# You don't need to save everything as a PNG



## QT Melon (May 2, 2013)

Hello Everyone.

I know this is sort of a rant. A lot of people seem to think their art looks better if you save as a PNG. While technically PNG doesn't compress images like a JPG it isn't always appropriate. Most people don't need to download a several megabyte file because you think every hair you drew needs to be seen. I used to have to save in tiff format because programs I was using didn't correctly support PNG but now it is changing. 

When is saving a PNG appropriate?

Saving for transparency, like an avatar. 
High resolution commission. It won't compress or leave artifacts.
Saving a flat file copy for yourself. If you are done and don't want layers it's a good way to save a copy for yourself in archive.
Basically saving an uncompressed copy if you have to give the file to someone else for editing. For example, saving lineart so that someone can color it.

When is not appropriate.
General web use. Save for JPG is a bit better in cases. This especially since many places have bandwidth restrictions, I don't mean just server hosting, but people may have high speed connections but limited bandwidth. A PNG just adds to useless usage. 
Another reason is that you are hosting your art on the web, you may as well not give it away if you post up formats that make it easier to edit. While anyone who wants to steal art can, you don't have to give them an awesome quality copy to steal. 

The best thing to do is save a copy of an image for your personal use in a non compressed format, and keep another copy in JPG for just showing on the web.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/formatsjpeg/a/jpegmythsfacts.htm


One final thing to note, is that people often blame the compression for their drawing not looking good. I don't mean to be cruel, but more often than not the quality of your skills is more of a factor than the format you save in.


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## Hewge (May 2, 2013)

This is AWESOME. I always wondered what to save files as for what uses. I are scroob.

Thanks QT.


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## Ansitru (May 2, 2013)

I never considered saving differently than in PNG, but what I upload on FA is a resized smaller version.
Never bigger than 850x850 unless necessary.

That and if you save pixels as JPG, you get a garbled mess instead of clear pixels as it tends to automatically anti-alias some things that should not be AA'd.
The thread is an interesting read, though!


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## TigerBeacon (May 2, 2013)

I...thought this was something that most people knew already, simply on the virtue of the fact that .pngs are saved in an obscene file size that is usually beyond the limits set for file hosting (if you're trying to host a file with large dimensions). 

Jpgs can be set by the amount of compression you want to impose on it without sacrificing significant quality (Photoshop does this, and Sai to a degree does too) and still tend to be smaller sized than .pngs. Their best for photos, scenes...basically, they should be for pretty much everything save for certain images.

Like .gifs, their mainly used for animated images, but can also be used to transparency in images, as well as pixelated images with sharp, clean edges (they tend to have an annoying jagged white border otherwise). .pngs, however, can pull off transparency better than .gifs without the color or quality loss that sometimes comes with, but at the cost of having more data needed to be saved on it.


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## Arshes Nei (May 2, 2013)

Ansitru said:


> I never considered saving differently than in PNG, but what I upload on FA is a resized smaller version.
> Never bigger than 850x850 unless necessary.
> 
> That and if you save pixels as JPG, you get a garbled mess instead of clear pixels as it tends to automatically anti-alias some things that should not be AA'd.
> The thread is an interesting read, though!



In Photoshop Elements and Photoshop there is a "Save For Web" option. It's really good for saving in jpg format. Different programs do save or compress differently. 
Pixel art can be saved as a gif because of their limited color scheme and saves better in file size.


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## Ansitru (May 2, 2013)

Arshes Nei said:


> In Photoshop Elements and Photoshop there is a "Save For Web" option. It's really good for saving in jpg format. Different programs do save or compress differently.
> Pixel art can be saved as a gif because of their limited color scheme and saves better in file size.



They can be saved as such, though the program I make my static pixels in is the free version of Graphicsgale and that version only supports .png-files, not .gif-files.
Unless I'm planning on animating it, I usually just save it as .png and upload it that way.


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## Teal (May 2, 2013)

I save my shit as jpg and it looks like a ran a bad pixel filter on it. :/


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## TigerBeacon (May 2, 2013)

Teal said:


> I save my shit as jpg and it looks like a ran a bad pixel filter on it. :/



If you're saving it in MSPaint. That seems to save it on the highest possible compression.

If you save it on Photoshop or Sai, there is a compression adjuster whenever you save where you can control the amount of compression every time you save to jpg. I have mine usually set with only about 10% or so compression, hardly makes a difference.


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## Taralack (May 2, 2013)

Save for Web is a godsend.


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## Teal (May 3, 2013)

TigerBeacon said:


> If you're saving it in MSPaint. That seems to save it on the highest possible compression.
> 
> If you save it on Photoshop or Sai, there is a compression adjuster whenever you save where you can control the amount of compression every time you save to jpg. I have mine usually set with only about 10% or so compression, hardly makes a difference.


 I save in gimp.


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## TigerBeacon (May 3, 2013)

Teal said:


> I save in gimp.



Dude, I distinctly remember being a compression window for Gimp.

And sure enough: http://grok.lsu.edu/article.aspx?articleid=8314

Quality correlates to the compression. The lower its set, the worst it is. You can get away with 80 to 90 without losing quality, and that's only if you draw something large and need to have a smaller file. Otherwise you can like keep it at 100 and it'll still be a smaller file than a png.


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## zhuria (May 3, 2013)

Teal said:


> I save in gimp.


Gimp 2.8 has a save for web option, also, check the compression rates, Gimp tends to want to save pictures with less quality, I dunno why.


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## CaptainCool (May 3, 2013)

I hate it when people save their stuff as ridiculously huge files. A 1280x1280 picture in a public gallery shouldn't be 5mb! O_O It shouldn't take me 20 seconds and more to open a picture on FA with a 32mbit connection! (You have to factor in how slow FA can be at times).
Usually I try to keep my files around 500kb to 1mb. But not bigger.


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## TopazThunder (May 5, 2013)

Since I'm just now getting more into digital media for my art, this tidbit of info was enlightening. Thank you for sharing, for those that are unaware of details such as this. Whenever I scan something I always save it as .jpg and it's generally just fine, and those few digital pieces I've saved two files of: one as a .png and another as a .jpg purely because a lot of online galleries require the file to be submitted as the latter instead of the former. Thankfully most all of my files aren't that large to begin with.


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