ImageMagick
Scriptable image work: convert, resize, composite, annotate, in batch.
Homebrew formula Direct download
What it does
ImageMagick reads and writes 200-plus image formats and exposes nearly every raster operation from the command line. The modern entry point is magick.
magick in.png -resize 800x out.webp
magick in.jpg -strip -quality 82 out.jpg
magick *.png -delay 10 -loop 0 out.gif
magick in.heic out.jpg
magick identify -verbose in.png | head -20Where it earns its place
Batch work and build scripts. Anything that has to happen to 200 files, or the same way every time, belongs in a script rather than a GUI.
Notes
identify answers “what is this file, really”, and magick -list format shows which formats this build actually supports — HEIC and JPEG XL depend on optional delegate libraries being present.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| libvips | Open source | Much faster and far lighter on memory for large images |
| GraphicsMagick | Open source | An older ImageMagick fork, leaner and more stable in API |
| sips | Built in | Built into macOS, enough for resizing and format conversion |
| ffmpeg | Open source | Surprisingly capable on still images, and probably already present |
Install
brew install imagemagick