StuartK
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 564
Registered: 06-10-2003
IP: Logged

If avatars met the image dimension requirements (75*75?) could I ask for them not to be recompressed? Or could we have some kind of filesize target, as well as image dimension target?

I finally decided to upload an avatar for the forum. Firstly, I tried to upload a jpg that was a little too large - the rescaling didn't look very good (I'm kinda picky about image quality) Could it be down to the resizing code (does it try to smoothly scale?) or...

Secondly, I resized the image myself first and uploaded. The 7.5kB jpg I uploaded was recompressed to a 2.5kB jpg. Nice filesize, but looked almost as bad as the first attempt due to the artifacts.

Thirdly, I uploaded a 12kB png file. Much better - the file wasn't rescaled, and is identical to the one I uploaded.

The jpg resizing and recompression settings seem a little harsh, and counterproductive when they can be avoided by using png, which ends up with a larger file for the same overall quality... I'd be happy to use smaller jpgs (and hence cut down on overall bandwidth usage) if I could avoid having the artifacts introduced...

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5383
Registered: 02-04-2003
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Avatars can be up to 100x75 without being resized by the forum. I'm looking at the code, and it's clearly at least trying to simply copy the file as-is if it fits within the size requirements. I don't see any bugs that would make it resize when it doesn't need to.

When it does resize, it does interpolate pixels so it shouldn't look *that* bad. Could you attach your 7.5k jpg so I can use it to see what's going on?

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

StuartK
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 564
Registered: 06-10-2003
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File: spider2.jpg (11.9 KB)
Downloaded 44 times.
License: Public Domain

It could be down to the fact that the image I chose is unusually sensitive to jpg artifacts.

Here's the first file I tried to upload (12kB, 91x100 pixels)

StuartK
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 564
Registered: 06-10-2003
IP: Logged

File: spider3.jpg (7.4 KB)
Downloaded 46 times.
License: Public Domain

And here's the second file, (7.5kB, 68x75 pixels)

StuartK
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 564
Registered: 06-10-2003
IP: Logged

File: spider3b.jpg (2.3 KB)
Downloaded 50 times.
License: Public Domain

And here's the 2.5kB file resulting from uploading spider3.jpg