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Why is my hi-res JPEG crisp in InDesign, but blurry when exported to PDF?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
April 27, 2017
5 replies
5937 views

Hi, I am having trouble exporting a jpeg from InDesign to PDF, and I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. Here is a screenshot of the jpeg (its a logo) in InDesign:

And here is a screenshot of the same logo in the exported PDF:

Some background notes, in case it is helpful to diagnose the issue:

I am using InDesign CC on a Mac.
I tried to export using all of the presets, but the results were all the same.
The str logo resolution is 300 dpi at 10cm x 10cm.

I'm flummoxed. Any help would be great!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Dov Isaacs

This is absolutely the worst type of artwork for which one would use a raster image as opposed to vector artwork. And use of any JPEG compression on a vector-like image only compounds the problem.

One workaround you could try is to export images as JPEG 2000 compression Lossless Quality. That would eliminate cascading JPEG artifacts, but still might be problematic.

The real solution is to obtain a vector version of the logo which wouldn't suffer from compression and/or downsampling artifacts.

- Dov

C

caracarina

Inspiring

I was experiencing the same issue now. I have a really high-res raster logo from the client. Placed in my INDD document it is perfectly crisp, zoomed in to 4000% - but on the exported PDF it looks like the dog's breakfast! I tried JPG2000 as Dov Isaacs suggested, but that was no better - what solved it for me and gave me good results was saving the logo as a TIFF file in Photoshop - now the logo is perfectly crisp in the PDF.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Generally, more resolution on a color/grayscale image does not make the image better. Chances are the image was downsampled when creating the PDF. That probably "damaged" the image.

I only use JPEGs for rectangular photos--never for logos.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

F

Forest Service Madison

Participating Frequently

Seems like it would be faster to re-create the logo as a vector.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Also, was the original jpg PLACED into the ID document? Not copynpasted, right? Is the link good?

Mike Witherell

manlyNormal

Participant

You are a beautiful and intelligent human being Mike! Thanks for this tip.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

What specific settings were you using while exporting to PDF? What Acrobat compatibility did you choose? Were you looking at the Compression section of the export dialog? What was the PPI set to? What was the Compression set to? What software are you using to view the PDF? Also, did you make the green circle logo in InDesign using frame shapes and live type? It shouldn't therefore be rasterized at all in the resulting PDF.

Mike Witherell

S

Saki HAuthor

Known Participant

Hi Michael,

What specific settings were you using while exporting to PDF?

As stated earlier, I tried every available preset (e.g., PDF/X-1a:2001, high quality print, press quality, etc.).

What Acrobat compatibility did you choose?

This changed with the preset.

Were you looking at the Compression section of the export dialog? What was the PPI set to? What was the Compression set to?

Yes, the compression for all presets was set to bicubic downsampling to 300 ppi for images above 450 ppi.

What software are you using to view the PDF?

Adobe Acrobat and Apple Preview. The screenshot I provided was taken in Acrobat.

Also, did you make the green circle logo in InDesign using frame shapes and live type? It shouldn't therefore be rasterized at all in the resulting PDF.

I did not make the logo in InDesign. The logo was provided by my client. They do not have the original vector artwork.

Please let me know if any other information would be helpful. Thank you for helping me troubleshoot this!

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Your example certainly looks as if it were knocked down to 72ppi with heavy compression applied. Are you sure you were not choosing an Acrobat 4 compatibility? Or that the rez is not set to some seriously low number?

Mike Witherell

Dov IsaacsCorrect answer

Legend

This is absolutely the worst type of artwork for which one would use a raster image as opposed to vector artwork. And use of any JPEG compression on a vector-like image only compounds the problem.

One workaround you could try is to export images as JPEG 2000 compression Lossless Quality. That would eliminate cascading JPEG artifacts, but still might be problematic.

The real solution is to obtain a vector version of the logo which wouldn't suffer from compression and/or downsampling artifacts.

- Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

S

Saki HAuthor

Known Participant

Hi Dov,

Thanks for your quick and helpful reply!

I asked for a vector logo, but unfortunately this is all the client was able provide.

I tried to implement your workaround, but the result was still the same.

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

This logo can be recreated as vector in Illustrator in 2 or 3 minutes. Do that. And use an AI or PDF/X-4 file instead. I get often such messed logos in JPG,PNG or even GIFs. As those people have no clue they deleted the AI or EPS files they had before. So I see the only way in recreating such logos. And if this logo is the problem, recreate it. It is faster than any workaround.

A logo should never be a JPG file as a JPG is a raster image and has a lossy compression which causes spotty colors. Don't use it.

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