Exported PNG from Photoshop is Blurry

Question

I'm creating a reasonably large image in Photoshop in which there are several rectangles (just made with the Rectangle Tool). I have vector tools set to snap to the pixel grid, and even just by zooming in, I can see that the shapes are aligned with the grid:

In the Export Preview, it shows as perfectly sharp:

However, upon exporting to PNG, I get this much more blurry version:

I'm exporting at 100% scale from a 300 PPI image.

I don't understand why the compression algorithm would do this when the original image is so simple: all rectangular vector shapes in flat colors. Is there some way to avoid this? Would Illustrator or some other program not have this issue? (I'm only using Photoshop because I'm most familiar with it)

RickPatton · Accepted Answer

Thanks, I was hoping to spot something in the screenshot but didn't.

Can you compare output to PNG using Save As and Export Save for Web (Legacy)?

Okay, I've figured it out:

The image still appeared sharp after saving/exporting so long as it was viewed in a photo editor of some kind (I tested it in Krita, PS, and even MS Paint) - it's just when it was viewed in Windows' default Photo app that it appeared blurry. It also appeared blurry when applied as a texture in a game engine (which was my ultimate goal). However, the engine itself was applying its own compression algorithm to the image.

I thought that because it was appearing blurry in the Windows app, that meant the image was exporting blurry. Apparently, the Windows Photo app also applies some sort of compression (not sure why it would, but there it is). After I disabled the compression in the game engine, the texture appeared as sharp as it did in the photo editors.

TL;DR - It wasn't a problem with Photoshop at all, it was a problem with the programs I was viewing the exported image in.

Thanks for prompting me to the point where I could figure it out, @Stephen Marsh!

Stephen Marsh · Answer

@RickPatton

Please post a screenshot of your Export settings, what pixel dimensions is the output compared to the input?

That final screenshot clearly shows resampling.

Where are you viewing the final exported files and at what magnification?

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