mogrify

Mogrify is a command-line tool that is part of the ImageMagick software suite and is used to apply image transformations to one or more files. It is commonly employed for batch processing, allowing users to modify several images in a single operation. By default, mogrify processes files in place, meaning it overwrites the original files, though it can write outputs to a different directory or create new files with certain options.

The tool supports a wide range of operations, including resizing, cropping, rotating, converting formats, changing quality, and applying color adjustments. It can also strip metadata, modify density or resolution, and alter color space or gamma. Because mogrify can modify or generate files in bulk, users often use it to prepare images for web publishing, archival conversion, or standardization of image sets.

Usage is typically straightforward: mogrify [options] image-files. You can specify multiple files or use wildcards (for example, *.jpg). Options control the transformation behavior, such as -resize 800x600, -format png, -quality 85, -strip, or -colorspace sRGB. The -path option allows directing output to a different directory, enabling in-place processing to be avoided when needed. The -monitor option can show progress for long-running batch jobs.

For safety, it is advised to back up originals before running mogrify, since many transformations modify files directly. Users may also test changes on a small subset of images before applying them to an entire collection.