Whatever jpeg quality brings it in under 200 kB. Somewhere between high and medium - in the 75 to 90 range.

Screenshots for where? Here, at your website, in a pdf doc? Personally, I prefer JPG since you can control the file size with the quality (as you should know can be done in Photoshop's "Save for web..." option). :) On the other side of the spectrum, GIF is the only way to go for animated image on the web (not animations like in MOV or AVI). You can view them in almost any browser without requiring QT, RP, M$ MC, special codecs and so on.

I'm talking about program screenshots, such as Poser, PhotoShop, etc. Which is the best file format for putting screenshots on a web site?

Message edited on: 01/15/2005 14:16

Now I'm really confused. I went to the Mozilla Thunderbird site, and they use PNG files. They look good. Is there any advantage to PNG files over other formats?

Ron, pngs are non-lossy. If you are doing artwork, you don't want to lose detail. For screenshots, especially with lots of flat color areas, it may not matter. If there is text that you are trying to read, it will matter. If you are posting a tutorial somewhere other than your own site, you will need to determine their requirements for format and file size. Carolly

Hmmm .. I usually past my screenshots to my graphic program and there decide what format, size and compression is best for that screenshot.

So are PNG's more desirable? Can everyone (Mac & PC)load PNG's in their web browser? In this case, the only considerations for me are: 1.) File size (there are a multitude of screen shots in this case.) 2.) Image quality (variety of screens, from text only to text and graphics. Mostly Poser screenshots) 3.) Can everyone view this file format?

I wouldn't use use png's if you want a smaller file size---png's aren't small----jpg's are the lowest file size.

There is no "one format fits all" option. If you're screen shotting a dialogue box, .gif often works best because there are just a few colors without much anti-aliasing, which is what .gif does best. If you're posting the results of a render, .jpg is usually the way to go.

The best thing to do is to do print-screen and then paste it into your graphics program and do Save for Web. If you can't do that (my version of PS gets weird and sometimes refuses to read what's on the clipboard), then save it as .tif, then open it up in your image editor and Save for Web. You should be able to then look at the different file options and see both the quality of the image as well as the file size. I know that PS reports that info, and I'd assume other programs do as well.

Message edited on: 01/15/2005 21:08

I use Corel Capture to save my screenshots, and automatically name each item as it goes. Then I load into PhotoShop or Ulead PhotoImpact, do any post work or compositing, then I save for web. The question is which of the many save for web options to choose. jpg or gif. If it's gif, which of the many gif options? I can't help notice geep's wonderful tutorials seem to be saved in gif format. They look great.

If you have a later PhotoShope that comes with ImageReady-- like say PS 6 or 7+-- I would recommend using Save for Web under the File Menu. That flips you right into ImageReady which has an excellent algorithm to make very readable jpegs or gifs. Yes, it works with both. I usually use Jpegs as they are non-dithered and generally smaller than gifs unless the picture you're working with has fewer than 4 colors. ImageReady's Medium to High setting makes quite small jpeg's with excellent quality. The setting will vary depending on the amount of detail in your picture. I mention this because you mention working with PhotoShop. I used to go out of my way to purchase fancy jpeg generators but with the later ImageReady, this is no longer necessary. You can see how big the finished product is and adjust it before saving. Plus, ImageReady strips jpegs of unnecessary data that make a big difference in how many Mbs your using but don't effect the quality of the picture-- like previews/thumbnails. I never use pngs, much too weighty a form. Emily

OK, thanks everyone. JPG is the format I'll use.

Gifs are primarely used for pictures with large areas of solid colors ( checkers for example), gif files will bring down all the colors to a set amount of shades, not really suitable for Poser render with skin tones. Jpegs are primarily designed for pictures for continuous tone: photographs with subtle shading etc... The compression can be controlled but it does discard some information. File sizes go like this gif

JPG (just like MPG, MP3) uses what is called a lossy compression format. The incredibly small file sizes are a result of removing 'insignificant' data. Of course, the insignificant data range increases as one tries to increase the compression amount. But you retain full color spectrum unlike GIF which has a limited palette written to the file from which to choose (as DominiqueB notes well). My only advice when using JPG is to retain the original uncompressed image (in BMP, TIF, PNG, PSD or similar) so that you can always adjust the JPG compression later and resave the JPG image. As I said, it's a 'lossy' compression, so once you compress, the 'lost' data is lost for good in the JPG image.

In my opinion JPG is the usually best format for publishing to the web.

I always save my Poser renders and screenshots as PSD, then go on to do any postwork or composing, and save the final result in jpg. I save all of my original artwork and screenshots. That's why I buy CD's and DVD's in bulk. Of course they're cheaper that way too.