ImageMagick and GD are both popular image optimization libraries for PHP applications across various platforms; they both perform most of the same functions but work differently.
Generally it doesn't matter much which you use, both support common file types (due to standardization) and perform similar.
- GD is generally processes larger images faster
- GD comes bundled with PHP (ImageMagick binaries must be installed by your web host)
- ImageMagick supports more image formats
- ImageMagick generally produces higher quality images (which will generally result in a larger file size on the machine)
The
UBB.threads System Requirements Test will attempt to probe known paths in an attempt to identify if ImageMagick is installed on the target server; I'll have to check if there is a simple method to probe its version number for a future build.
