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rowan_wolf33
New Participant
July 6, 2013
Question

"target document has a different depth than source document." help?

  • July 6, 2013
  • 9 replies
  • 69357 views

as of yesterday i have been recieveing an alert when i try to move a jpeg into a new photoshop doc stating that my target document has a different depth than my source document and will (which it definiately does) result in lower than expected quality. i have no idea how to fix this. please help.

Photoshop specs: CS6; RGB; 16 bit; Res 300 pixels/inches; size: letter; (advanced setting - don't know what these are) color profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1; Pixel aspect ratio: square pixels

don't know if i accidentally messed with something i shouldn't have or what. any help is appreciated. thank you in advance.

9 replies

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Trent251555662drr
New Participant
October 20, 2023

I'm having simular issues I for years have cut out images at 3300 x 5100 pixels and moved them to a smaller document 1080x1080 to create instagram uploads. Now the quality to when I zoom in is so poor that I must have changed something by accident and I can figure it out.

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Brainiac
    January 31, 2021

    That's exactly what the message is telling you. 8 bit and 16 bits are "depth". So if your depth is indeed not the same, a pro needs to know this because of a loss of quality. There are no 16 bit JPEGs, so if you try to bring a JPEG into a 16 bit image you can expect a warning.

    R
    resham5E5C
    New Participant
    January 31, 2021

    Hi,
    It's because the depth of the document is different from something which you are trying to import in it.
    In simple language, you have to match the colour mode bit,  Try changing the setting to lower and higher until you don't get this warning. I hope this will help you.

     

    M
    Mac Friends
    New Participant
    February 4, 2021

    Does not work on mine...
    wonder where is the problem now...

    D Fosse
    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    February 4, 2021

    Again, there is no "problem". This is just information to you, the user, and you need to decide whether to act on this information or not.

     

    If you don't know what bit depth is, look it up.

    jseverin800
    jseverin800
    New Participant
    May 9, 2017

    Had the same problem, changed the image depth on the 8 bit image to 16 bit via Zukisox's method, then put the newly 16 bit image into the other 16 bit file.  Worked great.

    S
    shelaghmillett
    New Participant
    November 26, 2016

    It because one is set to 8 bit and the other either 16 or 32 I got the same.

    A
    Anonymous
    May 24, 2014

    Downloading and saving files from the Web

    Z
    zukisox
    Participating Frequently
    May 24, 2014

    Today I had exact same problem.  Thanks to this thread, I know now what Adobe meant by depth. ie BIT

    Realised source is 16 bit and my target is 8 bit.

    How do I change the source back to 8 bit?

    Thanks guys,

      Z
      zukisox
      Participating Frequently
      May 24, 2014

      ah its ok, I found out how to change the source.

      Image/Mode then select 16 bit or 8 bits/channel

      So should all images be 8 bit or 16 bit?

      Something must have changed accidently somewhere, as I have never had this problem before.

        R
        rawrluscas
        New Participant
        September 18, 2014

        yes, the problem is w the depth channel...

        if the new doc is 16 bits, the image your pasting must be 16 bits

          B
          ButterflyHerder
          Participating Frequently
          July 13, 2013

          Were you able to find a solution on this issue? I'm having the same problem. Thx. ~ Cyn

            Chris Cox
            Chris Cox
            Brainiac
            July 13, 2013

            That message is just a warning - there is nothing to fix because it is not an error.

            The fact that you can't save for web probably means your color mode is not RGB, or the depth of your image is not 8 bits/channel.

              B
              ButterflyHerder
              Participating Frequently
              July 13, 2013

              Yep. I checked that. The color mode was, indeed, set to RGB. Any other ideas?

                Chris Cox
                Chris Cox
                Brainiac
                July 6, 2013

                It's just warning you that quality might be reduced because you are working with documents at different depths.

                There is nothing to fix - just something you need to know about, so it is warning you.

                B
                ButterflyHerder
                Participating Frequently
                July 13, 2013

                There's GOT to be something to fix. I've been getting that message all night -- when I say "yes" and then try to SAVE the document, it won't give me the option to "save for web."

                I started completely from scratch, and still got the error window, and it still wouldn't let me "save for web."

                So -- let's begin again -- what needs to be fixed?

                  P
                  Pankaj36525008ehm2
                  New Participant
                  April 25, 2025

                  Loved it. Thank you for straight answer and save time.

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