Why does a JPEG get larger when I re-save it at maximum quality in Photoshop?
Asked 6/4/2014
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I have a JPEG from an EOS 60D that's about 5 MB. If I open it in Photoshop, make edits, and save it again as JPEG at maximum quality, the file can grow to around 12 MB even though I didn't change the resolution. Since I can't restore detail that wasn't already there, what accounts for the extra file size? Also, why can the same JPEG end up closer to its original size, or even smaller, if I open and save it in Paint?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
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JPEG is a lossy format and it has variable quality levels which result in larger or smaller file sizes. Whenever you save a file in a lossy format, additional detail is lost, so even though you saved the finished version as a higher quality JPEG, it is still actually lower quality than the original was, despite the growth in the file size. It is still closer to the original image than it would have been if you had used a lower compression quality and re-compressed the image.
Put really basically, JPEG is trying to fit an image to a pattern. The lower the quality of the compression, the more looser the fit is allowed to be, which reduces the file size, but also means more detail is lost. Conversely, a high quality requires that the compressed file much more exactly match whatever you had originally opened, but means that the file also must be much larger.
One other way to think about it is that the actual data held in a JPEG, uncompressed, is much larger than the size of the JPEG. You can open a very highly compressed image or a very slightly compressed image, but both actually have the same number of pixels with the same bit depth, which takes far more space than compressed file size. When you choose a higher quality, you get less compression of that large amount of data than if you use a low quality/high compression setting.
This is one of the reasons that it is best to shoot RAW if you plan on doing post production work on an image because RAW generally does not use lossy compression and will preserve the quality of the image until you are done with your manipulation and ready to make a final export of the image.
Originally by user11392. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11392
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
JPEG uses lossy compression, and the quality setting mainly controls how much compression is applied—not the pixel dimensions. When Photoshop saves at maximum quality, it compresses the already-decoded image much less aggressively, so the file gets larger in order to preserve that current image more closely.
That does not mean quality increased beyond the original. Once a JPEG is opened, it has already been decompressed from a lossy format. Saving it again creates a new JPEG approximation of that decompressed image. Even at 100% quality, it is still a new lossy save—usually closer to the current image, but not magically better than the original capture.
Different programs also use different JPEG encoders and default compression levels. Photoshop at maximum quality is likely using lighter compression, which makes a bigger file. Paint is likely saving with stronger compression, so the file can be closer to the original size or smaller, but with more quality loss.
So the “extra” megabytes are mainly the result of lower compression, not added image detail.
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