ivahunch wrote:Hard to propose the right solution until you explain exactly what you want, so:
1. Who is going to view or use the smaller file?
2. What do you mean by "dimensions"? Its appearance on the screen? Its size when printed? The resolution (number of pixels)?
3. How strict are the requirements? Would 200kB or 800kB be a showstopper?
Answering GoSeigen's questions
1) For viewing on a website
2) I meant its size on the screen
3) A maximum of 120KB
Thanks
Okay thanks, that ties it down a lot. I infer:
-You'll almost certainly need both a lower resolution image AND higher jpeg compression setting.
-Assuming you have no control of the web page, you'll want the resolution/size settings in your image file to be set correctly [which MS paint is not doing]
Hopefully you've now identified suitable software capable of doing both the above correctly and easily, or someone will suggest.
Just some practical points about how to choose the resolution/pixel size of the image and the level of jpeg compression. Believe it or not, this is a complex issue. But to simplify it:
-set a resolution for your image of 72dpi, which is pretty standard for displays. Thus if you want the image roughly four inches wide, get the image software to resample (reduce the size of) your image to 72x4=288 pixels across. Most software will automatically set the height to preserve the aspect ratio of the picture without your having to calculate it.
-If you save now in JPEG format the file size should be dramatically smaller. If it's achieved your target of 120kB then you can go to the final step below. Otherwise you will need to change the jpeg compression factor before saving again, increasing it gradually until your target file size is achieved. This setting is often in the save dialog.
-final step is to check the image displays correctly and if not, change the relevant settings in the image software to specify what size the image should be displayed at. This should not alter the image at all but just adds information (metadata) to the saved file which the web page or software displaying the image can read. How you perform this setting in an image editor varies; it is often done as part of the image resizing step (but sometimes automatically without user input -- you probably want to avoid software which does this).
When you've mastered the process, ideally do all the above steps together in one go working from the original image and saving your output file to JPEG format only once. (If you save as JPEG multiple times it is likely you'll needlessly degrade the image quality each time you save.)
Also, while working on the above, set your image software to always display your image for you at its "actual size", not zoomed in or out: then you will see how the changes you are making will affect how the image will finally be displayed.
[My image software has a single dialog where you set the pixel width/height of the image AND the resolution. The former alters the image itself by resampling. The latter setting just gets saved to the file and tells the displaying software how large to display the image. So for a 4 inch wide image I'd set the width to 288 and the resolution to 72. Then I get to set the jpeg compression level in the Export/Save As... dialog where I can choose jpeg format and a quality setting.]
Good luck.
GS