Image quality and file size
Image quality and file size
(OP)
I'm working on a sort of user's guide/brochure with a lot of images. The images were originally PDFs, edited in Photoshop and saved as JPEG. I placed them in my document, and when I export to PDF they look great, but the file size is quite large. I've been trying to find a way to significantly reduce the file size without sacrificing quality. The images contain text which must be clearly legible in the end result.
So far I've tried exporting with different PDF profiles, and am getting file sizes from 15.7 MB (PDF/X-1a) to 19.6 MB (High Quality Print), or small files with poor quality images (Smallest File Size- 2.6MB). The images are all 300 ppi, and any sort of compression seems to cause a problem when viewing the PDF at various levels of zoom. This will mostly be viewed on-screen, so I'm not worried about it being print quality, but I would like the images to be clear whether they are at 100% or are viewing more of/all of the page.
Is there any way to get this level of quality in a smaller (optimistically below 5MB) file size?
So far I've tried exporting with different PDF profiles, and am getting file sizes from 15.7 MB (PDF/X-1a) to 19.6 MB (High Quality Print), or small files with poor quality images (Smallest File Size- 2.6MB). The images are all 300 ppi, and any sort of compression seems to cause a problem when viewing the PDF at various levels of zoom. This will mostly be viewed on-screen, so I'm not worried about it being print quality, but I would like the images to be clear whether they are at 100% or are viewing more of/all of the page.
Is there any way to get this level of quality in a smaller (optimistically below 5MB) file size?
RE: Image quality and file size
Do you mean single spot ink text without halftoning? If so, they should have never been opened and converted to JPG in Photoshop. Your problem to address may be higher up in the workflow.
RE: Image quality and file size
Would saving them in a different format be preferable?
RE: Image quality and file size
PDF files, unless they were created in Photoshop, are not well suited to be edited in Photoshop.
RE: Image quality and file size
RE: Image quality and file size
Can you place the images into Indesign in the PDF format instead of converting them to JPGs?
I'm not sure how that would effect the size but it's worth a shot.
I'm not sure how Indesign handles PDF files sizes when they are re-saved in a smaller size as part of a new document.
Mike
RE: Image quality and file size