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.PDF file size

3 replies [Last post]
Sun, 08/07/2005 - 18:44
larienna
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Joined: 07/28/2008

I tested my first textured hexmap on a 8-1/4 x 14 sheet and the file size of the PDF was 4.31 Meg. I said "Ouch" way too big. I lowered the DPI from 300 to 72 dpi in hope of getting a smaller file and it gave me 4.15 Meg. Which is not really different. So I ended up with the following sizes:

8-1/4 x 14 sheet PDF Size
72 DPI...................4.15 Meg
300 DPI.................4.31 Meg
600 DPI.................4.50 Meg

So the DPI does not seem to influence the size of the file. My question is : Is there some parameters that I can chage to make the file smaller. I am currently using PDF redirect and Corel draw 7.

Then, I tought about compressing the file and I ended up with weird results. I have not used any special compression options :

8-1/4 x 14 Sheet......PDF Size.....ZIP Size.....RAR Size
72 DPI.....................4.15 Meg....3.42 Meg....230 K
300 DPI...................4.31 Meg....3.51 Meg....311 K
600 DPI...................4.50 Meg....3.61 Meg....413 K

The rar archives are really surprising. Is it me or they works perfectly for PDF files. Maybe I am just lucky. I tried with another larger file for testing. This file contains images and text. The result were :

PDF Size.....ZIP size.....RAR size
10.8 Meg....10.2 Meg....8.03 Meg

Damn the tables where ugly, is there a way to insert tabs in a post or just make sure that the spaces are considered. I'll try to use dots for now.

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Sun, 08/07/2005 - 21:18
#1
seo
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.PDF file size

The sizes you posted sound weird to me.

How are you producing those PDFs? Are you sure you're reducing the resoultion when exportin to PDF, or just in the original files you use to create the PDF?

My guess is you're changing the resolution of the original files, but not the PDF resolution settings, thus producing PDF files with the same resolution, hence the minimal difference in size.

I'm not sure I'm being clear, so let's try an example. Say you have the textures at 72, 300 and 600, and your PDF settings are always set to 300dpi. The resulting files will be roughly the same size (since all have 300dpi images ), still the one produced from a 72dpi original will have noticeably less quality than the other two, which will be very similar among them.

OTOH, if you keep the original images at high res but lower the PDF resolution settings, your PDFs filesizes should change accordingly.

On the ZIP/RAR issue, my experience is that RAR are a bit smaller than ZIP files, but not as much as in your examples. Then again, in both ZIP and RAR compressed files you have several options, from no compresion at all to maximum compression. Also different file formats might compress better using one or the other. Still, you are probably not using maximum compression when ZIPping.

Seo

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Sun, 08/07/2005 - 22:19
#2
Emphyrio
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.PDF file size

You might also want to try saving it as a JPEG or PNG image, or a GIF if it only uses a few different colors. With JPEG you can also adjust the quality to reduce the file size.

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Sun, 08/07/2005 - 22:50
#3
FastLearner
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Joined: 12/31/1969
.PDF file size

As mentioned, it's all about your PDF settings. I've not used PDF Redirect, so I have no idea how to change its settings, but it definitely seems to be converting them all to the same dpi. Your zips and rars end up smaller because the increased-resolution files have a bunch of identical pixels in a row, allowing zip and rar to do their work. Normally PDF will take care of that compression.

But then your results with Acrobat and Distiller will pretty much always be way better than a third-party PDF creator.

-- Matthew

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