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herzausgold
Participant
Nov 20, 2025 1:15 PM UTC
Question

Horrible quality of placed images when exporting as PNG

After recently updating to InDesign 2026 I now noticed, that PNG exports look horrible. Vectorized elements like path-shapes or fonts export totally fine, only the images get messed up.

 

JPG:

 

PNG:

The PNG and JPG ofcourse have the same dimensions, resolution and dpi. Changing the PNG-Quality or turning the transparency on or off does nothing. Turning off "smooth edges" only makes it worse.

To my eye it seems like InDesign is rendering out the image in a lower resolution than the rest... It also looks a bit like the preview InDesign generates when you place the image in the document. (I even tried exporting with setting the placed images preview quality to the high setting, but nothing changes in the export.)

 

I'm on a M4 iMac with the newest version of InDesign (21.0.1)

6 replies

Takeapunt
Participating Frequently
Mar 31, 2026 11:34 PM UTC

Just upgraded to M5 MacBook Pro and Indesign 21.3 and I now have the same problem. Have done a bunch of testing and get the same answer as herzausgold – it is nearly like InDesign is using the internal preview. Simplifying the layers in the PSD, or changing the physical size of the PSD (not resampling it, just changing the effective PPI) improves the output, but it is never as good as exporting a JPG.

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Willi Adelberger
Community Expert
Willi AdelbergerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Nov 20, 2025 2:09 PM UTC

PNG is for web only and does not support color management. If you need files for Print use ODF/X. If you need better PNG, export the INDD as PDF/X-4 and use them in Photoshop and export them to PNG from there.

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    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    Nov 20, 2025 2:03 PM UTC

    Hi @herzausgold,

     

    I attempted the same process on my side using InDesign 21.0.1, and I was unable to replicate the quality loss with PNG exports. To help clarify this issue, could you please confirm whether this occurs only with this particular file or with all documents? Additionally, it would be beneficial to know if the problem is associated with a specific placed image or if multiple images exhibit the same outcome. If possible, could you provide a sample of an affected image for me to test here, along with screenshots of the exact export settings you are using for PNG? Once I receive that, I can test it further.

     

    I look forward to your response.

    Abhishek

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    herzausgoldAuthor
    Participant
    Nov 20, 2025 2:29 PM UTC

    Hello @Abhishek Rao 

    this past hour I've investigated the problem further and tried out a few more things. It seems like the error only accures with some high-res .psd's with multiple layers. But it does appear with multiple other .psd's, not just this one. With .tif or .png files (for placement in InDesign) the error doesn't appear. I also found exported png's from a few older projects with the same issues going back half a year or even a year.

     

    Reffering to the project of my original post: If I save the .psd as a .tif (keeping the size, layers etc. the same) the problem is gone. If I reduce the size of the .psd (rasterizing smart objects) to the size of the InDesign document I place it in, the error is gone.

     

    You can find our high-res .psd and the .idd it's placed in here:

    https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/afabbf44-1278-421e-b141-1bdda971d6eb

     

    My PNG settings for years have been these:

    They always worked great.

     

    Thank you for looking into this problem.

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