Click on one of these topics to learn more about the different aspects of image size and resolution: Hi Joe, I don`t know of any way to restrict the size of smart objects. You probably know that a Smart Object is essentially a separate document encapsulated within a Photoshop document, so limiting its size would somehow mean reducing the actual data in the Smart Object. This would go against some of the reasons for using a smart object, such as the ability to resize without losing resolution. All I can think of is pixelating or reducing the smart object, which takes away its advantages. However, if you don`t need to edit these Smart Objects once the designer passes the file, is it realistic to increase the submission requirements for designers to pixelate their Smart Objects before passing them to you? Hi Priyanka, when you open your 2-3MB JPEG file in Photoshop, what does the status bar in the bottom left corner say when it`s set to show the document file size? (As in the second illustration of this article.) The size of the document file in the status bar indicates the uncompressed size. Hi Conrad, I have a file size issue that your article doesn`t address, or maybe I missed it. I render the PNG sequences of After Effects. When Photoshop loads images, they are much larger than the file size in Windows and After Effects. For example, 1 png is played at 158 KB in Photoshop at 3.78 M/4.00 M. The image is 8bit/channel RGB without compression.
Hi Justin, I suspect that the difference in the size of the files displayed is due to PNG compression: the PNG is compressed by 158KB, and when opened in Photoshop, it extends uncompressed to about 4MB. They said “uncompressed”, but I get the impression that most implementations of PNG are compressed (although I`m not 100% positive). This is lossless compression, so no image quality is lost. You can perform one of the following steps to view the print size on the screen – go to View > Print size. You can also select the Hand or Zoom tool and click Print Size in the options bar. Under Document Size, enter new values for Height and Width. If necessary, select a new unit of measurement. For Width, the Columns option uses the gutter widths and sizes specified in the Units and Rulers preferences. Photoshop supports a maximum pixel size of 300,000 x 300,000 pixels per image. This limitation limits the print size and resolution of an image. Hi Campbell, this is definitely a handy site that could be expanded. When someone asks for photos in a certain file size, it is a very ambiguous request because the file size can be reached in different ways.
Without more specific requirements, there is a risk of misunderstanding. In the case of a photo agency, if it asks for at least 4MB, what you really need to know is 4MB in which file format, color mode, bit depth, and pixel width and height? For example, they could mean at least 4MB of flattened and uncompressed TIFF in RGB color with 8 bits per channel and enough pixels wide and high to print an entire magazine page, but it`s these details that you need to study and confirm. Is there a way to display the “real” (i.e. desktop version of the file size) in the Photoshop information window? Sorry in advance if this question is already posted, but I haven`t seen it. I downloaded a sample Canon 6D file from the Internet. In JPEG format, it is 5.2 MB. Without making any changes, when I save it in uncompressed TIFF, it`s 59.9 MB. When I save it in Photoshop (PSD), it`s 45.5 MB. Thus, it is quite possible to get your Canon 6D files in the right file size range, but first you need to clarify the file format that the stock agency needs so that you can save the image in the right format for them. Hi Jose, you`re not doing anything wrong. The file size specified by Photoshop is required to store an uncompressed image of the size you specify. However, you can save the file in a compressed format, which is likely to keep the file size below 50 MB.
Thank you Conrad. This is just one of the challenges we want to overcome with our production process, but most of our bloating revolves around smart objects. We need smart objects, but we get a lot of images with a smart obj in a smart obj with…. Limiting the size of all smart objects would be a big win for our servers. I will submit a feature request for this and see how to do it. Thank you for your comments. Hi Darryl, I don`t think Photoshop offers a way to display desktop file size in the Info panel. I think it could be due to the fact that it gets complicated when certain types of files are opened. For example, JPEG and GIF files are heavily compressed with very specific export settings, so after opening a JPEG file in Photoshop, Photoshop cannot know the desktop file size of the edited image without also knowing what the specific export settings will look like. Thus, Photoshop reports only the size in Photoshop format and always counts all the functions (such as layers) that should be omitted in a JPEG. The image is redisplayed at its approximate print size, as specified in the Document Size box of the Image Size dialog box.
The size and resolution of your monitor affect the print size on the screen. Hi Amy, which file reaches 2.4GB, TIFF file or INDD file? Placing a TIFF file in InDesign should not change the size of the TIFF file, so I assume you are talking about the INDD file. After seeing the different document sizes in Photoshop, you might be wondering why these sizes don`t match what your Mac or Windows desktop is telling you. For example, the document we`ve reviewed so far is a simple 8×10-inch photo at 300 pixels per inch (ppi). But even the same photo can take up very different amounts of space depending on the file format and file compression you choose, as shown in the image below. The first two examples, Photoshop Format and Uncompressed TIFF, are close to the document size specified in Photoshop. The rest is smaller. Although the ZIP-compressed TIFF file is the smallest, saving changes can take much longer and may be compatible with fewer applications. So if a website, such as Vistaprint, asks for a JPEG image of a certain size, that of Christmas cards, etc. To be used, what file size do you choose? Camera Raw, Photoshop image size, or size on your desktop.
? If you`ve ever wondered why a RAW file seems to get much larger after opening and saving it in Photoshop, there are a few clues in the previous figure, but there`s also an important piece of information you need to understand: Camera raw files are usually a gray channel full of numbers because the raw sensor data has not yet been interpreted into pixels with RGB values. When you open a RAW file from Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom in Photoshop, a single-channel grayscale file becomes a three-channel RGB file. Since we know that the number of channels affects the file size, a three-channel RGB file is naturally larger than a single-channel raw file.