# Uploaded picture is now a .jpg



## taxlady (Jul 1, 2018)

I attached a photo to a post, http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...er-like-right-now-11626-1645.html#post1554143, in the thread about weather. I uploaded a .png file, but it seems to have been changed to a .jpg. The picture is smaller and the resolution seems worse. In this particular case, that isn't really a problem. How do I make sure this doesn't happen with a picture where it would matter?


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 1, 2018)

I believe when you upload a pic that it will automatically be saved as a jpg, if you want to save in another format, you need to save it as such.


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## taxlady (Jul 1, 2018)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I believe when you upload a pic that it will automatically be saved as a jpg, if you want to save in another format, you need to save it as such.


I don't understand. It was saved as another format, png. Are you saying there is a way to save it as another format on DC?


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## caseydog (Jul 1, 2018)

taxlady said:


> I attached a photo to a post, http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...er-like-right-now-11626-1645.html#post1554143, in the thread about weather. I uploaded a .png file, but it seems to have been changed to a .jpg. The picture is smaller and the resolution seems worse. In this particular case, that isn't really a problem. How do I make sure this doesn't happen with a picture where it would matter?



I always save my files to upload to the forum as a .jpg file. A .png file is pretty common, but it is a very low-quality image, and probably gets even worse when converted to a .jpg file. 

Both .jpg and .png are "lossy" formats, which means they are small files that are great for online posts, but a whole lot of data is lost in the process of making them. And, every time you re-save them, they lose more data. If you convert them, they lose even more data. 

CD


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## caseydog (Jul 1, 2018)

taxlady said:


> I don't understand. It was saved as another format, png. Are you saying there is a way to save it as another format on DC?



DC accepts .png files. What happens to them after that is up to the forum software, and I know nothing about that. 

From personal experience, I find that saving a photo at 72 PPI, 800 X 600 pixels or less in size, in a fairly high resolution .jpg format is as good as it gets on DC, with the forum software that DC uses. If you link your photo to a third-party photo host, you can do better than that. 

You basically have to control your image format and quality before you upload to DC (and most forums). Otherwise, you are leaving it up to the forum software. 

CD


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## taxlady (Jul 1, 2018)

caseydog said:


> I always save my files to upload to the forum as a .jpg file. A .png file is pretty common, but it is a very low-quality image, and probably gets even worse when converted to a .jpg file.
> 
> Both .jpg and .png are "lossy" formats, which means they are small files that are great for online posts, but a whole lot of data is lost in the process of making them. And, every time you re-save them, they lose more data. If you convert them, they lose even more data.
> 
> CD


 As I understand it, png is lossless. So, I googled. It seems that there are methods to make png lossy and produce smaller files, but generally speaking, it's lossless unless you hop through some hoops.

I didn't have the option to save as jpg. I used Firefox's "Take a screenshot" and that gives me png. Here's that screenshot, which will automagically be deleted from the FF server in two weeks. https://screenshots.firefox.com/PVHrkXlaGK1Ccu39/www.theweathernetwork.com


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## Caslon (Jul 2, 2018)

taxlady said:


> How do I make sure this doesn't happen with a picture where it would matter?



Upload the pic as a .jpg to begin with?


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## taxlady (Jul 2, 2018)

Caslon said:


> Upload the pic as a .jpg to begin with?


Seems wrong when the list says I can upload a .png up to 400 KB. This picture is 161 KB. I am sure I have uploaded .png files before without this happening.


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## Andy M. (Jul 2, 2018)

Isn't the photo still a .png file on your computer/phone? If DC changes a copy of the photo to .jpg for use here, why does that matter?


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## taxlady (Jul 2, 2018)

Andy M. said:


> Isn't the photo still a .png file on your computer/phone? If DC changes a copy of the photo to .jpg for use here, why does that matter?


Yes, my copy is still a .png. The reason it matters is for future pix that I upload here. The picture showing here was a fair bit smaller and much lower resolution. If I upload a nice picture, it would nice if it looks good here. This has never happened before with a picture that I have uploaded to DC.


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## Andy M. (Jul 2, 2018)

I’ve run into the same thing. 

DC has a size limit for photos and automatically resizes larger photos. Granted some photos end up larger than others and I don’t know why. 

Bottom line, we give up control of any photo we upload.


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## taxlady (Jul 2, 2018)

Yeah, if it is just the way DC works, well then I'll have to live with it. But, I wondered if something had broken or change, since this hasn't happened to me before.


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