Rusty Bandwidth

A high-performance image compression proxy server written in Rust. This service can compress and convert images on-the-fly using either WebP or JPEG XL formats, with optional grayscale conversion.

Works perfectly with bandwidth hero browser extension.

Features

• Multiple Output Formats: Supports both WebP and JPEG XL (JXL) encoding
• Quality Control: Adjustable compression quality (0-100)
• Grayscale Conversion: Optional black and white image conversion
• Performance Focused: Written in Rust for optimal speed and memory usage
• Configurable: Adjustable port, encoding format, and compression settings

Installation

Download it from releases (recommended if you use a linux distro)

https://github.com/furdiburd/rusty-bandwith/releases

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain (1.56 or newer)
• LibWebP development files
• JPEG XL development files

On Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebp-dev libjxl-dev

Building the project

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/furdiburd/rusty-bandwith.git
cd rusty-bandwidth

2. Build the project:

cargo build --release

The compiled binary will be available at target/release/rusty-bandwidth

Usage

Starting the Server

Basic usage with default settings (WebP encoding):

./rusty-bandwidth

Using JXL encoding:

./rusty-bandwidth --jxl

Command Line Options

• --port <PORT> or -p <PORT>: Set the listening port (default: 8080)
• --jxl: Enable JPEG XL encoding instead of WebP (experimental option, alpha channel isn't being handled with this option)
• --speed <1-8>: Set JXL encoding speed/effort level (only with --jxl)
  • 1: Fastest encoding, lower quality (Lightning)
  • 8: Slowest encoding, highest quality (Tortoise)
  • Default: 8

URL Parameters

The proxy accepts the following URL parameters:

• url: The URL of the image to process (required)
• l: Quality level, 0-100 (default: 80)
• bw: Convert to grayscale, 0 or 1 (default: 1)

Example URLs

1. Basic compression with default settings:

http://localhost:8080/?url=https://example.com/image.jpg

2. High quality color image:

http://localhost:8080/?url=https://example.com/image.jpg&l=90&bw=0

3. Low quality grayscale for maximum compression:

http://localhost:8080/?url=https://example.com/image.jpg&l=50&bw=1

Format Details

WebP Mode (Default)

• Supports transparency (alpha channel)
• Most browser support it

JPEG XL Mode

• Potentially better compression
• Quality settings work inversely (lower numbers = better quality)
• Currently doesn't preserve alpha channel
• Requires browser support for JPEG XL (tested on Firefox nightly, it works)
• Configurable encoding speed for quality/speed tradeoff

Performance settings

1. JXL Encoding Speed:

   • Use lower speed values (1-3) for faster encoding but lower quality
   • Use higher speed values (6-8) for better quality but slower encoding
   • Speed 4-5 provides a balanced trade-off

2. Quality Settings:

   • Values 70-80 provide good balance for most images
   • Use 90+ only for images requiring high detail
   • Values below 60 may show visible compression artifacts but size saves are bigger

3. Memory Usage:

   • The server processes each image independently
   • Memory usage scales with image dimensions
   • Consider setting up a reverse proxy with rate limiting for production use

Development

Project Structure

src/
  main.rs          # Main server implementation
Cargo.toml         # Project dependencies and settings

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the GPL-3.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.