Known Participant

Question

why does photoshop export 300 ppi image as 72 ppi?

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
November 13, 2016
17 replies
75628 views

why is it if i open an image in PS which has a dpi of 300 (image sourced from Shutterstock), work on the image and then use Export As JPG, the resulting ppi is 72 according to PS. I checked my Export Prefs and they are set to JPG and 100 for quality, so why does it export as 72 and not 300? I need to supply images in my document at 300dpi not 72dpi

kimb75221386

Participant

I am looking for the answer to your same question. Scrolling through the "answers" has been incredibly frustrating. No one can apparently answer this question (without going off topic and acting like you have no idea what you are talking about and have never used a computer before)??!!! Ugh. Let me know if you ever find out the answer...

D Fosse

Community Expert

It has been answered over and over, in this thread and elsewhere here in the forum. We do know the answer:

Export and Save For Web strip resolution metadata altogether. An Exported file has no resolution, not 72, not 300, not anything.

Since ppi doesn't apply on screen/web, it's removed.

The 72 figure that you see is what Photoshop assigns as a default value when you reopen the file. It's not there until Photoshop opens the file. Photoshop needs to have some ppi figure to calculate font sizes and other things, so it assigns a number. But any number will do.

Most Microsoft apps will assign 96.

N

nomom

Participant

I don't know why no one can answer this question. Call me a dinosaur, but I have been using lightroom since it's first issue, and I'm still using the same version. Until the last job I loaded, when I export an image, (I use the 'Export' command, as I have for 20 years) at 300 pixels per inch, that's what loads in PS. Recently I'm getting the same issue as you, import to LR at 300 PPI, image exports at 72 PPI. I have never encountered this, and I know it's not behaving right. The dimensions are larger than captured, but it's still 72. 300 ppi is required for print from most labs/service providers FOR PRINT.

Bottom line is the question remains; Why is LR exporting a 72 PPI image when asked to export a 300 PPI image. All the right boxes are checked. Can anyone answer the question?

JJMack

Community Expert

Export is designed for the web. Resolution is meaningless on the web for displays can not change their ppi resolution. Displays have a fixed pixel density and a fixed number of pixels. PPI resolution is meaningless on a display they can not change their pixel density they display pixels. So export does not set any print ppi resolution in the files it saves. The files print resolution setting is not set it is empty or not present.

Windows file explorer will default image file without a Printer print resolution setting to its default 96 ppi print resolution. Photoshop will default such a file to a 72 ppi resolution. The fact is the file has no PPI resolution settings. Before you print an image you can set the images PPI resolution to any value you need to print the images the size you want that is amy resolution value up to the printer's max print resolution. PPI resolution is the size the Pixels are printed. The Pixel Print density. It is the math that determines the size the image will print. A 3000 px wide image canvas will print 10" wide at a 300 pixels per inch print resolution. Each pixels will be painted in at 1/300" by 1/300" square pixel. Printed with a 100 ppi resolution the image will print 30" wide each pixel will be print 1/100" by 1/100" square printed pixel it is simple math. Image size is the number or pixels you have for the Images, The physical image size depends on the capabilities of the device that materializes the images pixels. Displays only have one size pixels the can not change their resolution they display pixels. Displays display one size image. All 40" display always displays a 40" image it is manufactured with. All 40" displays do not have the same resolution. done 40" displays display an 1920x1080 pixels image while other 40" displays have more pixels like 3840 by 2160 pixels. The displays resolution are different. Printers can change the size they Print Pixels.

JJMack

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Olga5DE5

Participating Frequently

As you can see in all the export parameters that can be set in LR, there's a section 'Image Sizing' which contains a setting Resolution. The existence of this setting alone allready shows your first statement about 'export is designed for the web' is incorrect.

So, the Export menu in LR _is not_ for the web only. I allready mentioned this false information twice to the moderator (because D fosse also once made a similar false statement about PS), but regrettably no action is taken to prevent incorrect answers by Adobe's moderators.

In recent previous versions of PS, PS did not (correctly) read the dpi metadata. In the latest version I use (22.4.2 20210602.r.242 a4f6042), I now see this problem is finally solved by Adobe.

@JJMack: At least mention that in ancient LR versions 'maybe export was designed for the web', but things have changed. If you still think your statement about Export is correct, please show me then where Adobe officially states that 'export is designed for the web'. Adobe's LR Classic online manual explicitly says:"You can export photos in various file formats suitable for a wide range of uses."

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PECourtejoie

Community Expert

With the new forum consolidation, I think it is a good time to create a feature request in order to get a checkbox to include minimal metadata in the export, with the copyright and resolution, maybe?

L

Lumigraphics

Legend

Supposedly they are rebuilding Export to have feature parity with SFW.

D Fosse

Community Expert

If that's true, that's excellent news, the best I've had all week!

Just today, I logged a bug about the currently broken color management in Export. Add to that all the other things we're missing, like metadata, action recording and I'm sure a lot of other things.

I've used Save For Web the whole time and still do. I'm happy to retire it, but they need to finish the job first.

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

Although this topic has been about JPG, PNG is even more confusing!

Just like JPG, PNG files exported (not save as) do not contain any resolution metadata.

The official PNG specification states that the PNG resolution unit is in metres (not inches). This can be verified using metadata tools such as ExifTool.

So, a 300 ppi save as PNG (not export) from Photoshop would embed a value of 11811 ppm (pixels per metre). When Photoshop opens a PNG with this resolution metadata, it performs an “on the fly translation” from PPM to PPI:

118.11 (ppcm) x 2.54 (inch) = 299.9994 ppi... rounded up this is 300 ppi.

:]

L

Lumigraphics

Legend

Both Photoshop and Bridge appear to have bugs regarding PNG resolution metadata.

As for exporting JPEG images, there is a pile of wrong info about Save for Web. As long as you don't strip out the necessary metadata, SFW absolutely writes the PPI information. Either Choose All or All Except Camera Info when you save.

I have more than 15,000 JPEGs that were saved via SFW and all of them have proper PPI metadata attached.

D Fosse

Community Expert

It's not wrong, it just means you have to deliberately set the metadata rolldown. At default, it's stripped.

Export does not have this option, it always strips.

leannem8788342

Participant

and I saved it as: Save As

leannem8788342

Participant

Save file as a diiferent name than the original Jpeg

I was having this problem and it nearly drove me mad. It simple turned out that all I had to do is change the file name and my 72dpi jpeg was now 300dpi jpeg. 😕😕

D

defaultco4rhvpp5n0u

Participant

Having the same issue. I have always been able to change my 72dpi images to 300dpi in Photoshop and then save them as 300dpi. As of today, I can't do this anymore. I do what I've been doing for years - ie. save my image as 300dpi but when I reopen it after saving it, it is not 300dpi but 72dpi. This happens with Quick Export, Export As and Save As. The only way I can get the image to save as 300dpi is if I save it as a copy. Which is ridiculous. If anyone knows what to do to fix this, I would appreciate it.

D Fosse

Community Expert

It's not ridiculous, it's by (sensible) design.

Export and Save For Web are intended for web/screen/mobile devices, where ppi is a meaningless and irrelevant figure. So the resolution metadata are stripped out and removed from the file.

There is no ppi in a file from Export/SFW - not 72, not 300, not anything. The 72 figure appears when the file is reopened into Photoshop, and a default value is assigned. That's 72 in Photoshop, but 96 in most native Windows apps.

A regular Save will always retain resolution metadata.

O

Olga5DE5

Participating Frequently

Export and Save For Web are not the same. Save for the web is legacy. From the Photoshop's help page about Export: "Can I export my Photoshop document using Save for Web? Yes. You can still use Save for Web (Legacy) option to export your assets."

In my opinion, the export function should have a dpi setting.

W

WilliamTing

Participant

It seems that there is no easy solution within Photoshop. My workaround for this issue is to use another free app "Faststone Image Viewer", and select PNG as the output format. It will do a mass conversion quickly.

lesnicole

Inspiring

Even though this answer is correct, there is another consideration. As someone who creates digital graphics for sale, customers will not understand that pixel dimensions are pixel dimensions no matter what the ppi. As you say, Export is for web/screen/mobile. It sounds like the orignal poster does need 300 ppi though. Note - even if technically, the 72ppi file would have the same pixel dimensions, trust me - most people dont understad that. Save yourself the headache of lots of questions and comments from customers / services by saving as 300ppi. Use Save As instead of Export if you want 300 ppi. the only downsize to Save As rather than Export is that you don't get an option to strip out extraneous metadata which I like to do. For me, I export from Lightroom stripping out any metadata except copyright and contact. You could also Export then run an action to save to 300 ppi (without resampling.)

P

pasane

Inspiring

I'm having the same problem - only discovered it when I went to my online printer and asked for a print using image size and it was 41"!! It was then I discovered that the "Export As" was changing the ppi. I tried to use the "Save As" put the online printers didn't like that format...? So, I "Export As". Open the JPEG in photoshop, change the image size and ppi back to 300 and save - a bore to be sure but at least I end up with what I want.

I personally don't see the point of Adobe having a function like the "Export As" that doesn't save the settings prescribed - maybe they should fix it!

D Fosse

Community Expert

Re-reading this old and lengthy thread, it certainly took its time to get to the heart of the matter. But it finally did.

So again: Export is for web/screen/mobile. Pixels per inch does not apply for screen viewing. Since it is not needed, the ppi value is stripped from the file.

And in case you're wondering where the 72 number comes from, it's the Photoshop default when there is no resolution metadata present. Photoshop needs to have some ppi number for other unrelated reasons, but any number will do. Most native Windows applications will assign 96.

So you see, pasane, there is nothing to fix. This works entirely as intended.

O

Olga5DE5

Participating Frequently

Photoshop's online help does not mention anywehere that "Export is for web/screen/mobile". I think this was true with the legacy 'save for the web', but not for the new 'export as' anymore. So, I do not consider this the correct answer (anymore). In addition, I think a dpi setting is actually missing and Adobe should have add this to the export settings. A workaround is given by lesnicole and williamting below.

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