This is a continuation of the issue that occurs in Illustrator CS6Illustrator CS6 artboard exports 1 pixel off in sizeSettingsThe images I'm exporting are using whole numbers for width, height, x-axis position and y-axis position from x:0, y:0The artboards are the exact size of the image: Object > Artboards > Fit to Selected ArtThe Object > Make Pixel Perfect trick did not work for me. I got an Illustrator message stating they were already perfect.TestedFile > Export > Export for Screens... (adds 1 pixel to height and width)File > Export > Export As... (does not add any pixels)File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy) (does not add any pixels)ThoughtsThis seems to only be an issue with the "export for screens" option. I'm guessing this is a bug that just hasn't been solved yet.If anyone has any insights regarding solutions, feature requests, or bug fixes please add them in the comments.

norinam

Inspiring

Answered

Illustrator CC export for screens 1 pixel off in size

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
August 29, 2018
11 replies
42726 views

This is a continuation of the issue that occurs in Illustrator CS6

Illustrator CS6 artboard exports 1 pixel off in size

Settings

The images I'm exporting are using whole numbers for width, height, x-axis position and y-axis position from x:0, y:0
The artboards are the exact size of the image: Object > Artboards > Fit to Selected Art
The Object > Make Pixel Perfect trick did not work for me. I got an Illustrator message stating they were already perfect.

Tested

File > Export > Export for Screens... (adds 1 pixel to height and width)
File > Export > Export As... (does not add any pixels)
File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy) (does not add any pixels)

Thoughts

This seems to only be an issue with the "export for screens" option. I'm guessing this is a bug that just hasn't been solved yet.

If anyone has any insights regarding solutions, feature requests, or bug fixes please add them in the comments.

Correct answer Ton Frederiks

@Ton Frederiks don't agree that this is an excuse for the exporter to add pixels. The exact size has been inputted. If the artboard is on a fraction of a pixel, I still see no reason for it to add a pixel. It would make more sense for Illustrator to round to the nearest whole pixel artboard location. If Illustrator has to add a pixel, there should be a warning. All of those apps mentioned above are capable of exporter issue warnings. Illustrator should be no different.

I am not giving an excuse, I was giving an explanation. If you want it changed (I do too), you can add a vote at Uservoice:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/37694659-extra-pixel-added-to-image-size-when-exported

EALS

Inspiring

There is a solution.

Before aligning the dartboard + the design on it, you must remember moving the reference/anchor point from the middle to the top (or bottom, or left, or right, not in the center). After that you can move all to integer x,y coordinates (avoiding fractions).

Ans yes, Adobe is a lazy company. Let's all star using Figma.

A

avalent

Known Participant

7 YEARS? God, what an incompetent company. Artboards all sized to 1080x1920px for social media, export as 1081x1921. Artboards sized to 1080x1350? Sure enough, it’s 1081x1351.

Am I getting the ‘solution’ right - EVERY user needs to make sure artboard snaps to pixel EVERY time for EVERY document and EVERY artboard? Yeah, definitely user issue…

[abuse removed by moderator]

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @avalent

I’m sorry to hear about this experience. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared in this community post (https://adobe.ly/3TQvXMb) and checking if they help?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

A

avalent

Known Participant

This is a bug, not a feature.

The solution: Adobe fixes the issue by either auto-rounding the artboard’s coordinates to not be decimals during export, or having a settings checkbox for this behavior,.

Current ‘solution’: Google the issue, find out it’s a 7 year old issue, read the entire thread hoping users figured out a workaround themselves, and apply the workaround manually each and every time.

It’s really not hard to see which of the two is the actual way to approach this issue, however all of us Adobe users are by now very well aware of how the Adobe - community dynamic works, and it’s exactly this here. Subtle, polite gaslighting and hoping users will figure it out, and that it will be forgotten.

Please describe to me the steps to make the artboards snap to pixel when moving or creating - you’ll find that this behavior does not exist.

The result is having to manually change coordinates for each artboard. This is a software conflict between the artboard/canvas behavior and the mathematical rounding which occurs at export. This is not a one-off user issue but a long-standing bug.

Pixelancer

Participant

I had the same issue recently and the rearrange option in the artboard menu (Shift+O) fixed it for me.

JeffSDS

Participant

This is still an issue in 2025. Why Adobe??? I have tried these explanations with no success. Please address this.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

@JeffSDS can you share an Illustrator file that shows the problem and describe how you want to export it? To attach it to a post, rename .ai to .pdf

C

ChandniSOS

Participant

Solved:

If it is still not doing it after this, I think its a bug in your file so you will have to make a new one and copy things across. It only worked for me then.

View > Pixel Preview

View > Snap to pixel

‘Align art to pixel grid’ Icon, the arrow to the right - check advanced settings

Make sure art aligns to pixel grid or it will add another pixel to compensate

Export > Export as...

Other chats that helped me get there:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/why-does-illustrator-does-not-export-the-right-artboard-size-at-300ppi/td-p/11095060

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/getting-additional-pixel-when-exporting-for-screens-in-illustrator/m-p/11119426#M176280

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAHkCEp3-Wg&t=117s

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/align-to-pixel-grid-option-not-showing-in-transform-panel/m-p/8696570#M29981

R

Rob217717683hsl

Inspiring

Having a 'Snap artboard to pixel' option would fix this entirely. Mind blowing that this hasn't been done.

S

Samuel286571930ho3

Participant

it's 2024 and this is still an issue. Shame on Adobe for not having fixed this already.

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Samuel286571930ho3,

Sorry to hear about this experience. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared in this community post (https://adobe.ly/3TQvXMb) and checking if they help?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

R

Rob217717683hsl

Inspiring

100% the problem is that the artboard isn't 'positioned' on an exact pixel.

However, this is a frustrating issue given that artboards don't snap to pixels and that there's no error when this happens.
The logic behind the export is flawed if AI is adding an extra pixel even though it knows the output dimensions.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Go into artboard editing mode. Select an artboard. Click on the SNap object to pixel grid button to the right side of the control panel. The artboard will then snap to pixels

R

Rob217717683hsl

Inspiring

This works mostly, however it breaks under some circumstances.

There's a known bug with artboard creation whereby if you constrain proportions, snapping to the pixel grid is ignored, hence causing you to run into the 'extra pixel added' bug.

zachg4140523

Participating Frequently

This made me look really bad at my job when I delivered the wrong file sizes. Turned out it's an illustrator bug for years now. Totally unexceptable. This can cost someone their job.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

This can cost someone their job.

By @zachg4140523

if that someone doesn't check their files before delivering them. Don't know about you, but that should be part of a thorough routine when preparing any file for production.

And since everyone refers to Affinity Designer: these are 2 different concepts of integrating artboards into an app. They both have their upsides and downsides. Illustrators artboard concept allows you to easily split up an artboard into pages. Try that with Affinity Designer.

If you don't position your artboard on exact pixels in Illustrator, the real issue is not the exported file getting 1 pixel larger, but the resampling, which causes blurriness.

M

mSnus

Participating Frequently

if that someone doesn't check their files before delivering them

Of course that's not correct: we should be able to trust our tools without further re-checking their output results.

If any dialog displays exact numers, they should be exaclty the same on the output. That shouldn't be a user's problem. We're professionals, it's not 'mobile shooting for stories'. It's design. We're spending tons of time doing EXACT things: colors, curves, profiles, etc. And we expect our tools to be the same exact, stable and predicatable.

When the software is working slightly incorrectly, it's just a sign of low quality code. There are a lot of bugs in glitches in Illustrator, despite it still stays the mainstream for vector graphics.

But that is the cause why many people who do not extra powers are moving to Figma or Affinity.

M

mSnus

Participating Frequently

This is really an annoying bug that should be fixed. Exported images should not vary its size depending on artboard position!

Miroslav B

Participant

On average I waste 30 minutes of my time per workweek trying to figure out a workaround in a thousand + dollar software (per year) fo these errors that honestly are not justifiable.

J

Jeremy@M

Inspiring

I have been testing out the Affinity products for a while and am hoping to make a full transition soon. Have you tried using Affinity Designer?

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