Clipdaythe right-size picture: a reference on image formats and preparation

An independent reference on image formats and preparing pictures. It does not distribute images or files, does not give legal advice and is not affiliated with the previous site on this domain.

If it looks off

Troubleshooting

Pictures misbehave in predictable ways. Almost every complaint comes down to one of three things: the wrong size, the wrong format or overly aggressive compression. Below are common situations and a sequence of checks worth running before you declare the original a lost cause.

If you had to stretch a picture to fill the space, it was never meant for that space in the first place.

— Editor's note

How this section works: symptoms and their most likely explanations are described without reference to specific programs. If the problem only shows up when printing on one particular device, its settings may be to blame, so check the printer's manual or ask the print shop.

Common situations

The picture is blurry.

Most often it was enlarged beyond what its pixel count allows: an editor doesn't invent detail, it only stretches what's there. Use a larger original or display the picture smaller. If only part of it is blurry, check whether heavy compression ate the detail.

The edges look jagged.

Stair-step edges appear when a small picture is stretched or when smoothing is turned off during resizing. For logos and icons, the best fix is a vector original you can export to a raster image at the size you need.

The file is far too heavy.

Usually the picture is bigger than it needs to be: it keeps the camera's full resolution or a capture of a very large screen. Scale it down to the size it will be viewed at and save photos as JPEG with moderate compression. PNG is often needlessly heavy for photos.

The transparent background is gone.

The picture was probably saved as JPEG: it doesn't support transparency and fills empty areas with a solid color. Re-save the original as PNG, or use SVG if it's vector artwork.

Colors look duller in print than on screen.

A screen shows color with light and a printer with ink, and some of the brightest on-screen shades simply can't be reproduced on paper. If color matters, run a test print and ask the print shop which color model to prepare the file in.

The text in the picture is unreadable.

Small text is the first thing to suffer when a picture is shrunk and compressed. Make the lettering larger, raise its contrast with the background and save the picture as PNG. Better still, move important text out of the picture into a regular caption next to it.

If a picture doesn't look the way you intended

  1. Go back to the original

    Find the very first file, not a copy of a copy. Many problems come from saving with lossy compression over and over.

  2. Check the size in pixels

    Compare the picture's width and height with the spot where it's shown or printed. If there aren't enough pixels, no setting will fix that.

  3. Check the format

    Make sure the format fits the job: transparency needs PNG or SVG, a photo for an email calls for JPEG, a document for print calls for PDF.

  4. Ease off the compression

    Save again with less compression and compare it with the original at actual size.

  5. Look where the picture will be seen

    Put the result into the slide, document or email and check it there. A picture in an editor and a picture in a finished document sometimes behave differently.

  6. Print a test page

    Before a large run or an important print job, check the colors and sharpness on a test print, not on screen.

  • Guides

    Step-by-step guides: crop, shrink and compress a picture and get it ready for an email, a slide or print. The article catalog lives here too.

  • Comparisons

    Raster vs vector, JPEG, PNG, SVG and PDF, screen vs print: tables that help you pick the right format and size for the job.

  • Tools

    The kinds of programs and features that help with images, from the built-in photo viewer to a vector editor and the eyedropper.

  • Glossary

    Key terms: pixel, resolution, dots per inch, raster, vector, Bézier curve, compression, transparency and alt text.

  • Questions

    Answers about this reference, about picture sizes and formats, about printing and about using images found online.

Sources

  • Documentation for graphics formats and editors (general principles)
  • Clipday editorial materials

This advice is written in general terms as of the date it was prepared. Menu items, save dialogs and export settings are named differently from one editor to the next and change with updates, so check the help for the program you actually use rather than matching our wording exactly.