Re: copying files & file reduction
Zack wrote:
> Is it true that when you copy a file it starts to reduce its quality?
> If so, how do you prevent it from happening? Does the same thing happen
> when you burn your photos or data to cds/dvds?
The other responders are accurate in their responses; a straight copy
shouldn't change a single bit of information. But the way I read your
subject line, I think you're asking about saving .jpg images, maybe at
something less than 100%. If you compress a file, that will give you
file size reduction, (something you mentioned in the subject). In that
case, every time you compress or re-save a file with a lossy format,
such as a jpeg file, yes it'll lose quality.
A test to show how this can happen, even if the jpg image is set to
write at 100%:
Open a jpg in Paint, make no change and save it with a slightly
different name. Now look at the properties. The size will be smaller
and you'll see some loss of quality as similar hues are blended together
into one color. Actually, you'll see the color change right after the
file is written to the hard drive. Do that a few times in a row, and
it'll really become obvious.
My own experience: I was editing a scanned calendar and publishing it
once a month and I soon found that if I edited the jpg image, the
quality deteriorated after each edit session. To get around this, I
saved a .bmp image of the image to edit. After each edit, I would also
save the file as a .jpg image and post that smaller image. If I had to
make another change, I'd load the .bmp image, edit it, save it, save as
jpg, and publish the jpg image.
hope this helps,
Merry Christmas.
--
Joe =o)