Photoshop saving PNGs too big! How can I make them smaller

[neviller40898973]

I'm designing T shirts and saving them in Photoshop. The problem is, when I save them as a PNG, the file size is massive. This particular design only has 1 layer and it's 27MB! If I choose 'smallest file size' it's still about 25MB.

Can anyone help me reduce the file size? Would 'save for web' reduce the image quality too much?

[Mylenium]

And what are the actual dimensions and resolution? what type of PNG do you choose? What does the content look like? For all intents and purposes, this could be perfectly normal for a reasonably large 300 DPI file or something and 25 MB overall realyl doesn't sound too bad for print stuff...

Mylenium

[Francesco Della Peruta]

I'm agree with Mylenium. The final size of the file depends by many factors. To reduce the file size drastically you have to change file format, like .jpg. If your work is not a vector artwork, you can try to export it as .jpg

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Would 'save for web' reduce the image quality too much?

You can just test that yourself.

Does the file maybe have unusually voluminous metadata?

Inflated JPG File Size - Photoshop Document:Ancestors Metadata

[macpawel]

PNG iż format without Compression - your file is large this way. You can consider changing resolution or image size - PNG is popular for screen media - maybe your file is too large (dimensions, resolution).

But sometimes you can also consider to reduce bit depth and save your image as 8 bit image or JPEG file with maximum quality

pawel

[barbara_a]

As Macpowel said, PNG does dot use compression.. You can reduce the size of a PNG by reducing the number of colors.

[Per Berntsen]

The PNG format uses lossless compression, which is less effective than jpg (lossy) compression.

[Nancy OShea]

Legacy Save for Web is not suitable for print.  I don't even use it for web images anymore.

What is your final PNG image being used for exactly?

[Stephen Marsh]

Legacy Save for Web is not suitable for print. 

Hi Nancy, some are of the opinion that PNG is not suitable for print, no matter the software used to create it. That being said many consumer and office related software apps take advantage of PNG transparency.

Until there is feature parity between the legacy save for web and the new export method the old tool is still useful for actions and scripting, slicing, animated GIF etc. 

[Nancy OShea]

Is there some reason for resurrecting this topic from 2018 which was about artwork suitable for printing on T-shirts, not scripting???

[Stephen Marsh]

Hi Nancy, patrickh56290551 resurrected the topic with a "213p x 219p PNG is 50K when open in photoshop, but saves at 74GB" – which I am guessing is metadata related. While here I also replied to your post, where you mentioned that you don't use the legacy method anymore and that it is not suitable for print. That of course works for you and is fine.

My larger point was that although you may not need the legacy option, it is still useful and without it actions or scripting would not be possible with the current export options until they are replaced with something that offers the same features as the legacy method, including being recordable in actions and being accessible to scripting, generating slices and animation etc.

[barbara_a]

Have you tried saving as JPG? Depending on your image it may result in a much smaller file size. PNG is for images with areas of flat color that do not have shading or gradients. JPG works better for photographic images and gradients.