How do I get large (8MB+) JPEG files when exporting from lightroom?

[nathalieholland]

Hello!

Hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this for me please...!

I'm editing RAW files using LR, taking them into PS, then saving them back to LR and trying to export in sRBG. I'm not sure where i'm going wrong but my the exported JPEG's only come out at 3-5MB and I need them about double the size! I've checked all the export settings and even tried to export direct from PS but they still end up at only 3-5MB and I really don't know why!!

Please can someone help??!!

Thanks so much

[BKKDon]

nathalieholland  wrote

Hello!

Hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this for me please...!

I'm editing RAW files using LR, taking them into PS, then saving them back to LR and trying to export in sRBG. I'm not sure where i'm going wrong but my the exported JPEG's only come out at 3-5MB and I need them about double the size! I've checked all the export settings and even tried to export direct from PS but they still end up at only 3-5MB and I really don't know why!!

Please can someone help??!!

Thanks so much

Why do you need them at 6-10MB, don't you just need them at 100% quality?

[nathalieholland]

my marketing manager wants them at this size and I have set them to 100% quality

[Rob_Cullen]

The 'mega-byte' size of JPG files depends on several factors-  Pixel dimensions, compression setting, amount of detail in the image.

(Just try saving a blank page as a JPG in Photoshop and see how small it can be! )

A good site to explain JPG compression is-  Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » An Analysis of Lightroom JPEG Export Quality Settings

"100% quality" will be exporting them at their best- regardless of their final megabyte file size.

[nathalieholland]

Wonderful, thank you so much for your help - I'll check it out!

[Abambo]

This is a cool request! Normally you will be asked to have less Mbs!

Now the trick is: If your picture exports at a quality of 100% and the image size is at 100%, the file you receive is the best possible quality, regardless of its size.

Files with great areas of a single colour (or a single shade of colour) compress very well, files with a lot of noise in (that can be camera noise, but that can be also natural noise) compress less, meaning that they generate a larger file size.

I limit my JPEG files to a max of 3Mb normally. We're telling people that files around 2 Mb are OK for printing purposes. That's our rule of thumb, just to avoid that people send in files of 20kb.

[nathalieholland]

Wonderful, thank you so much for your comment - it's immensely helpful and good to know I'm not alone in thinking that file sizes at 3-5MB are sufficient for print as long as the res is 300dpi - (it's also unlikely that these are going to be used in anything other than an A4 magazine!)

Thank you again!

[Abambo]

And to add to this and your confusion: the 300dpi value is just for fun and irrelevant for a photo. Resolution is imposed by the camera. Not by anything else you enter.

I explain: 300 dpi means only, that a picture of 300 pixels will be printed at a size of one inch. If your camera produces that resolution, it’s fine. If the camera does not produce that resolution, you need to cheat (given that you use the highest resolution caera the customer is paying you for). And you can cheat a lot. 240dpi is normally enough for good printing quality. If, however, the viewing distance increases, you need less resoltion. So for a roll-up, 100dpi is great.

If you do not have the required resolution (the real world resolution...), you can use Photoshop to increase that. Ps does a great job since the latest updates (CC or CC2015) for upscaling pixel graphic. I prefer using Photoshop for this, because I control then the quality.

If you boss wants huge files offer him 16bits TIFF files, no compression. It’s the bet quality he can get... and they will be huge, very huge. I doubt he will ever see a difference to a 8bits 2Mb JPEG file... But the quality will be (unnecessarily) excellent...

[karron98A6]

I totally get all the reply's here, but I have been exporting at 100% for years always producing files that are about 29mb. All of a sudden all of my exports are 4.6mb. If this is correct ad no problem that's all good but I am so so so curious as to what has changed, either in my setup or with the latest update of Lightroom classic.

[dj_paige]

A lot of things could have changed, but as stated its irrelevant what size the JPG file is.

How many pixels are in the exported JPG? Is that what you want?

What is the quality level in the Export dialog box in Lightroom Classic? — Is that what you want? (You said you export at quality 100, please actually look at the Export dialog box and see what is in there, in case it has changed accidentally)

If those are what you want, then ignore the file size.

[grahamb40797524]

I am having exactly the same issue since I moved to a newer Mac and installed the creative cloud, I have both LRC and lightroom, but now exporting files from both my 5Dmk 4 and R6 are resulting in abnormally small jpg files sometimes they are as low as 1.9mb, and this are supposed to be given to the client to print, previously unless it was a bw file my jpgs would be a 7mb upwards depending on the crop.

I have edited exactly the same files in lightroom, clicked on the export tap, exported as full size 100% and the jpg file is now at 7.5mb not 1.9mb 

The export settings are what I used previously nothing is checked that shouldn't be, all is what I would expect a full size jpg.

Adobe support online have shared my screen and ran out of ideas.

I really don't want to start editing wedding pictures on lightroom I use that for small low batch stuff for ease and speed. LRC for major editing work weddings sports commercial etc but this is absolutely doing my head in seeing vast Raw files being reduced to files below 4mb when only weeks ago the files were double and treble that size.

[dj_paige]

I am having exactly the same issue since I moved to a newer Mac and installed the creative cloud, I have both LRC and lightroom, but now exporting files from both my 5Dmk 4 and R6 are resulting in abnormally small jpg files sometimes they are as low as 1.9mb

I would say 1.9mb is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. JPG is a compression technology. JPGs are supposed to be very small compared to the original.

[grahamb40797524]

Hi thanks for the reply.

However I am concerned that if this file is required for a large print above the regular popular sizes the file size and resolution are not going to hold up and will result in poor quality prints, previously the same edit would have resulted in vastly bigger files sizes which will hold upto most print sizes