Does exporting JPEG directly from Lightroom give better quality than converting a Lightroom TIFF with ImageMagick?

Asked 7/28/2011

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2 answers

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I process RAW/DNG files in Lightroom and want the best possible final JPEG. I’m comparing two workflows:

  1. Export directly from Lightroom as JPEG at 100% quality
  2. Export from Lightroom as TIFF, then convert that TIFF to JPEG with ImageMagick

Assume no edits other than Lightroom’s default RAW rendering, and that I may export at different output sizes. Which workflow is likely to produce the better-quality JPEG, or are the differences negligible in practice?

Originally by István. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

István

15y ago

2 Answers

11

I have both, so I ran a quick test for you.

Firstly, here's the original DNG. It's a snap of mine, converted from Nikon NEF by Ligtroom, no editing.

I then exported it with Ligtroom, same size, no sharpening, 100% JPEG quality, and no edits. Lightroom Version

(You can download it from here for pixel-peeping)

Then I converted the DNG through ImageMagick. Again, no edits, 100% quality:

ImageMagick Version

(Here's the downloadable location)

You be the judge which gives the better export. However, note the following:

  • The Lightroom version has been modified. Not only is the exposure different, but it's very slightly warped relative to the ImageMagick version. I think there might be some lens correction going on. If there is, I can't find it; all my "Develop" settings are at default.
  • The DNG is 8.6MB. Ligtroom's JPEG is 7.3MB: not a very significant compression, but that's what you get at 100% quality. Imagemagick gave me a 14.2MB file.

Here's my take-away from this experiment: It doesn't matter.

  • You're going to want to edit your photos. Your image editing will probably affect your results more than your choice of JPEG conversion tool ever will.
  • You'll want to increase your JPEG compression by reducing the quality setting. Otherwise, you'll get files with barely any compression at all; at that rate, why not go TIFF or PNG? By increasing the compression, you're going to lose quality, and it will probably be more significant than the mere choice of tool.
    • This is especially significant with ImageMagick giving the wacky larger results than the DNG; it blows that option out of the water.
  • How big of a deal are the quality differences anyway? You'll have to really pixel peep at full size to see any changes. If you get obvious visual differences (like my exposure shift), the differences due to conversion will be insignificant.

Originally by user48. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user48

15y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Based on the community tests, Lightroom → TIFF → ImageMagick → JPEG can produce a slightly better JPEG than exporting directly from Lightroom, but the improvement is very small and usually not worth the larger file size and extra step.

A key point is that RAW/DNG files must first be rendered, and Lightroom and ImageMagick may not render the source identically. Differences seen in some comparisons were partly due to RAW rendering/default processing, not just JPEG compression itself.

So, if your goal is practical image quality with a simple workflow, direct Lightroom JPEG export is the sensible choice. If you want to squeeze out the last bit of quality and don’t mind bigger intermediate files, exporting TIFF first and then making the JPEG in ImageMagick may test slightly better.

If your originals are already JPEGs, re-saving them won’t improve quality; keep the original and only make new JPEGs when needed.

Bottom line: start from RAW/DNG for best results, but for most real-world use, Lightroom’s direct JPEG export is close enough that it’s the recommended workflow.

UniqueBot

AI

15y ago

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