Increase in export file size

[Mr B]

Since the latest update, the file size of exported PDFs has nearly doubled – a file I exported at the end of January was only 4.4MB, the same exported file (with no alterations at all) today is 9.6MB. Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

[lepr]

Possibly because some of the PDF export presets now use 98% quality instead of 85% quality for JPEG compression of raster elements.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, anon2 said:

Possibly because some of the PDF export presets now use 98% quality instead of 85% quality for JPEG compression of raster elements.

Thanks! I had not noticed that change until you mentioned it, but that certainly could explain it.

But I have to wonder why those presets were changed to 98% & not to 100%. Any idea why? How much difference could the 2% difference really make in practical terms? Weird.

[lacerto]

(...)

[Callum]

Hi Mr B, 

Welcome to the forums

Are you using the Mac App Store version of the app?

Thanks

C

[Mr B]

Callum, sorry for not getting back to you sooner … yes I am (v. 1.8.1).

— Peter

[Nebulosa]

There is a problem with the size of documents increasing expontentially when converting to PDF for print. This happened with the Beta version, and now with the upgrade to 1.81. Should we keep using the previous version instead (1.7)? This problem needs to be fixed asap, please.

[Nebulosa]

I have also noticed that if you import a pdf file into a Publisher document (this happens with ads I have to put on a magazine) and then try to print said document, it won't print because there's an error. After many tries, I found out that it doesn't accept pdf documents, and pdfs have to be converted into flattened images. Anyone else noticed this? I'm posting it here, because I also have problems with the size of PDFs increasing for print. Unfortunately I'm working on a new document that I want to send to the printer by the end of the month, and if I can't fix this problem, I'll have to use another software. And just when I was telling everyone else how great Affinity was.

If anyone hasn't upgraded to 1.8.1, don't do so yet, or you'll have many bugs (well, at least 2 for the time being).

[garrettm30]

21 hours ago, Nebulosa said:

There is a problem with the size of documents increasing expontentially when converting to PDF for print.

A couple things: as noted above, the PDF presets have changed as of 1.8, so file sizes will be different than expected. Secondly, there was a bug (I think on Catalina only) where text was getting converted to curves when it shouldn't, and that would greatly increase the file size if there is a lot of text. This problem is supposed to be resolved in beta 1.8.2.603.

[lacerto]

(...)

[Nebulosa]

The problem with increase in size is not only with tiff or CMYK images, it is with any document you want to export as a PDF. I mentioned this on another thread, with a document that weighed 200 MB with version 1.7.3, and with the upgrade to 1.8, the same document, exported the same way, weighed 1.2 GB!!! The reply from a representative of Affinity was:

"The more likely cause is that we have also adjusted some export presets. So you might find the values in the "More.." part of the dialog are different than before"

Unfortunately that doesn't give a solution to the problem. The only way I could fix this, was by deleting the upgrade, and going back to 1.7.3.

Will Affinty look into this? I produce a monthly printed magazine, and can only work with the previous version (1.7.3), which works fine, BTW!

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, Nebulosa said:

"The more likely cause is that we have also adjusted some export presets. So you might find the values in the "More.." part of the dialog are different than before"

Unfortunately that doesn't give a solution to the problem.

Have you tried exporting with JPEG compression enabled & set to a lower Quality value in the "More" part of the dialog than the new values in the defaults for the built-in presets? 

[Nebulosa]

Yes! It didn't work!

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Nebulosa said:

Yes! It didn't work!

What specifically did not work? Was the file size not reduced at all or maybe not just as much as you hoped for?

[Nebulosa]

The size didn't change. It was still too heavy. I've posted this further above. Not only was it too heavy after changing the jpeg compression, but even on all the PDF variants. To make matters worse, when opening a document I had done last year, not only did the size increase 4 times when exporting, but it ddn't accept a pdf file I had placed before (an advert). So I had to delete the pdf file, and convert it into an image. Under 1.7.3 there was no problem in placing a PDF file I had created (so I had all the fonts + images), but under 1.8, the same PDF file is not accepted, and I could not send the whole document to print. It marked that there was an error with document and couldn't print or convert to PDF. I checked the pre-flight and it said there was a problem with the PDF file (it was marked red) but no further explanation as to what was the cause. So after many trial and errors, I finally resorted to converting the PDF file to a tiff image, and place it inside the document. The error then disappeared.

And yes, I upgraded from the software, and no, I didn't upgrade from the Mac App store. Another of my colleagues has the same problem with sizes increasing when exporting as a PDF document, so I'm not the only one here. And Lagarto above also mentions that sizes have increased, although he mentions that is with tiff images in CMYK. Well, I have them in RGB, and I have the same problem. Saving document under Affinity Publisher documents size doesn't increase, it's only when exporting for printing as a PDF file.

If you want to change or add some export settings, tell us what you changed and how to set them back to what we had before. Unfortunately, once I upgraded, it replaces the previous version, so I couldn't compare both versions. After changing settings, and getting no decrease in size, I decided to delete 1.8 version, and downloaded the previous version, which I had saved in a hard disk. Luckily it worked, for I had to send a PDF document last week to the printers. That said, I have no problems with version 1.7.3, which is great!

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, Nebulosa said:

The size didn't change.

Do you remember what Quality setting(s) you tried?

[Nebulosa]

The quality was set at 98. Since some believed the problem could be that, I reset it at 85, which is what I used before and how it was set in version 1.7.3, and all the previous versions. It still came out at the same enormous size.

I'm no technician, so I have no idea what JPEG compression quality means, or why would Affinity change it from the norm? Why do settings have to be changed everytime you upgrade the software?

Is there anyone who works at Affinity here? Otherwise all we are doing is guessing, and unfortunately I don't have version 1.8 to run tests anymore, as I've got work to produce.

[Nebulosa]

On 3/18/2020 at 3:32 AM, Lagarto said:

The problem with the increase of export file sizes related to documents with especially CMYK-TIFF images with high placed dpi values does not seem to have been fixed in recent release version of 1.8.2 (I have tested both Windows and macOS versions).

I did not go through the entire test shown in my post above, but just the worse case, where the document shown in the screenshot above on the left (containing 11 CMYK TIFF images embedded in very small size) has the export size (using "PDF (for export)" setting) has increased from about 41MB to 246MB from version 1.7.3 to 1.8.x (including 1.8.2). This file does not contain fonts, at all, so the problem related to fonts getting converted to curves is not related to this.

The increase size is most distinctive with the "PDF (for export)" kind of exports and CMYK TIFFs, but affects also RGB TIFFs, and PDF/X based press exports that contain TIFF images. The latter are about 2-3 times larger than PDFs created with 1.7.3. and former up to 6 times larger than PDFs created with 1.7.3 (these kinds of exports in practice simply just include the original files in the export, without ever downsampling or jpg compressing the images included in the export PDFs).

I wonder if anyone can tell me if the PDF export sizes are still too large. I had a PDF document that I prepared in 1.7.3 with images at 300 dpi and it weighed 250MB. The same document exported under 1.8.2 with the same settings (PDF/X-4) weighed 1.2GB with no JPEG compression. With JPEG compression set at 85% (I can't go any lower to avoid spoiling the images), the PDF document comes out at 600MB. Half the size but still 2 times larger than under 1.7.3. I have stopped upgrading until the problem is fixed. I ask Lagarto if he has tried exporting his document under 1.8.3?

[lacerto]

(...)

[Nebulosa]

I only use colour mode at 8-bit, TIFF files sometimes in RGB, sometimes CMYK, but they are all at 300dpi. I have no problems with 1.7.3 and exporting with any of the PDF settings (the final size remains reasonable). I don't know whether to upgrade to 1.8.3, as I have to produce a regular magazine, and sending very large files can prove hazardous. If the sizes remain the same as with 1.7.3 it would be fine, but I can't have both versions running together to check the results. A friend sent me a JPEG image weighing 5.6 MB in 1.8.2, when it should weigh less than 2 MB (I converted in 1.7.3 with the same settings, and it only weighed only 1.7 MB). I'll ask him to test with 1.8.3. Thanks!

[thomaso]

Nebulosa, I tried some exports:

Image: (1 motive as tif and jpg):
5200 x 3500 px
jpg (85%): 6,3 MB, tif (lzw): 24 MB

Exports: 30x20 cm, 300 dpi (placed: 450 dpi)
v1.7 print preset default and print preset 85%
single page (tif or jpg) and spread (tif & jpg)
cmyk / PSO coated v2.icc

It's obvious that the resource format JPG or TIF doesn't influence the resulting PDF size.
Note that the icc color profile on export creates for an almost blank page (1 color rectangle) a PDF size of 1,8 MB. That's why jpg & tif.pdf ≠ jpg.pdf + tif.pdf

[Nebulosa]

Hi Thomaso, are you telling me that the results are the same with both versions, 1.7 and 1.8.3? My question concerned pdf exports, as in 1.8 they weighed more than with 1.7.

[thomaso]

No. I can't compare with 1.7 sizes but maybe you can. I just tell you some sizes of 1.8.3 and assume you know those of 1.7.
The number 1.7 in my file names concerns the PDF version, I used it as abbreviation for "preset for print". Sorry if it confused you!
In case you don't know: The preset for print default uses 98 % jpg quality.

[Nebulosa]

OK, I'm doing this under PDF/X-4, which is what I normally use.

If I put a JPEG image at A3 size (5000x3500 pixels) 300dpi into an A4 size document in Publisher 1.7.3, at 85% JPEG compression, pdf = 5.6MB.

the same document at 98% JPEG compression, pdf = 11.6MB.

But if the image is at A4 size (3500x2500 pixels), 300 dpi in A4 size Publisher file, (and 85% JPEG Compression), pdf = 2.66MB

Same image A4 in A4 Publisher file at 98% JPEG compression, pdf = 4.71MB

So if I understood your numbers, the pdf size is smaller under 1.8.3.

However, what pdf setting did you use?

 

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Nebulosa said:

So if I understood your numbers, the pdf size is smaller under 1.8.3.

Not necessarily. Note that a JPG size changes with the amount of details (~different pixels). So to compare my results you should use a JPG resource which is about 6,3 MB (at 85% quality). My test JPG has the profile AdobeRGB, my PDF export settings were as described above.

However, in the meantime a comparison maybe easier for you with the fresh APub Beta 1.8.4.x version. It will install parallel to your 1.7., both apps don't influence each other.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/112695-affinity-publisher-customer-beta-184648/