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Install ​

CompressX has no published download on its GitHub releases page yet, so you build it from its source code. This takes about fifteen minutes the first time. Then you install the helper tools that the video, audio and PDF modules use.

If installing software from the command line is new to you, read Installing apps first.

What you need ​

  • The Flutter SDK. The project's own builds use Flutter 3.44.6.

  • Git, to download the source code.

  • On Linux, the desktop build tools. On Ubuntu:

    bash
    sudo apt install clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev liblzma-dev libstdc++-12-dev

  • On Windows, Visual Studio with the "Desktop development with C++" workload, as the Flutter install guide describes.

Build on Linux ​

  1. Download the source code and enter its folder:

    bash
    git clone https://github.com/Dhiva-Labs/Smart-Compress.git
cd Smart-Compress

  2. Fetch the libraries the app uses:

    bash
    flutter pub get

  3. Build the app:

    bash
    flutter build linux --release

  4. Start it:

    bash
    ./build/linux/x64/release/bundle/smart_compress

    On an arm64 computer the folder is build/linux/arm64/release/bundle/.

Optional: make a .deb package on Ubuntu ​

After step 3 you can turn the build into a .deb package, which adds CompressX to your app menu:

bash
bash tool/build_deb.sh
sudo apt install ./dist/smart-compress_1.0.0_amd64.deb

On an arm64 computer the file ends in _arm64.deb.

Build on Windows ​

In a terminal with Flutter on the path:

bash
git clone https://github.com/Dhiva-Labs/Smart-Compress.git
cd Smart-Compress
flutter pub get
flutter build windows --release

The app is in build\windows\x64\runner\Release\ (build\windows\arm64\runner\Release\ on an arm64 computer). Run the .exe in that folder.

Install the helper tools ​

CompressX does images and archives by itself. For the other modules it calls tools that must be installed on your computer:

ToolNeeded for
FFmpegVideo Compressor and Audio Compressor
GhostscriptCompressing PDFs; also merging PDFs when qpdf is missing
qpdfMerging PDFs (preferred)

On Ubuntu or Debian, install all three:

bash
sudo apt install ffmpeg ghostscript qpdf

On Windows, CompressX suggests this for FFmpeg:

bash
winget install ffmpeg

Restart CompressX after installing, so it finds the new tools.

WARNING

Fedora's own FFmpeg package (ffmpeg-free) leaves out the H.264 encoder that CompressX uses for MP4, MKV, MOV and AVI video. Install the full FFmpeg from RPM Fusion for those formats. WebM video, audio and PDF work with Fedora's packages.

Next steps ​