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Picmal Picmal Docs

Getting Started

Install

Section titled “Install”
  1. Download Picmal
  2. Open the DMG file
  3. Drag Picmal to your Applications folder
  4. Launch Picmal

Check the changelog for the latest version and release notes.

Your first conversion

Section titled “Your first conversion”
  1. Launch Picmal — Convert is selected in the sidebar
  2. Drop one or more files into the window (or click Add Files)
  3. Pick your output format from the dropdown
  4. Adjust settings if you want (compression, metadata, resize)
  5. Click Convert — your new files appear alongside the originals

Your first compression

Section titled “Your first compression”
  1. Select Compress in the sidebar
  2. Drop your files in
  3. Pick a preset (e.g., Balanced, Web optimized) or configure custom settings
  4. Click Compress — compressed files are saved with a _compressed suffix by default

Your first PDF

Section titled “Your first PDF”

The sidebar’s PDF section has three more tools:

  • Combine PDFs — drop two or more PDFs, drag to set the order, click Combine
  • Split PDF — drop a PDF, type page ranges like 1-3, 5, 8-, click Split
  • Images to PDF — drop images, pick a page size, click Create PDF

See PDF tools for page ranges, page sizes, quality, and password protection.

Merge audio

Section titled “Merge audio”

The Audio section has Merge Audio — drop in two or more tracks, drag them into order, and click Merge to get one file (it can even build a chaptered M4B audiobook) — and Split by Chapter, which breaks a chaptered audiobook back into one file per chapter. See Audio tools.

Combine videos

Section titled “Combine videos”

The Media section adds Combine Videos — drop in two or more clips, drag them into order, and click Combine to get one video. Matching clips are joined losslessly; mismatched formats or sizes are scaled and re-encoded to match. See Video tools.

Image tools

Section titled “Image tools”

The Media section also has two image tools. Vectorize traces a PNG or JPG into a real SVG — pick a style per image and click Vectorize All. Remove Background lifts the subject out onto a transparent PNG, right on your Mac. See Vectorize and Remove Background.

Batch processing

Section titled “Batch processing”

Drop multiple files or entire folders at once, up to 10,000 files. Picmal processes them all in one go — images, audio, and video. While a batch runs you can set per-file priority, pause and resume, or cancel; see managing the queue.

From the terminal

Section titled “From the terminal”

Picmal includes picmal-cli, a command-line tool that runs the same engines as the app. Install it from the menu bar via Picmal → Install Command Line Tool… and you can convert, compress, combine and split PDFs, and more from any terminal. See Command line (CLI) for the full reference.

What’s next

Section titled “What’s next”