Photo - file size much larger when saving with v2

[WesternNights]

I just noticed that a v1 .afphoto file with a bunch of effects and layers has a much larger file size after saving with v2 (v1: 8.7 MB, v2: 14.3 MB). No changes were made, the file was just opened and saved immediately afterwards.

Is this normal behavior? Maybe some 'maintain compatibility' option simular to Photoshop? Couldn't find anything like that in the settings though.

 

Edit: OS is Windows in case that matters somehow.

[walt.farrell]

37 minutes ago, WesternNights said:

No changes were made, the file was just opened and saved immediately afterwards.

Saving would convert the file from V1 format to V2 format, which could involve rewriting certain parts of the data at the end of the file and leaving "gas" (wasted space) where the data previously resided.

You would need to try Save As with a new file name in order to see a more accurate size, I think.

[WesternNights]

Saving under a different name or in a different folder makes no difference.

Could still be some unintended leftover data, of course. Although that would be so amateurish (I happen to be a programmer myself) that I'd consider it quite unlikely. Guess I'll have to take a closer look at the file structure if there is no explanation. Not that it matters too much with today's disk sizes, but on the other hand an almost 66% increase in file size still looks like unnecessary bloat.

Photoshop can (at least in the last version I know) save files that keep compatibility with older PS versios at the cost of file size, so something like that was my first guess here. But since there is no related option in the settings menu, that's also not overly likely.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, WesternNights said:

But since there is no related option in the settings menu, that's also not overly likely.

And there is no compatibility with older Affinity versions, in any case.

 

[stokerg]

Hi @WesternNights,

I've just quickly tested this, create a file in V1 with some adjustments, saved the file and its 19MB in size.  I then re-saved the file in V2 using Save As and my file is still 19MB in size, so it's not something I've been able to replicate here.

Ideally, to look further into this, we would need one of your V1 files that shows the increase in size when saved in V2.  So if this is something you can replicate from scratch or happen to have a copy of a V1 original file and also a V2 version of the same file that shows the increase the size, please attach them here or upload them to our Dropbox here.

[WesternNights]

Just checked this with the last v1 version I had available here (1.10.5). This version already showed the same behavior as v2, so the change that triggers bigger file sizes must have occured earlier than that. The original (smaller) file has been saved in 2017 with a then current v1 version, but I can't tell anymore which version that might have been.

I uploaded the file to the Dropbox for further inspection together with a brief issue description.

Would be great if going forward there was an option to get the old behavior back at least optionally - provided that doesn't break anything. With larger, more complex images than the example an almost 50% reduction in file size would be quite helpful.

[WesternNights]

Spent a little bit more time with this. The culprit is an (inactive) displacement live filter used in the document. After removing it file size is down to <8MB when saving with V2.

If I had to debug this I'd first look for some bug/behavior change related to storing displacement maps introduced sometime between 2017 and now. But being a coder myself: might of course also be something more complex/convoluted. Definitely doesn't look right though.