Gargantuan files - Still not solved with latest 28.7.1

[SundayGladiator]

To AI software development team, and to all users experiencing similar frustration ..

Let me preface with AI has been my GO-TO for all my design files for the past twenty years. Posters, magazine, flyers, social graphics.. you name it.

However it never ceases to amaze me that I can create a 626k file, prepare the file for print, and it balloons to 626MB ?!?!?!?!

Yes, I've read ALL the technotes here – restart AI, delete prefs, embed your fonts, don't create outlines, etc. Mind you if you're asking someone to NOT create outlines for fonts is a non-starter. Many times bitten, and always shy – no matter how I save the PDF with fonts the printer always calls back asking for the fonts. YOU HAVE TO create outlines to have a successful print file. This has been 100% successful print results for me.

That said, the AI wizard developers can't solve how a file can go from 626k to 626 megabytes ?! Boggles the mind.

Before you ask me what kind of design files these are - Just for ie simple 24x36 vector design posters. One poster has a 30 word count body text. The others big headlines, some color gradients. Nothing fancy. No embedded jpg or png images. All vector. All simple.

Consider this part rant, part love for the program. This frustration continues with the latest update - 28.7.1. Thanks for reading. And oh, open to any other solutions to solve this issue.

[Bobby Henderson]

What is the document raster effects setting for your 24x36 poster designs? If it is set at the 300ppi default then that may be one culprit for the large file sizes. Does any of the vector elements have any live raster-based effects such as drop-shadows, glows, etc? I typically use lower resolution raster effects settings when designing large format projects at full size. IMHO, 133ppi-150ppi is good enough for a one-sheet poster. 72ppi is good enough for a vehicle wrap. 25ppi works just fine for billboard faces.

Fonts normally should have no problem embedding in a PDF that is ready for print. A print shop should not need the fonts in order to print the job, if they have a proper setup that is able to handle Adobe PDF files natively. With what I've paid out of pocket for certain type families I certainly don't like the idea of giving a third party outfit "free" copies of those fonts. I'd rather convert live type objects to outlines too.

[SundayGladiator]

So the posters PDF file was saved out as 'Press Ready' with zero compression (because it does have JPG and PNG cmyk logos that I need crisp.. each of those files embedded is anywhere from 200 - 500k in size).

But in lieu of 300dpi, when I try to save the PDF at for ie 150dpi/Color bitmap, 150dpi/Grayscale bitmap/600dpi Monochrome bitmap it cuts the file size by about 200MB. Not bad, but still friggin huge.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @SundayGladiator,

I am sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind sharing a public link to a sample file after uploading it to Dropbox/Google Drive/etc., so we can check it on our end?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[SundayGladiator]

Thank you. But I prefer a DM to share the link. Is this possible? Thank you.

[SundayGladiator]

Actually it would be easier if I screengrab my PDF Save settings..

So I'm realizing if I uncheck the 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities', the pdf file size goes from 626MB to 16MB.

I was always from the school of thought that a printer would need to have an editable PDF in order for it to print properly. No?

If I can have a PDF with this unchecked, this solves my gargantuan PDF size issue. But I need assurances any printer can print PDF files without problems if that button is unchecked. Thank you.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse · Accepted solution]

"I was always from the school of thought that a printer would need to have an editable PDF in order for it to print properly. No?"

Nope. They shouldn't need it at all. The only benefit to including the file is if there was a need to fix something, but really, that should be coming back to you. And, if you do check "Preserve...", you would have to make sure you've either packaged or embedded* all images (please don't), and all fonts not part of Adobe fonts are included, without which the AI is usueless anyway. I'm a printer prepress person and it's rare that we would need to go in and fix something unless you've incorrectly prepared your PDF. Regardless, we would be in touch with you first.

btw: Creating outlines of fonts should only be used for small amounts of copy. Anything larger artificailly inflates the size and complexity of the file, and you lose any hinting that would be beneficial on smaller type.

[Bobby Henderson]

Earlier you mentioned everything in the poster designs was vector-based. JPEG and PNG images are not vector-based elements; they are pixel-based. Additionally, if you are saving a PDF file of the layout and with no data compression applied then those embedded JPEG and PNG images will be saved as if they're no different than an uncompressed TIFF image. They'll be saved at the maximum file size. Depending on how many pixels each raster-based logo has will mean that much more data used up on the hard disc.

[SundayGladiator · Accepted solution]

I get that. My bad for not being more clear in the beginning on the AI file contents. Bottom line is those jpg and png images were abt 500k each embedded into the PDF.

Regardless I think I've settled on a solution for now – Just to make sure to uncheck that Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities box when exporting the PDF for print.

[Bobby Henderson]

Unchecking "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities" when saving PDF files will definitely reduce the size of the PDF a good bit. That default setting appends Illustrator AI data to the PDF.

Were the file sizes of the JPEG and PNG images around 500kb on their own as JPEG and PNG files? If that's the case then they would consume a great deal more hard disc space as uncompressed image files embedded inside an Adobe Illustrator document or a PDF saved with no compression applied to embedded images. Depending on the pixel dimensions of the images the differences between data compression being applied versus no compression at all could be huge.