Copyright: JPG Cleaner 95 Help File by Rainbow Software


Welcome to JPG Cleaner

About JPG Cleaner

JPG Cleaner 95 is a Win32 program for cleaning JPG files from anything that is not picture data. Commonly used programs such as Adobe Photoshop are writing additional information into JPG file that isn't needed for correctly displaying the picture:

 - Texts such asFile written by Adobe Photoshop, Creator: PolyView(R) Version 3.32 by Polybytes, LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

 - Picture previews (sometimes even bigger than main JPG data!)

 - Color Management data

All this data is useful only when opening the file in program that created it. Other programs such as Internet Browsers are just skipping this data, so the data is downloaded ant then thrown away! Just use this program when publishing JPG files on the Internet and your JPG files become smaller (if they contain non-picture data) with NO QUALITY LOSS.


Welcome to JPG Cleaner

About JPG Cleaner

JPG Cleaner 95 is a Win32 program for cleaning JPG files from anything that is not picture data. Commonly used programs such as Adobe Photoshop are writing additional information into JPG file that isn't needed for correctly displaying the picture:

 - Texts such asFile written by Adobe Photoshop, Creator: PolyView(R) Version 3.32 by Polybytes, LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

 - Picture previews (sometimes even bigger than main JPG data!)

 - Color Management data

All this data is useful only when opening the file in program that created it. Other programs such as Internet Browsers are just skipping this data, so the data is downloaded ant then thrown away! Just use this program when publishing JPG files on the Internet and your JPG files become smaller (if they contain non-picture data) with NO QUALITY LOSS.


About JPG Cleaner

JPG Cleaner 95 is a Win32 program for cleaning JPG files from anything that is not picture data. Commonly used programs such as Adobe Photoshop are writing additional information into JPG file that isn't needed for correctly displaying the picture:

 - Texts such asFile written by Adobe Photoshop, Creator: PolyView(R) Version 3.32 by Polybytes, LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01

 - Picture previews (sometimes even bigger than main JPG data!)

 - Color Management data

All this data is useful only when opening the file in program that created it. Other programs such as Internet Browsers are just skipping this data, so the data is downloaded ant then thrown away! Just use this program when publishing JPG files on the Internet and your JPG files become smaller (if they contain non-picture data) with NO QUALITY LOSS.


JPG Cleaner story and authors

A program for cleaning JPG files - that was PiT's idea. He noticed that there are some additional data in some JPG files and wrote first program called DELFF (del from file), which deleted a part of a file (user must enter the start and length of block to delete). Then as we examined the JPG file structure, we got an idea to write automatic JPG cleaner. And here it is. First version was written in Pascal. We were testing it on a lot of files and we learned, which JPG blocks are needed and which are not. As the version 1.4 was completed, it worked pretty good, so I placed it on my Home page. I also ported the DOS version to Delphi 3 only with minor changes to support long file names. And here is the Windows version with graphical user interface. The cleaning routine is same as the DOS and console versions, but with a nice interface (that's what users like).

Contacting the authors:

 - Home Page: http://rainbow.ht.st

 - Rainbow Software: rnbw@geocities.com

 - PiT: pit@gjh.sk


Using JPG Cleaner: Step-by-step guide

1. Select the JPG files to clean by adding them to Input List. This can be done using the Add button near the Input List or by dragging the files on JPG Cleaner window from Windows Explorer. To remove a file from input list, select it and click the Remove button (or right-click and select Remove from the pop-up menu). To clear the list, click Remove All button

2. Select output directory, if you want or leave it same as the input directory (default setting). If you want to specify output directory, uncheck the box Same as Input and click Browse button to select directory.

3. Configure the settings you want.

4. Click the Start button and watch the process (or leave it running in background and do some other work). You can pause and then resume the process by clicking the Pause/Resume button.

5. After the process is complete, you can save the output log (as you can see it in the log window) to a text file by clicking the Save Log button.


Using JPG Cleaner: Configuring the settings

Create Backup Files: If this box is checked, backup file will be created for every cleaned file with .BAK extension. You can then restore the JPG file if the cleaned one doesn't work. If you find a file, which doesn't workafter cleaning, please send it to my e-mail address (look in About box). This option is not available when the output directory is specified.

Keep File Dates and Times: If this box is checked, the date and time of the cleaned files will be same as the date and time of input files. Uncheck this box, if you want to know, which files are new by looking at their date/time.

Overwrite Existing Files: If this box is checked, existing files in the output directory with same names as the input files will be overwritten by the cleaned files. When the same directory is used for both input and output files, the program will only display the amount of bytes, which is possible to clean (Display More Information must be enabled).

Display More Information: If this box is checked, the status of each file will be written to the log when processing files. This may slow down the cleaning process (especially on slower computers), but you will get complete information about the cleaning process.

Beep when done: If this box is checked, the Default sound will be played after the cleaning process is completed. This is useful if you are processing a large amount of files.

Save settings on exit: If this box is checked, settings are automatically saved when you exit JPG Cleaner. Settings are automatically loaded on startup.

Error processing: What to do with corrupted (bad) files.

Ignore corrupt files - If this option is selected, corrupt files will be ignored (only the message will be written to log if More Information is enabled).

Delete corrupt files - If this option is selected, corrupt files will be automatically deleted (useful when processing large amount of files, where some may be corrupt - e.g. files from the Internet cache).

Delete unknown files - If this option is selected, not only corrupt files, but also unknown files will be automatically deleted. USE THIS OPTION WITH CARE!


This is the Input List, list of all JPG files to process. It lists the files including the full path. Click the Add Files button to add files to the list. Click the Add Folder button to add entire folder including subfolders to the list. Click the Remove button to remove a file from list. Click Remove All button to remove all files from the list. The list must contain at least one file to start the cleaning process.


Click this button to add files to the Input List.


Click this button to add folder including subfolders to the Input List.


Click this button to remove currently selected file from the Input List.


Click this button to remove all files from the Input List (clear the list).


Provides a space for the output directory. If the Same as input box is checked, this field is grayed-out and output directory will be same as input directory. Click the Browse button to select a directory or type it directly into this box.


Click this button to select output directory. If the Same as input box is checked, this button is grayed-out and output directory will be same as input directory.


If this box is checked, the output directory for JPG files will be same as input directory. This means that cleaned files will be written to the directory, where they are. Uncheck this box and specify Output directory, if you want all the cleaned files to be placed in Output directory (cleaning files directly from CD-ROM or read-only network drive). Backup is unavailable when this box is checked.


If this box is checked, backup file will be created for every cleaned file with .BAK extension. You can then restore the JPG file if the cleaned one doesn't work. If you find a file, which doesn't work after cleaning, please send it to my e-mail address (look in About box).


If this box is checked, the date and time of the cleaned files will be same as the date and time of input files. Uncheck this box, if you want to know, which files are new by looking at their date/time.


If this box is checked, existing files in the output directory with same names as the input files will be overwritten by the cleaned files. When the same directory is used for both input and output files, the program will only display the amount of bytes, which is possible to clean (Display More Information must be enabled).


If this box is checked, the status of each file will be written to the log when processing files. This may slow down the cleaning process (especially on slower computers), but you will get complete information about the cleaning process.


If this box is checked, the Default sound will be played after the cleaning process is completed. This is useful if you are processing a large amount of files and you minimize JPG Cleaner.


If this box is checked, all settings are automatically saved into registry when you exit JPG Cleaner.


If this option is selected, corrupt files will be ignored (only the message will be written to log if More Information is enabled).


If this option is selected, corrupt files will be automatically deleted (useful when processing large amount of files, where some may be corrupt - e.g. files from the Internet cache).


If this option is selected, not only corrupt files will be automatically deleted, but also unknown files. USE WITH CARE!


Click this button to start the cleaning process. Input List must contain at least one file to start the process. Otherwise the Start button will be grayed-out.


Click this button to display a menu from which you can manage program settings. You can load/save them from/to registry, you can also restore default settings or remove settings from registry.


Click this button to display the Help information about the program.


Click this button to exit the program.


This will load settings (they must be already saved) from registry.


This will save settings to registry. You can then load them manually by using "Load Settings" function. Settings are also automatically loaded on program startup.


This will reset all current settings to default values, but it will not save them.


This will remove saved settings from registry. Use this when you don't want any settings to be automatically loaded on startup or when you want delete JPG Cleaner. This option is unavailable if there aren't any saved settings in registry.


This progress bar displays the total progress of the cleaning process.


This is the Log Window, which displays all messages from the cleaning process. If the Display More Information box is checked, status of each file is displayed. Summary information is also displayed at the end of cleaning process. If the log becomes too long, its beginning may not fit in Log Window, but the Save Log button saves always the complete log.


Click this button to save contents of the Log Windows to a text file. Log files usually have .LOG or .TXT extension. This button is grayed-out when the cleaning process is in progress. It becomes available after the process is completed or stopped.


This is the Stop/Close button. It is Stop button when the cleaning process is running. Click it to stop the process. If the cleaning process is not running, this button changes to Close. Click it to close the Process window and return to the main window.


Click this button to pause/resume the cleaning process.


Click this button to minimize JPG Cleaner, so you can work on your computer while cleaning JPGs. Use Beep When Done checkbox, if you want a sound signal, that cleaning is complete.