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Clop

Image, video, PDF and clipboard optimiser
Copy large, paste small, send fast
Download appLatest version
Changelog
Buy Clop ProLifetime license
€15Why Clop Pro?
$brew install clop
compatible with macOS 14.0+ (Sonoma and later)
Clop optimising a screenshot as soon as it is copied

Optimise images as soon as you copy them

As long as the Clop app is running, every time you copy an image to your clipboard, Clop will optimise it to the smallest possible size.
The optimised image will have minimal to zero loss in quality, and will be ready to paste in any app.
up to −90%image and video size reductionup to −80%PDF size reductionon-deviceprocessingvisually losslessquality

Screen recordings as small as screenshots

Sending screen recordings becomes 10x faster with Clop. The app will optimise the video as soon as you stop recording.

The app also adds a number of actions you can do on a video:

  • crop the video to any specific size or aspect ratio
  • convert the video to GIF
  • speed up or slow down the video
  • mute or remove audio from the video
  • encode the video to compatible formats like mp4
Clop can use Apple Silicon's dedicated Media Engine chip for battery-efficient video encoding without using the CPU.

Drag and drop to optimise

Optimising files manually is as easy as dragging and dropping them on the Clop drop zone.
The images and videos will be optimised in place, and URLs will be automatically downloaded before optimisation.

The drop zone supports a few useful keys:

  • holding Command while dropping will use more aggressive optimisation
  • pressing Option once will show the drop zone at the cursor

Drop to Preset Zones

The drop zone can have preset zones for specific actions like converting to webp, downscaling to 50%, watermarking and more.
The presets work by running a pipeline on the dropped file, which can be customised to include any number of actions.

Examples:

  • Downscale to 50% and convert to webp
  • Upload with Dropshare and copy the URL as a markdown link
  • Watermark with a custom logo, text or monogram
  • Crop to 16:9 and add to last edited note
  • ... anything you can think of really

Pipelines

Pipelines run a list of actions on a file, one after the other. For example crop(width: 1920) -> convert(to: webp) turns any image into a 1920px wide webp.
A pipeline can be pinned to the clipboard, the drop zone, a watched folder or a preset zone, and it will run automatically on every file that ends up there.
Clop comes with a few built-in pipelines like to WebP and Sort screenshots. Pipelines are free, and they can also be run from the right click menu or from the command line.

Format bar

Each floating result has a bar at the bottom with the formats the file can be converted to, like WEBP and AVIF for images or HEVC and AV1 for videos.
The converted file is placed in the same folder as the original. Converting again replaces the previous conversion, unless you hold Option while clicking.
Some websites only accept JPEG, and a PNG photo usually gets a lot smaller as AVIF or JPEG.

Fit under size

Most chat apps and email providers have a file size limit, like the 8MB limit of Discord or the 25MB limit of Gmail attachments.
Clop compresses the file harder until it fits under the chosen size, starting from the original every time. Downscaling is used only when compression is not enough.
It works for images, videos, PDFs and audio files, but it's most useful for long screen recordings.

Downscale in a pinch

Get images and videos ready for sharing by scaling them down to any resolution.
Use handy hotkeys or the floating buttons to downscale the image or video and get an even smaller file size.
  • - downscales in steps of 25% down to half, then 10% until 10% of the original resolution
  • 1..9 are for downscaling to specific sizes
Press the − button and drag to pick any size, or click the crop corner to crop the image or video to any specific size or aspect ratio.

Batch modePro

Dropping more than 30 files opens a batch window instead of showing a floating result for each file. Compression, format and resolution can be set separately for images, videos, PDFs and audio.
The originals are kept until you delete the backups, so you can change the settings and run the batch again, or restore the files to how they were.
Batch mode is a Pro feature. The free version can optimise up to 5 dropped files at a time.

Audio optimisation

Clop can also optimise audio files. By default, WAV files are converted to MP3, while AIFF and FLAC files are converted to AAC.
The cover art is downscaled and compressed as well, and the right click menu can normalise the loudness to -14 LUFS for streaming or -16 LUFS for Apple Music.
A one minute WAV recording takes about 12MB, the MP3 that Clop makes from it takes 1.2MB.

Convert to webp automatically

Clop's support for pipelines and watched folders allows you to convert images to various formats automatically.

The images will be dropped in the same folder as the original image by default. The image can be automatically renamed with a template parameter.

The flexibility of pipelines allows you to expand the automation to include other actions like cropping, downscaling, watermarking and even uploading or sending the images directly.

Upload with Dropshare

Clop integrates directly with the Dropshare app, to enable uploading optimised images, videos and PDFs to any of the supported services.
Uploading can be done instantly with a hotkey or from the right click menu. It's also possible to upload multiple files at once or automate the uploading based on the file location.
services that the dropshare app can upload to

Integrate with File Shelves

Clop integrates with file shelf apps like Yoink, Dockside, Dropover and Atoll so you can add optimised files in their shelves for later usage.
Shelving can be done instantly with a hotkey or from the right click menu. It's also possible to shelf multiple files at once or automate the shelving with a pipeline.
Yoink app iconYoinkDockside app iconDocksideDropover app iconDropoverAtoll app iconAtoll

Everything happens on your device

Clop doesn't use any cloud services and doesn't send any file data to the internet.
The encoders used by Clop are open-source and battle-tested over decades, so that the resulting files are fast to decode, compatible with most devices and have minimal to zero loss in quality.
screenshot of Activity Monitor showing Clop's zero network usage

MCP serverPro

AI agents like Claude Code or Codex can use Clop through its MCP server to optimise, convert and crop files, write pipelines or change settings.
Coding agents can use it to optimise the screenshots and images they add to a project, without a separate script for each format.
The MCP server is a Pro feature.
Docs, demo videos and invoices
Blog images, watermarks and photos

Fit for power users

On-demand optimisation

Press Ctrl-Shift-C to manually optimise the current clipboard.

In Finder, you can select images and videos and press Ctrl-O to optimise them.

If hotkeys are not your thing, you can also find an Optimise with Clop button in the Finder preview pane.

Compatible formats

Clop automatically converts less compatible formats like HEIC, tiff, mov to formats understood by most devices.

The conversion is fully configurable from the app settings.

Original files are kept in a backup folder which can be accessed from the app menu.

Pipelines

Integrate Clop optimisation in your workflows through pipelines.

  • Downscale and optimise images that you email weekly
  • Download optimised images directly into your slideshow
  • ..and so on

How people like to use Clop

/u/1Wrongdoer

Email/blog:

I type tutorial guides for others and often include screenshots with arrows to make it easier for less-technical audiences to follow.

Sometimes, emails grow unwieldy in size because I tend to take screenshots that capture most of the screen and this makes it difficult to send depending on the number of images.

I currently use Shottr to take screenshots because of the scrolling screenshot and currently, Clop monitors my folders and automatically compresses them.

/u/JothamLEC

Team communication:

I’m working as a marketing manager, and I frequently use Cleanshot to highlight and annotate design elements to request for adjustments via Microsoft Teams and Notion.

The company’s expanding rapidly, and frankly, our internet and wifi stability is struggling to keep up.

Having Clop helps with the upload speed.

/u/Qwaint

I study online, via Zoom, so my workflow is as follows:

The Zoom presentation window on my main screen. As the lecture starts I use Shottr to set an area to capture on repeat via key bind.

...screenshot goes into the clipboard where Clop does its magic, allowing it a split second later to be pasted into Craft where I can take additional notes.

Since I discovered Clop I've shrunk the size of the notes by A LOT!

It's highly addictive to see the Clop notification with how much the size has shrunk.

/u/freeshare2280

I regularly need to post images on a few personal sites, and I needed to reduce the weight of the images to avoid long loading times.

I mainly copy images for the mac-utils.com website, which lists software for Mac

The second site I manage is for a company of archery... where I occasionally need to illustrate my articles.

/u/jspr_crz

With Clop, my emails with screenshots don't take up as much space, and my chat messages gets sent faster since it uploads an optimized image with smaller file size. Clop has been a staple for my work ever since I stumbled upon it.

I work in graphic/UI/UX design and take a LOT of screenshots for client approvals daily, and with the screen that I'm using, my screenshots take up space quickly in our chat and email storage.

With Clop, my emails with screenshots don't take up as much space, and my chat messages gets sent faster since it uploads an optimized image with smaller file size.

/u/Baram31337

I often use screen recording and screenshots using MarginNote and Notability for YouTube lecture production.

It's one of my favorite apps, and when I'm making YouTube videos, Margin Notes and Notability [files] are automatically optimized when I take screen recordings and screenshots

I'm satisfied with the good quality and reduced work.

/u/PerfectFine

...when I insert an inline image in mail, it takes up the entire screen and makes the email text unreadable.

... with Clop, I just need to click - again. Clop is the most convenient app I've used for this simple task.

I also use it for videos. Many websites have a size limit, but uploading a GIF may result in a less smooth playback.

The quality is still amazing, btw.

/u/raaamyaraaavan

I write extensive technical documents with screenshots... I feel that with compressed images the documents are getting snappier.

I also sometimes have to share the screenshots to the team ... a compressed picture helps as the recipients are not always on laptop and may have to access the media on phone.

[Clop] is an excellent little utility which does its job without coming in the way of the work.

/u/LavaCreeperBOSSB

I usually use Clop to optimize screenshots I send in beeper.

I have gigabit fiber but for some reason it always takes a while. I dont need full resolution for most things so it saves a lot of storage and time.

/u/JothamLEC

Media manipulation:

Working in marketing, we frequently receive media from a boatload of different sources, namely difficult image formats like HEIC and WEBP.

I used to right click and select convert image from the context menu — but Clop is a productivity boost.

/u/iamthekiller

My job requires that I use Salesforce Servicecloud to respond to tickets for help.

Unfortunately, Salesforce Servicecloud limits the inline screenshot size to a measly 1MB.

Clop allows me to speed through ticket responses, not having to worry about the size of my screenshot. It’s also right there in my clipboard, ready to paste.

/u/MichaelTheGeek

One of my blogging workflows was more complex than it needed to be. What Clop has done is remove the pain of having to use several apps to resize a photo or screenshot to post online.

I simply take the screenshot using the built in tools or Capto, send it to the clipboard and save the resized image where I need it to be.

Clop has saved me many time consuming steps in this workflow process.

/u/EttVenter

I'm a photographer by profession, so I work with large quantities of images every day.

I used to use JpegMini and ImageOptim for this stuff, and the pain in the ass it was to open one of these up, change export locations, yada yada, to get to an adjusted image.

Now it's just a matter of export, copy, paste, and all the optimization is happening in the background before I even get to my cloud folder to paste

And the added controls to keep changing the image are great too.

Clop hits the spot, dude.

/u/tanerilyazov

Best usecase for me is: scaling down images/GIFs of memes or screenshots to use as Slack custom emojis.

I add a lot of screenshots to my PKM which is synced via iCloud. So going overboard can be pricy and it’s nice to have an auto resize for everything that goes in there.

Also sharing screencasts is a hassle due to big filesizes not being allowed through many platforms.

/u/areyouredditenough

I previously had a workflow where I take a screenshot for an eBay auction or social media, save it to the Desktop and then I'd open ImageOptim to compress the image and remove the EXIF data (just to be safe).

With GIF or screen recording it was even more cumbersome. I use Cleanshot for this, then used Handbreak to reduce the size. Oftentimes I'd have to re-encode as it was still not small enough.

With Clop I could skip the second step completely and just paste the image in the app. Especially with GIF & video it's a time saver.

/u/1Wrongdoer

Personal Knowledge Management:

I like to take notes with Obsidian on things I've read and include images of flow diagrams, etc. for review down the line so I don't lose context.

Keeping the file size small is great since I don't want my database to grow too large and slow down the program.

/u/snoop1823

I use Clop each day dozens dozens of times.

Clop is now my must have app :)

I discovered v1 last winter, Clop helped me a lot during of blackouts (yes I’m Ukrainian), when we had no electricity I worked a lot on my battery and overloaded cell internet connection, so each MB was a piece of gold.

/u/JothamLEC

Company wikipage:

The company [I work on] sells software tools, and use Notion publishing for public documentation.

Showing is better than telling, so we use videos, JPEGs and GIFs a lot.

If I'm not mistaken, Notion uploads media to AWS without compression, so Clop helps with uploading and retrieval.

/u/ysm

A 2.7MB image is a pain to upload and to download for team members. It's nice to be able to compress them right in Clop.

Also, the app I use to write my reports struggles with large size photos.

So I always compress the images before embedding them in the document.

I used to use the app ImageOptim to compress large photos.

However, I don't always decide all the photos I want to include in a report at first, I tend to pick and choose as I'm writing.

This is where the Clop app comes in handy, as it compresses photos on demand.

It even works on PDFs

Attach PDFs as large as books, literally

Heavy PDFs like scans and illustrations usually don't fit in emails, and they take a long time to upload and download.
Clop can make those PDF files small enough to fit below the 25MB limit of email attachments.

Crop PDFs to fill the iPad screen

Some PDF files have large margins on an iPad, which can make them distracting while trying to focus on reading.
Clop's crop-pdf CLI command can crop PDFs to fill the screen of any specific device.
clop crop-pdf --for-device "iPad Air" Calculus.pdf

Free vs Pro

Free version features are free forever
After the 14-day trial, the app will continue to work with the free features
FeatureClop ProFree version
Automatic Clipboard optimisation

Automatically optimise any image that gets copied to clipboard

Downscale and crop images

Use hotkeys to scale images down to smaller resolutions

Pipelines

Chain steps and pin them to the clipboard, drop zone or folders

Format bar and Fit under size

Convert or shrink a result with one click

Optimise video files

Watch for video files and optimise them as they get created

Optimise image files

Watch for image files and optimise them as they get created

Optimise PDF documents

Watch for PDF documents and optimise them as they get created

Optimise audio files

Watch for audio files and optimise them as they get created

Drop zone and preset zones

Drag files onto the drop zone to optimise them

On-demand optimisation and automation

Use hotkeys to optimise any file, run scripts and pipelines on optimised files

clop command line

Optimise, convert and crop from the terminal

Drop more than 5 files at once

The free version takes up to 5 files per drop

Batch mode

Optimise large drops in one window, with backups

MCP server

AI agents can optimise files, write pipelines and change settings

Try for free14-day trial of Pro features

No credit card required, keep using for free after the trial

Refunds accepted within 14 days of purchase, no questions asked

Technical details

Clop uses the following open source tools for optimising files, images and videos:

  • pngquant for PNG
  • jpegoptim for JPEG
  • gifsicle for GIF
  • ffmpeg for videos
  • libvips for resizing images
  • gifski for converting videos to GIFs
  • ghostscript for optimising PDFs

open source

Integrate with Clop

Clop SDKLicensed under MIT

Clop can be integrated in your own apps through the Clop SDK. The SDK is a Swift package that can be used to optimise files in your own apps, by sending the file to the running Clop app.

Swift

import ClopSDK

guard ClopSDK.shared.waitForClopToBeAvailable() else {
    print("Clop is not available")
    return
}

try ClopSDK.shared.optimise(path: "AppData/image.png")

Objective-C

@import ClopSDK;

ClopSDKObjC *clop = [ClopSDKObjC shared];
if (![clop waitForClopToBeAvailableFor:5]) {
    return;
}

[clop optimiseWithPath:@"AppData/img.png" error:nil];

FAQ

How can I see app logs?

You can do that either through Console.app or through the log Terminal command.

Terminal

Streaming logs for viewing:

log stream --level debug --source --style compact --predicate 'subsystem BEGINSWITH "com.lowtechguys.Clop"'

Streaming and collecting logs to a file:

log stream --level debug --style compact --predicate 'subsystem BEGINSWITH "com.lowtechguys.Clop"' | tee ~/Desktop/clop.txt

Console.app

  1. Write com.lowtechguys.Clop in the search bar and press Enter
  2. Click on Any and choose Subsystem
  3. Make sure Info and Debug messages are enabled in the Action menu
  4. Start streaming logs
filtering console logs by subsystem showing console info debug messages

Saving Console logs

In the Console window, select 1 log line, then press Cmd-A and Cmd-C to copy all log lines to clipboard.

After that you can press Cmd-V to paste it in a Discord chat, the Contact form or in an editor like TextEdit to save it to a file.

License doesn't stay activated

Possible causes

  • Tampered bundle (usually because of app cleaners deleting files from inside the app)
  • App can't access internet (usually because of LuLu or Little Snitch, or VPN/DNS)
  • Corrupt license files

Resetting app and license files

  • delete the license files from ~/Library/Application Support/Clop/
  • delete the app from Applications
  • restart the app and retry activating

First quit the app before doing any of these changes.

To delete the license files, press Cmd-Shift-G in Finder, paste this path and press Enter:

~/Library/Application Support/Clop/

Delete the files in that folder.

Re-download the app, open the DMG and move it to Applications replacing the existing app.

Launch the app and activate.

Make sure Paddle can be reached

Paddle is the licensing provider that Clop is using.

If the issue persists, try checking if Paddle's servers are reachable by your Mac. Ensure the following domains are not blocked in your network:

  • paddle.com
  • paddleapi.com
  • v3.paddleapi.com

For example, loading v3.paddleapi.com/3.2/license/verify in a browser (or with curl) should show a response like the following:

{
    "success": false,
    "error": {
        "code": 102,
        "message": "Unable to authenticate"
    }
}

If it shows a browser error or if it keeps loading continuously, then the domain is blocked and that's preventing activation and license checking.

Firewalls

Try disabling LuLu, Little Snitch or try adding Clop to the exclusion list of these firewalls.

What's up with the hat?

Clop is the Romanian word for a traditional straw hat with a high crown and raised conical brim, worn more as an adorment in days of celebration.

We thought "Clipboard Optimizer" sounds a bit too technical and doesn't roll off the tongue as easily. We're Romanian ourselves and we thought it might be a good idea to keep the memory of our traditions from dying completely, with whatever little we can do.

screenshot of the app interface opened from the menu bar, showing running apps with their assigned key