Dinky
Dinky vs FFmpeg
FFmpeg is infinite control in the terminal—especially for video. Dinky covers image compression with both a GUI and a dinky compress CLI, plus PDF and audio conversions, FPS‑capped MP4 presets, and watch folders—without you having to build ffmpeg invocations.
Choose FFmpeg for video encoding and custom filters
When you need arbitrary video filters, piping, server automation, or encoder settings that only a full CLI can express—FFmpeg is the right tool.
Choose Dinky for images, PDFs, audio conversions, and GUI batch work
When you want dinky compress for CI pipelines or shell scripts, the GUI for drag-and-drop, Finder Quick Actions, watch folders, and PDF/audio compression without maintaining ffmpeg invocations.
| Dinky | FFmpeg | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | GUI app + dinky compress CLI (images) |
Command line |
| Image compression | GUI or CLI — WebP, AVIF, HEIC, PNG with smart quality | Possible via CLI; not a dedicated image optimizer |
| Video encoding | GUI presets (H.264/HEVC via AVFoundation; optional FPS cap) | Full encoder surface—any codec, any flag |
| Audio | Yes — AAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3 (afconvert + LAME) | Anything FFmpeg can encode |
| Yes (flatten, preserve, optional OCR) | No | |
| Scripting / CI | dinky compress *.jpg --format avif --json |
Shell scripts, makefiles, any pipeline |
| Batch | In-app queue, watch folders, or CLI loop | Shell loops, makefiles, servers |
| Price | Free (MIT) | Free (LGPL/GPL components; see FFmpeg license) |
| Processing | Local on your Mac | Local or anywhere FFmpeg runs |
GUI and CLI — your choice
Images from the terminal, PDFs from the app
Run dinky compress *.jpg --format avif in CI, or drop a folder in the GUI. Watch folders, presets, audio cross‑converts, and PDF compression stay alongside dedicated ffmpeg workflows.
35 MB · v2.12.0 · Requires macOS 15 Sequoia