needs can be at least cut in half. Balesio's new software works with PDF scans "born-digital" PDF files, and print-ready PDF files and has been tested to work in virtualised environments.
The FILEminimizer Suite for Desktops is a bundle that "compresses Microsoft Office files, PDF files, image files and already zipped PowerPoint, Word and Excel files. [It] integrates into Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes." ®
COMMENTS
I can sort of see your point, although as someone who learned about computers back in the days when storage space was relatively expensive, and access times were relatively slow, I still find it hard to let go of the idea that every byte matters.
There's also the question of who this is aimed at - if you've got a handful of PDFs on your home PC with a few hundred GB of free space, then what's a few extra MB here or there? But what if you're a business with hundreds of thousands of PDFs on a server, with your users generating millions of accesses every day to those files? I'm guessing that being able to shave even just a few % off each file might then start to make good sense...
Great article!
Very informative! How it works: 'Balesio's native format optimization technology applies a comprehensive set of content-aware optimization mechanisms which are both "lossless" and "visually lossless" meaning they are technically "lossy", but in practice deliver optimized files which are visually identical to the original,' blah blah blah circular blah.
If "socially lossless" compression is allowed you can probably get 95% savings straight off the bat by simply deleting the vast majority of PPTs - if the repetitious uselessness of most presentations you've attended in your life is taken into account.
<quote>It also says very curious things about all the MS Office applications.
Either they are storing a huge amount of unnecessary data or their output filters are rather poor as regards file size.</quote>
Nothing unusal there. Take a look at the HTML generated by Outllook in an email, the output of Excel and Word's "Save as WebPage" and Access' OutputTo HTML.
Bloated cr*p every time.
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