Sqush
Local-first image optimization for modern web formats
Overview
Sqush is a fork of Squoosh, the in-browser image compressor originally built by Google Chrome Labs. Upstream development stopped, so this fork picks it back up: a static, offline-capable web app that decodes, compares, and re-encodes images entirely in the browser. Nothing is uploaded, and no server touches your files. The image work runs in Web Workers, and most codecs are WebAssembly modules, so the page stays responsive while it compresses.
The vision
The goal is a focused, practical optimizer for modern web formats, with one promise above all: optimization works reliably on your own machine, with no upload requirement and no internet dependency once the app has loaded. The headline feature is a dependable bulk workflow built on top of that proven single-image core.
- Import many images at once.
- Apply global optimization settings, then override any single image.
- See before and after size changes per image.
- Export every optimized image safely.
- Center the workflow on WebP, AVIF, and JPEG XL rather than a long list of legacy formats.
Where it stands
Sqush is a work in progress and not ready to launch yet. The single-image workflow is solid, inherited analytics have been removed, and a large amount of logic has been pulled into framework-neutral TypeScript so the bulk feature can be built without disturbing what already works. Current focus is stabilizing the aging build stack, designing the bulk-processing core, and prototyping a move from Preact to Svelte 5 and SvelteKit.