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Inspiring
August 4, 2018
Question

Quality in save for web

  • August 4, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 2199 views

Hi, i noticed the quality slider is at 60 in save for web, since it was like that when I opened PS, I suppose it's a default and I should live like that, I would appreciate a confirmation, thanks

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1 reply

gener7
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 5, 2018

For photography, 100 and Optimized is the best.  80-100 would be good.

The lower you set the quality, the more picture data you throw out to reduce the image's space on your drive. That loss is permanent and gets worse if you resave. Jpeg is called a "final delivery format" for that reason. If disk space is no object, go with 100.

Now Save for web allows you to interactively preview what you see at the different quality levels. You may not notice at 100%, but blow it up to 300% and you can see edge artifacts and noticeable degrading in pure red areas at lower levels...about below 80. Jpeg is called "lossy compression" for that reason and is not meant for graphics and cartoons with sharp lines and pure colors. PNG is better.

You also see what amount of disk space the image will take up at lower settings, and you can make the decision as to the best compromise between quality and space in case you have to host the image on a site with data caps. Sometimes the site will even do that for you.

So there is no one number for everything. Use your eyes to see how much quality you can throw out if space is a problem. If not, 100 is best. I keep it there myself. If I lose the master copies (keep backups), at least it is the best quality.

davescm
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 5, 2018

Hi

gener7 has given an excellent explanation of the quality slider. I would add one more thing about the defaults.

By default, 'Convert to sRGB' and 'Embed color profile' are unchecked. Both should be checked when saving images for web use so that browsers can display color correctly. Why the default is off, I have no idea.

Dave

gener7
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 5, 2018

I don't know why either, Dave. I've checked on both. Odd that you have to actually save a file for web, or those boxes won't stay checked.

Gene