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Subject:Re: .jpg Image Files From:Matt Ion <soundy -at- ROGERS -dot- WAVE -dot- CA> Date:Thu, 7 Aug 1997 17:02:57 -0800
On Thu, 7 Aug 1997 12:34:55 -0700, Nicole Cvetkovic wrote:
>I'm currently working on a user manual and am experimenting with
>different graphics file types. I'm creating my main document in Word.
>Ideally, I'd like to embed my graphics in the document, but since
>bitmaps and some other graphics file types are notorious for bloating
>file sizes, I'm avoiding them like the plague. Anyway, I started playing
>around with j-pegs and noticed that resulting file sizes were
>comparatively small. Is there any reason why this wouldn't be an okay
>file type to use? Would you guys have any other suggestions?
Someone's probably already covered this, but there's one major factor
to consider: JPG uses "lossy compression" to shrink files. What that
means is, it will throw away data that it considers extraneous or
unimportant. For example, a small amount of blue-green near a large
aqua area will not generally be noticed as being particularly
different... so it may simply be discarded.
This can lead to all manner of aliasing when resizing and otherwise
manipulating images. Everytime you edit and save the file, it will
lose a little bit of quality as well.
If you really need to save space, you'd probably find GIF a more
forgiving format. It still does a good job of compression, but is
"lossless." If your graphics app(s) of choice support it, Compressed
TIFF may work well for you too.
Your friend and mine,
Matt
<insert standard disclaimer here>
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