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September 23, 2026
Answered

possibility to exclude one special pixel image from the export compression/downsampling process?

  • September 23, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 24 views

hi,

all in the title i hope. .pixel pdf get the same downsizing…any workaround  for a pdf export  to get only one special pixel image in hires when zooming in the pdf…

 

...no post process over “acrobat pro” for example wanted...

 

many thanks"!

tommes

    Correct answer CORCTON34033231

    Hi Tommes — there's no per-object "exclude from downsampling" switch in InDesign; the Compression settings in the Export Adobe PDF dialog apply to the whole document.

     

    But there's a clean workaround that does exactly what you want: InDesign only downsamples images whose effective resolution is above the "for images above [X] ppi" threshold. So check your special image's effective PPI in the Links panel, then in Export Adobe PDF > Compression set the threshold above that value — e.g. "Bicubic Downsampling to 300 ppi for images above 450 ppi". Your special image then keeps its full resolution while everything else gets downsampled.

     

    One caveat: the JPEG compression quality setting is still document-wide, so the image will still be JPEG-compressed (just not downsampled). If you need it truly untouched, you'd have to switch the Compression to ZIP (lossless) for all images — at the cost of file size.

     

    Reference: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/desktop/save-export-and-publish/save-and-export/adobe-pdf-export-options.html (Compression section)

    1 reply

    CORCTON34033231
    Community Expert
    CORCTON34033231Community ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    September 23, 2026

    Hi Tommes — there's no per-object "exclude from downsampling" switch in InDesign; the Compression settings in the Export Adobe PDF dialog apply to the whole document.

     

    But there's a clean workaround that does exactly what you want: InDesign only downsamples images whose effective resolution is above the "for images above [X] ppi" threshold. So check your special image's effective PPI in the Links panel, then in Export Adobe PDF > Compression set the threshold above that value — e.g. "Bicubic Downsampling to 300 ppi for images above 450 ppi". Your special image then keeps its full resolution while everything else gets downsampled.

     

    One caveat: the JPEG compression quality setting is still document-wide, so the image will still be JPEG-compressed (just not downsampled). If you need it truly untouched, you'd have to switch the Compression to ZIP (lossless) for all images — at the cost of file size.

     

    Reference: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/desktop/save-export-and-publish/save-and-export/adobe-pdf-export-options.html (Compression section)