Posting forum images (embedding)

[Morkin]

Probably a really basic question but one I've wondered about for a while.

What's the best format to save Speccy screen images in, for embedding into forum posts (e.g. from Imgur)?

For example, I can save a Spectacular screen as a .bmp. I think they tend to be usually ~1MB or just under but look good. Is that too big? I was wondering whether I should try to reduce the size a bit, but other formats I've tried to save as (.png, .jpg) seem to lose quality.

As you can probably tell, I don't know much about image files - any suggestions? Is there a balance between quality/size or is there a trick to it? Does it matter?

[Ersh]

PNG is lossless, that's what I use for almost everything.

[druellan]

I often prefer to use GIF for ZX Spectrum screenshots. I took them using ZX Spin because it export animated GIFs that retain the flash attribute.

[Ast A. Moore]

PNG is, indeed, lossless. However, since Spectrum images are low resolution, a JPEG will work just fine. You might want to play with compression settings, but if it looks good to your eye, there’s no need to go overboard trying to preserve the original quality.

Note that PNG images can also store the alpha (transparency) layer, which you’ll be better off stripping from Spectrum-related images to reduce the size even further.

[Morkin]

PNG is lossless, that's what I use for almost everything.

PNG is, indeed, lossless. However, since Spectrum images are low resolution, a JPEG will work just fine. You might want to play with compression settings, but if it looks good to your eye, there’s no need to go overboard trying to preserve the original quality.

Note that PNG images can also store the alpha (transparency) layer, which you’ll be better off stripping from Spectrum-related images to reduce the size even further.

Cheers for the responses guys.

I was finding the .bmp files still looked cool if you zoomed in, but when I saved them as JPEG or PNG they started looking a bit fuzzy after zoomage. Probably because I was using Paint to re-save them..

I guess I need some decent image software that has compression options?

I often prefer to use GIF for ZX Spectrum screenshots. I took them using ZX Spin because it export animated GIFs that retain the flash attribute.

Yes..! Any animated GIFs I've taken from Spin too (as it's the only way I know how to do them).

[redballoon]

As a pixel artist, I'd never ever use JPG just because how much it butchers pixel art...unless it's in such a high resolution where 1 pixel itself is about the size of your face. I'd always go for PNG or GIF if it's for animation due to being lossless.

If you go further and look at the size of the file :

Let's take my The Return of Traxtor loading screen.


PNG - 9KB
JPG (Max quality) - 105KB
JPG (Medium quality) - 42KB
BMP - 145KB

The max quality JPG is fine but will muck up the colours on closer inspection and, well, the perfect PNG is there at just 9KB.
The medium quality JPG just completely janks up the screen completely.