Modernizing PNGGauntlet

PNGGauntlet.md

Modernizing PNGGauntlet 🚀

PNGGauntlet is a nice (yet just freeware) GUI for three powerful tools that compress PNGs to the max.

• Sadly, it is unmaintained.
• Sadly again, some of the bundled tools have known, serious security holes.
• Happily, probably due to licensing conflicts (GPL tools vs. freeware GUI), the app relies on external binary dependencies instead of compiled-in libraries.
• Happily, modern versions of these core apps are backward compatible!
• Total happiness balance: 0

In order to modernize it, we can swap the outdated tools for recent versions (including 64-bit where possible—important for heavy calculations under the hood).

How to upgrade:

The static tools are located in the support subdirectory. In a standard installation, the path is: %programfiles(x86)%\PNGGauntlet\support

The Toolkit Update List:

Format: name (shipped version, year) — recent version & URL

• DeflOpt.exe (2.0.7 32 bit, 2007) — Still v2.0.7 (no updates available). Download page
• optipng.exe (0.6.5 32 bit, 2011) — v0.7.8 x64. Website | Direct .zip link
• pngout.exe (2011 version 32 bit, 2011, duh!) — 2015 version. Website | Direct .exe link

Steps:

1. Download the updated tools from the links above.
2. Close PNGGauntlet.
3. Navigate to the support directory (you might need Administrator privileges to move files here).
4. Replace the old .exe files with the new ones.
5. Launch PNGGauntlet and enjoy faster, safer, and better compression!