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64 bits or 32 bits

Forum|Forum|11 years ago
March 11, 2014
6 replies
45953 views

Good evening

On my desktop I have the two 64-bit versions and 32 bit Adobe Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator.

Could you tell me the advantages and disadvantages between these two versions.

Thanking you

Ulysses

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Dov Isaacs

To give you the 10,000 ft view of the advantages and disadvantages of the 32-bit versus the 64-bit versions of these products …

The real difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of these products is the ability to use much larger address spaces with the 64-bit version. Generally speaking, for most documents and images, you will absolutely not see any performance advantage with the 64-bit versions of the applications (and in fact, there could be a very minor but measurable performance degradation with 64-bit). The advantage of the 64-bit versions is that they can directly access orders of magnitude larger virtual memory space. Typical 32-bit applications can only access a 2 GB virtual memory space, regardless of how much physical memory you have installed on your computer. This may sound quite ample, but when you are dealing with very long and/or very graphically-rich InDesign documents, for example, that 2GB memory is chopped up into temporary document storage, screen buffers, placed imagery temporary storage, and work spaces for a myriad of internal functions including layout, color management, content placement, PDF (and DPS and other format) export, printing, etc. Prior to InDesign 9, it was not uncommon to need to regularly exit InDesign and restart the program to reclaim these workspaces to avoid out of memory messages – these were not messages about being out of physical memory, but rather virtual memory. With the new 64-bit version of InDesign, these issues are of the past. Illustrator documents may be complex, but with rare exception contain only one artboard and typically don't have the same virtual memory issues. On the other hand, if you are a user that runs Photoshop with large number of layered, large, high resolution images open, the additional address space of the 64-bit version may be necessary for you as well.

Disadvantages of 64-bit are relatively few. If you use plug-ins for which there are not yet or might never be 64-bit versions, you might be stuck using the 32-bit versions for the time being. An example of this under Windows would be availability of a TWAIN scanner plug-in for Photoshop 64-bit – it doesn't exist.

All this being said, unless you have plug-in compatiblity issues, the 64-bit versions of Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign are mature and very stable and thus recommended. (Personally, I've hidden the Windows Start Menu items for both 32-bit Illustrator and 32-bit InDesign and have suffered no problems.)

Be aware that going forward, the 32-bit versions of these applications will eventually be dropped.

- Dov

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Acrobat XI and X Pro are 32-bit whatever Apple might say. Acrobat DC is 64-bit.

Apple change their systems completely every 5-8 years, blocking out all old apps and forcing us to all buy new. This is part of the joy (and expense) of Mac ownership.

D

dominiquej0953

Participant

I have a 32 bit version of CS6 but my Mac says that its not optimized to my computer 64 bit. How may I change from 32 to 64 ?

Thank you.

Steve Werner

Community Expert

InDesign CS6 was only designed for 32-bit. You would need to upgrade to InDesign CC to get 64-bit performance.

Thus, before too long, you won't be able to run CS6 on the newest macOS operating systems then they become 64-bit only.

L

ledam54200004

Participant

I went to Apple support and with their instructions, found out which of the apps were 32 and which were 64. Within my CS6 suite, Photoshop, Acrobat pro, Illustrator, and the bridge are all 64 bit. Indesign (which is one that I use a lot) and a few others are 32 bit. I'm hoping that at least the 64 bit ones still work after the upgrading. There should be SOME where we can complain to get Apple to support 32 bit.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

They won't differ in results, or speed or anything else. EXCEPT that the 64 bit app can use more than 2-3 gigabytes of RAM. Once you reach that point, the 32 bit app might fail or might slow down. That's it, that's all. Everything else is just marketing people talking up something they don't understand.

Plug-ins are written for 32 bit OR 64 bit so your choice of plug-ins will be different.

If you're on a Mac, Apple will soon drop support for 32 bit apps, so anything without 64 bit support will just not run. No such threat has been made for Windows.

michaels13050361

Participating Frequently

Thank you

On Sun, Jan 28, 2018 at 7:51 PM, Test Screen Name <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

There's no difference in speed. That's not what it's about.

michaels13050361

Participating Frequently

Oh. How will the two differ in results, all other things being equal?

On Sun, Jan 28, 2018 at 7:19 PM, Test Screen Name <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

Dov IsaacsCorrect answer

Legend

To give you the 10,000 ft view of the advantages and disadvantages of the 32-bit versus the 64-bit versions of these products …

The real difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of these products is the ability to use much larger address spaces with the 64-bit version. Generally speaking, for most documents and images, you will absolutely not see any performance advantage with the 64-bit versions of the applications (and in fact, there could be a very minor but measurable performance degradation with 64-bit). The advantage of the 64-bit versions is that they can directly access orders of magnitude larger virtual memory space. Typical 32-bit applications can only access a 2 GB virtual memory space, regardless of how much physical memory you have installed on your computer. This may sound quite ample, but when you are dealing with very long and/or very graphically-rich InDesign documents, for example, that 2GB memory is chopped up into temporary document storage, screen buffers, placed imagery temporary storage, and work spaces for a myriad of internal functions including layout, color management, content placement, PDF (and DPS and other format) export, printing, etc. Prior to InDesign 9, it was not uncommon to need to regularly exit InDesign and restart the program to reclaim these workspaces to avoid out of memory messages – these were not messages about being out of physical memory, but rather virtual memory. With the new 64-bit version of InDesign, these issues are of the past. Illustrator documents may be complex, but with rare exception contain only one artboard and typically don't have the same virtual memory issues. On the other hand, if you are a user that runs Photoshop with large number of layered, large, high resolution images open, the additional address space of the 64-bit version may be necessary for you as well.

Disadvantages of 64-bit are relatively few. If you use plug-ins for which there are not yet or might never be 64-bit versions, you might be stuck using the 32-bit versions for the time being. An example of this under Windows would be availability of a TWAIN scanner plug-in for Photoshop 64-bit – it doesn't exist.

All this being said, unless you have plug-in compatiblity issues, the 64-bit versions of Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign are mature and very stable and thus recommended. (Personally, I've hidden the Windows Start Menu items for both 32-bit Illustrator and 32-bit InDesign and have suffered no problems.)

Be aware that going forward, the 32-bit versions of these applications will eventually be dropped.

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

BobLevine

Community Expert

Dov Isaacs wrote:
Be aware that going forward, the 32-bit versions of these applications will eventually be dropped.

My relatively small solid state drive would appreciate that.

michaels13050361

Participating Frequently

Hi Bob,

I see when opening any image in Photoshop that the difference in canvas dimensions for the same images is double when I'm using a 64 bit laptop with Windows 7 operating system vs. a laptop with 32 bit and a Vista operating system. However, the total MB size is exactly the same with both computers. All images start as RAW. Is this because the 32 bit is collapsing it? Does this affect the quality in any way? Does the operating system have anything to do with this change, or is only due to the 64 bit vs. 32? What's actually happening between the 32 and 64 bit systems in terms of affecting image quality, etc.? The fact that they both have same MB size is good, but I'm still concerned for the vast majority of my work having been done on the 32 bit.

Thank you