CompressO
Compress any video/image/audio into a tiny size.
CompressO (🔉 pronounced like "Espresso" ) is a free and open-source video/image/audio compression app.
Available for Linux, Windows & MacOS.
Install
Download installers📦 for the specific platform can be accessed from the releases page.
Installer Info:
CompressO_amd64.deb: Debian derivative of Linux like UbuntuCompressO_amd64.AppImage: Universal package for all Linux distrosCompressO_aarch64.dmg : For Macbooks with Apple Silicon ChipsCompressO_x64.dmg : For Macbooks with Intel ChipCompressO_x64.msi: Windows 64 bit
Homebrew: MacOS only!
brew install --cask codeforreal1/tap/compresso
By using CompressO, you acknowledge that it’s not notarized.
Notarization is a “security” feature by Apple.
You send binaries to Apple, and they either approve them or not.
In reality, notarization is about paying $100 annual fee to Apple and building the app/binaries the way they want it.
This is a free & open-source app. Paying the annual fee and notarizing the app to appease Apple is not feasible.
The Homebrew installation script is configured to
automatically delete com.apple.quarantine attribute, that’s why the app should work out of the box, without any warnings like
“CompressO is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to trash.” that Apple show as a gatekeeper.
CLI & AI agents
CompressO can compress media from a terminal with the compresso command, and AI agents can use it through its MCP server. The app does the compression with your presets and output settings, as if the media was dropped on it.
The command is available:
- macOS: Settings > CLI > Install (or run
/Applications/CompressO.app/Contents/MacOS/compressO with arguments)
- Windows: added to the PATH by the installer (open a new terminal after installing)
- Linux: installed with the
.deb package; for the AppImage, Settings > CLI > Install (or run CompressO.AppImage --cli)
MCP server (stdio), for agents such as Claude: compress, list_presets and cancel_compression tools.
{ "mcpServers": { "compresso": { "command": "compresso", "args": ["mcp"] } } }
Tech
This app is created using Tauri, a Rust🦀 framework for building a cross-platform desktop app. It uses React powered by Vite as a frontend layer. The compression is done entirely by 3rd part tools like FFmpeg, pngquant, jpegoptim, gifski, etc. using platform specific standalone binaries.
The app works completely offline and no any network requests is made to/from the app(except for built-in app updates).
Building
Make sure Rust & Node.js toolchains are installed.
Local Development:
pnpm tauri:dev
pnpm vite:dev
Production Build:
pnpm tauri:build
Screenshots
View app screenshots
FAQs
MacOS: "CompressO" is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to trash.
This error is shown by Apple to gatekeep app developers from using their apps unless it's signed by Apple after paying $100/year fee. The message is completely misleading since the app is not damaged at all. Since this is a free app, I'm not going to go Apple's route just to appease them to make people trust my app. Here's a simple solution for this issue. Open your terminal and run the command:
xattr -cr /Applications/CompressO.app
This error will not show if you install the app via Homebrew.
If you don't feel comfortable applying the above solution, you can simply move the app to trash (which also means you cannot use CompressO on your Mac).
MacOS: "CompressO" cannot be opened because developer cannot be verified.
This error is essentially the same as FAQ 1. Apple just displays a different message to warn users about unverified developers. Please refer to the solution in FAQ 1:
xattr -cr /Applications/CompressO.app
This error will not show if you install the app via Homebrew.
If you don’t want to run the command, you can right-click the app and select "Open" to bypass the warning, or move the app to trash.
Windows: Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.
This happens because you downloaded the Windows installer from an outside source. Windows Defender warns you before running any unknown app. You can safely install CompressO by clicking "More Info" and then selecting "Run Anyway".
Linux: AppImage crashes on launch or displays white screen
Try setting `WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1` or `WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1` if app crashes on launch or displays a blank screen.
License 🚨
The project is licensed under AGPL 3.0
This project bundles and uses third-party software. For complete third-party notices, licenses, and attributions, please see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.
评论