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Question

Gaussian blur into old versions

Forum|Forum|8 months ago
July 8, 2025
5 replies
1271 views

It seems Adobe have changed the way Gaussian blurs are applied in later versions of Illustrators (feel free to correct me), not a problem until you have clients that only use older versions. We can get around this by using the blurred graphics as opacity masks rather than live elements on the top level, but does anybody else have a better workaroudn for this as it's all becoming a bit of a faff.

We've now also got clients using slightly newer versions of Illustrator that are also having the same problems. You don't even need change the graphic, something as simple as changing the swatch colour applied from an RGB preview to CMYK screws it.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

I saved as CS5 and the blur gets rasterized.

CS6 (AI16) is no problem because that had introduced the improved Gaussian blur.

G

Goldie2025Author

Participating Frequently

Hey Ton

I can't replicate the issue either, but I have seen it on Teams from other agencies using the files, and it's always the same. But appreciate the time spent on this, it seems perhaps nobody has encountered this yet. We have a workaround, but I was hopeful someone might say "just click this button" 🙂

Monika Gause

Community Expert

I have now created my own testcase with just a circle and Gaussian blur and cannot see a difference.

Are you sure that this is not caused by different color settings?

Illustrator 2025 (left) Illustrator CC2019 (right)

G

Goldie2025Author

Participating Frequently

Hey Monika

That screen grab looks nothing like the file I sent across, is that how it opens for you? See below my end:

G

Goldie2025Author

Participating Frequently

Can you open the file I sent it both 19 and 25? and does it look the same when you click on the objects?

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Goldie2025,

Thanks for sharing! I hope the expert’s explanation was helpful. Could you also share a screenshot showing the difference you’re seeing?

Your opacity mask workaround is a good option. Another approach is to rasterize the blurred elements before saving down. They won't remain editable, but this will keep their appearance consistent in older versions without unexpected changes.

Let me know if this helps!

Abhishek

G

Goldie2025Author

Participating Frequently

Unable to rasterize as the files are going to the printers to produce options. Just really frustrating that this was changed as essentially it's caused a huge problem that didn't need to be created.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

That has been introduced in version CS6 where the old Gaussian blur effect has been completely revamped. So when you save down to version CS5 or lower, then Gaussian blur will be expanded.

G

Goldie2025Author

Participating Frequently

Definitely more recent than that as we've been using them for years. It seems the Gaussian has been moved from inside the shape to outside which is causing issues.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Are you sure you are using Gaussian blur and not Feather?

Doug A Roberts

Community Expert

Can you be specific about what has changed and how this affects your workflow?

Specify which versions this affects.

If you can, provide an example file that demonstrates your issue.

G

Goldie2025Author

Participating Frequently

The blur moves from the outside of the shape to the inside, I can't share files as they're still covered by NDA's, but it's definitely more recent than CS5 as mentioned below as we've been using them for years.

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