How is imgcli different from ImageMagick or ffmpeg?

[swperb]

imgcli does convert / resize / crop / filter like ImageMagick, and it uses an ffmpeg-style -vf filtergraph — so what's the actual difference, and when should I reach for it instead of ImageMagick or ffmpeg? (Seeding this since it's the most common first question.)

[swperb]

Short version: ImageMagick does far more; imgcli does the common things tiny and fast.

• imgcli is one ~232 KB binary that links only libc — nothing to install. It's an 8-bit RGBA pipeline tuned for the everyday convert/resize/crop/filter ops, and on those it benchmarks ~8× faster and ~470× smaller to install than ImageMagick (bench/bench.sh, reproduce it yourself). It also has --json output + an MCP server, so it's nice for scripts and AI agents.
• ImageMagick is a far broader toolkit — 16-bit/HDRI precision, colour management, 200+ formats, advanced resampling. Reach for it when you need fidelity, format breadth, or heavy features.
• ffmpeg shares the -vf mental model but is built for video; imgcli is "ffmpeg for still images" without the dependency footprint.

Rule of thumb: imgcli when you want small/fast/scriptable; ImageMagick/ffmpeg when you need the heavy machinery.