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larsifer666
larsifer666
Participant
April 11, 2019
Question

Recently, files are much bigger than they usually are. Why?

  • April 11, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 752 views

Recently, like in the last month or so, file sizes have increased quite a bit.

I am saving JPEG at 3600x5400 pixels, at Max quality, and typically these are 10-12MB.

Lately, the SAME size and quality image are saving at around 25MB.

I am not doing anything different, but assumed it was just me... but I have also noticed at work, photos being submitted by photographers are also WAY bigger than normal. This makes it a pain to email and share, and takes way longer to download.

Does anybody know why they are saving so big now? Is Photoshop adding something to the files that they didn't used to?

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 11, 2019

When I use File > Export > Export As, JPG at 100% quality, my image with hardly anything on it weighs in at 1.4 MB.  Try it.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
    davescm
    Community Expert
    davescmCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 11, 2019

    Hi

    This could be one of two things.

    1. Content. The amount that jpeg compression can reduce the file size is heavily dependent on the content. To take an extreme, compress a file containing a single flat colour and another, the same dimensions, containing lots of fine detail. The difference is high. Note though that fine detail can also include noise - so a noisy image will compress less than the same image with no noise.
    Resaving a jpeg as a jpeg, a practice that is never recommended, goes through a second round of lossy compression but this time has to compress any artifacts from the first round. It can therefore result in a larger file.

    2. Metadata. This is none image content within the file. To see how this can affect the file try Export >Save for Web and select Meta Data none. Has your file size reduced dramatically?

    Dave

    larsifer666
    larsifer666Author
    Participant
    April 11, 2019

    Yeah, I don't think that's it. I create the same size photos all the time of my art, and the variance between file sizes is not much. Some with more colors etc, are slightly larger... but recently ALL of my photos are WAY larger. Like twice as big. Not just one image.
    I'm thinking there is something in a recent Photoshop update that is saving the files bigger than it used to.

    John Waller
    Community Expert
    John WallerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 11, 2019

    Do you have multiple versions of Photoshop installed so you can compare output sizes for the same image?

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