Even at or under 100X100, file too large?!

[Bram Turismo]

Hey guys, I'm desperately trying to get me a new avatar but everytime it says that it's too big, the file is 28K but how does it come it's too big? The only thing I do is crop and resize it to exactly 100X100 and that's even without a border...

It used to go perfect, under 15K but I can't understand why the files are so big


Any help would be greatly appreciated 👍

 

[Jordan]

The maximum file size of an avatar is 20KB. Even if the dimensions of the image are smaller than the maximum size the file size must still be under that limit.

 

[dougiemeats]

What application are you using to make, edit, or crop the avatar?
Is it a PNG? JPEG? GIF?

Also, you can probably lower the quality a bit when saving it in order to meet the size requirement.

 

[Keef]

In Adobe Photoshop there is a save function called "Save for Web" or something along those lines. I don't know how it saves differently, but it will save the same type of file at a smaller size, but with nearly the same quality. Even with editing, all of my old 100x100 JPEG avatars easily fell under 20kb when I did "Save for Web", but when I saved them normally they'd always be well over 20 or 25kb.

I'm not sure if PaintShop Pro or the other programs have that function, but it seems logical that they should.

 

[Sage]

Post the image here (attachment or Imageshack) so that we can look at it.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Just open the file in paint, and then resave it. I had a file that wouldn't get under 25kb, and then in paint it went down to 3.

 

[Thiele]

doesn't premium have a larger limit?

 

[Evolution.]

120x120 and 25KB.

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

Open up the picture using MSPaint, (either right-click > Open With > Paint), and got to Save As. Click the the drop-down bar under the filename, and save it as a different file type. Here's the order of filesizes from largest and clearest to smallest and most compressed:

.tiff (useless for web images so don't use it)
.bmp
.png
.jpg/.jpeg
.gif (only supports 256 colors, so only good for basic stuff)

Whatever file type on the list the picture is initially, save it as one lower down that list to reduce the size.

 

[Greycap]

Saving a picture with MS Paint as .jpg will pretty much destroy the quality... the .jpg artifacts will be all over the picture. I wouldn't do it unless being threatened by some maniac with a weapon.

Seriously, every good image editing program has options for saving .jpg pictures, one of which is to change the compression of the picture, usually found somewhere in the saving screen. First try 100% quality (or 0% compression, depending on the program), if the file is too big, go for 90% and keep going like this until you get under the desired limit.

I've used the .png format myself though, the files are routinely sized around 15 kb with no visible quality deterioration.

- R -

 

[Bram Turismo]

Some good tips in here, I'll try all of them 👍

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

For future reference, If you don't have Photoshop, you can download Paint.NET It allows you to adjust the quality when you save the image, but you need Windows XP SP2 or Vista.

 

[mrnoname]

try save with .png its like a JPEG but without the loss of quality.

 

[Moglet]

'Save for Web' in Photoshop is what you want to be using. It will show you the file size and change it as you edit the quality, with a preview of the image too. 👍

 

[DuckRacer]

try save with .png its like a JPEG but without the loss of quality.

...And if you have trouble squeezing your JPG avatar under the file limit, saving it as a PNG is counter productive, as it increases file size.

That said, I use PNG any time I need to have a transparent background, and I can squeeze it under the limit in Fireworks. So I definitely recommend it whenever you can use it.

 

[Thiele]

Shouldn't it automatically resize to an appropriate?

 

[dougiemeats]

Shouldn't it automatically resize to an appropriate?

If the dimensions are above the limit, then it should scale. However, if the filesize is too large, you cannot upload it.