Inspiring

Question

How to lock default jpeg compression to quality 12?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 5, 2020
7 replies
16902 views

I posted about this a few years back and never got an answer but I might not have been explaining myself very well.

When I close Photoshop and reopen it, the next time I go to do a jpeg save, the compression level defaults to what it was at the last time I closed Photoshop.

For instance, if I save an image at quality 6 and shut down Photoshop...it will continue to default to 6 for all of my jpeg saves with my next session unless I manually change it for each save. If I want to change it so that it defaults to quality 12, I must save an image at quality 12 and then close Photoshop, reopen Photoshop and then all my saves will default to 12.

This is particularily frustrating if I'm running an action on mulitple images and then realize many images in, that all of my saves are at a too high of compression. So this issue also applies to saves recorded in actions. Even if an action was recored at quality 12, those saves in the actions, default to whatever the last jpeg save was the last time I closed Photoshop.

This has been the case through mulitple genrations of Photoshop on mulitple computers both Mac and PC. The last time I posted about it I was told that this wasn't actually happening or no one else could duplicate the issue so I think I might not have explained myself very well then. Hopefully this is more clear. This is happening.

I don't know if this can be changed and if not, it would at least be nice to understand the reasoning behind this behavior.

How to

This topic has been closed for replies.

A

altaan

Participant

To lock the default JPEG compression quality to 12 (the highest quality) in image editing software like Adobe Photoshop, you can adjust the settings by following these steps:In Adobe Photoshop:Open Photoshop and load any image.Go to "File" > "Save As..." or "Export" > "Save for Web (Legacy)...".In the "JPEG Options" dialog box (if you choose "Save As..."):Set the Quality slider to 12.Make sure the Format Options are set to "Baseline (Standard)".In the "Save for Web" dialog box:Set the Quality slider to 100 (which corresponds to 12 in the standard dialog).Make sure to select "JPEG" as the format.Click "Save" to confirm the settings.

D Fosse

Community Expert

A typical ChatGPT post.

S

stevenw6422659

Participating Frequently

I had this problem and it was due to my own error when I created the action. For some reason when I created the action I accidently saved my jpg compression at 4 instead of my usual 9 and it corrupted my entire batch, fortunately I had backup files and I hadn't done any editing. It took me awhile to figure it out something so simple, lol. But with the action now all the files are defaulting to 9. I would suggest delete your old action and redo it.

Greg5C17

Participating Frequently

I wish this is how mine responded. It doesn't matter how I record it, it just sets itself to the last compression I used when saving to Jpeg. That part of the action has been trashed and recreated a dozen times to get it to remain on the compression I recorded the action at. In the end, I've changed my workflow and now do Tiff saves instead. I haven't tried this agian now for a few years

didiermazier

Community Expert

Maybe you could record an action of saving with the wanted file and quality ratio and add a shortcut for further repeating use ?

Also I noticed that JPEG quality is up to only 7 with Photoshop export as…

davescm

Community Expert

The quality setting is an arbitary number and '7' in one function can equate to '100' in another. It just means there are less interim steps.

Dave

ultrachromeAuthor

Inspiring

Still..this problem persists. My workaround now is to work with Tiff files initailly and convert to JPEGs after which in the end is a better way to work anyway. Still though - saves in actions shouldn't be affected by changes to saves outside of actions. The quality setting of a recorded JPEG save in an action should should also be recorded and not change to the last setting used in a Jpeg save outside of the action. Makes no sense why you'd want this the way it is and its dangerous.

D Fosse

Community Expert

The jpeg compression setting is recorded in actions, both Save As and Save For Web (Export is moot because it can't be actioned at all).

So if you want a certain compression, make an action (and assign an F-key). I have several of these.

ultrachromeAuthor

Inspiring

It may be as a "save as" but not as a "save" where it is overwriting the existing file. It defaults to what the last quality setting was when working in Photoshop outside of the action. At least it did the last time I checked no too long ago.

davescm

Community Expert

The quality setting is sticky. You can raise a feature request at the link below , where it will be seen by Adobe staff.
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family

As an aside , you mention overwriting jpegs. Jpeg is not a good format for storing files that may be re-edited. The effects of jpeg compression are lossy and cumulative. It is much better to save your master files as layered PSD/PSB or TIFF files which use lossless compression and then export a jpeg when you need a flattened copy for single use (such as sending over the web etc).

Dave

ultrachromeAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks Dave...I'll make this as a feature request now that I'm fairly certain it is normal behavior of Photoshop.

Yes, I'm fully aware of the limitations and constrainst of over writing Jpeps files after editing. There is a time and a place though where it's a workflow fit without unreasonable sacrifices. Appreciate your want to educate 🙂

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

It is possible to lock in default settings using an action that does not include the save name/path:

~~BROKENACTIONLINKREMOVED~~

Or this can be scripted.

Either way, a keyboard shortcut can be applied to the action or script.

Hope this helps!

ultrachromeAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks Stephen...I download those actions and tried them but got this warning...

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

Thank you, it used to work, I have removed the download for now.

Michael Bullo

Community Expert

Would exporting using either of these methods be an option for you?
File > Export > Export As…
Layer > Export As…

Within the Export tab of the Photoshop Preferences is a Quick Export Format section. This can be used to control the Quick Export option accessible via the following…
File > Export > Quick Export as [file type]…

ultrachromeAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks Michael...It might work but it's outside of my standard workflow. I work on one image at the time, finish and then save...sometimes by over writing the original file or sometimes in a seperate folder leaving the original file in tact. Depends what I'm doing. I simply need to find a way for those save to not default to the last jpeg quality setting I had set in Photoshop the last time I closde the program.

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