Batch-convert photos quickly

I recently sent some of my close friends a few photos from my daughter’s wedding in France. Some of them complained that they couldn’t open the photos because their PC wouldn’t recognise the file format. I assume the wedding photographer didn’t bother to change the default file format. Thankfully, I found a useful way to quickly batch-convert images using my favourite photo-editing program, Irfanview ( www.irfanview.com).

Open the program, then press T to open the Irfanview Thumbnails window. You’ll see all your PC folders on the left. Select the folder whose files you want to convert. Now keeping Ctrl pressed, select the files you want to convert, then press F2 to open the ‘Batch conversion’ window.

Select ‘Batch conversion’ at the top, then choose the ‘Output format’ you want using the dropdown menu ( JPEG is the best for photos – see screenshot below left). Next, click the adjoining Options button and move the ‘Save quality’ slider to the extreme right – this will result in larger files, but with the best quality. Finally, click the Browse button at the bottom, choose where you want to save your converted files, then click Start Batch at the bottom left.