[DominikHoffmann]

I have a large number of >1 GB TIFF files that are uncompressed. I am looking for a way to run them through a command on the command line that would replace each with its LZW-compressed equivalent. Is there such a piece of code?

Background: We have an instrument that takes 1024x768 images in up to three color channels with 12-bit depth each. These images come from the type of 384-well microtitre plate used in microbiology and pharmaceutical science. Any lossless compression would be useful, but unfortunately, it isn't built into the instrument's software, because the LZW compression algorithm that's part of the TIFF standard is patented.

Dominik Hoffmann

[DominikHoffmann]

I just came across a Web page stating that

Note: The LZW patent has expired. It was a patented technology owned by Unisys Corporation until June 2003_in the United States_ and July 2004 internationally.

[OreoCookie]

Try ImageMagick, but make sure your system has enough RAM! The RAM should be larger (roughly twice as big) than the file you are processing, otherwise, everything is slowed down to a crawl.