presse

What presse is

presse is a free, open-source Rust command-line tool for PDF compression and merging, as well as converting images into PDFs. It can handle multiple files in one command with shell wildcards. For compression, it recompresses PDF images at a selected quality and skips CMYK images. It can merge PDFs, optionally compressing images during the merge, and combine PNG or JPEG files with PDF documents. Optional optimization passes include deduplication, Zopfli, font subsetting, JBIG2, JPEG2000, and mixed raster content when built with the optimize Cargo feature. Installation options include shell and PowerShell installers, a Windows MSI, Homebrew, and Cargo. Experimental CUDA or ROCm acceleration requires an opt-in build; release binaries do not include either backend. presse runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and is distributed under GPL-3.0. Its README reports median per-document speed around seven times Ghostscript on its 100-PDF benchmark corpus.

Who it suits

presse may suit people who want a free command-line tool for batch PDF compression, merging, or image conversion on Linux, macOS, or Windows.

Limits

presse skips CMYK images when compressing PDFs. CUDA and ROCm acceleration is experimental, requires an opt-in build, and is absent from release binaries.

Getting started

1. Open the presse GitHub page.
2. Choose an installation route: shell or PowerShell installer, Windows MSI, Homebrew, or Cargo.
3. Install presse on Linux, macOS, or Windows.
4. Run commands with shell wildcards to process multiple files.

Verdict

presse covers PDF compression, merging, and image conversion in a free command-line tool. Note that CMYK images are skipped during compression, and GPU acceleration requires a custom build.