JPEG to GIF without loosing quality
Discussion
jamesuk28 said:
Is there a way of converting a jpeg to a gif without losing the quality of the image?
GIF is lossless - no quality issue. Quality is only lost when creating a lossy file format.
There are many methods:
Method 1)
On a Mac (which can also run imagemagick of course) just view the picture in Preview, and then Save As a GIF file. QED.
Method 2)
Install imagemagick
Assuming you are running Linux/Mac and have the command line (maybe the same in windows?!)
Type:
convert input.jpg output.gif
GIF is lossless, so you will not lose quality unless you go back to jpeg.
i.e.
convert input.gif -quality 80 output.jpg
The greater the quality, the bigger the jpeg file.
PJ S said:
ThePassenger said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't GIF limited to 256 colours? If the JPEG is 16, 24 or 32 bit... I think you'll be loosing quality if that is the case.
PNG is a better option to retain quality.
But will play havoc with IE6 if it's used on the web.
Especially if it's got transparent bits. ThePassenger said:
PJ S said:
ThePassenger said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't GIF limited to 256 colours? If the JPEG is 16, 24 or 32 bit... I think you'll be loosing quality if that is the case.
PNG is a better option to retain quality.
But will play havoc with IE6 if it's used on the web.
Especially if it's got transparent bits. To be fair though, quite a lot trips up IE in all its various flavours. There is no reason for IE not to work well with PNG images except corporate interests at play. Use PNGs for what they were designed, and FU Microsoft for putting corporate agenda before your users. IMHO. May contain traces of nuts. Keep away from direct sunlight.
If you want something quick, easy and free to do conversions between all sorts of formats download Irfan view from: www.irfanview.com
Others can debate the merits of different formats but for simple file format manipulation and a whole host of other functions this utility is tough to beat.
Regards
Skier
Others can debate the merits of different formats but for simple file format manipulation and a whole host of other functions this utility is tough to beat.
Regards
Skier
Sorry - forgot about the 256 colour palette. Not sure if imagemagick has any options for rendering to a limited palette but it may.
On a modern IE6 PNGs work but the transparency is chopped to a binary level. A modern website script can sometimes get around this by serving the correct GIF, created on the fly using imagemagick on the server, and simply sends the PNGs only to working browsers; while the webmaster curses microsoft for the extra work they've given him and millions of others like him.
<rant-on>Apparantly the largest and richest software company in the world, one who frequently updates IE6 with patches via the Windows Updates scheme, can't grasp the concept of alpha blending. Or maybe the billions of dollars spend on lawsuits prevented them from hiring a contractor for 5 minutes to fix it.
Which probably explains how it took them 5 years to do it in Vista, when Mac/Linux/Beos - and in fact any non IE browser - had it nailed years ago.</rant-off>
On a modern IE6 PNGs work but the transparency is chopped to a binary level. A modern website script can sometimes get around this by serving the correct GIF, created on the fly using imagemagick on the server, and simply sends the PNGs only to working browsers; while the webmaster curses microsoft for the extra work they've given him and millions of others like him.
<rant-on>Apparantly the largest and richest software company in the world, one who frequently updates IE6 with patches via the Windows Updates scheme, can't grasp the concept of alpha blending. Or maybe the billions of dollars spend on lawsuits prevented them from hiring a contractor for 5 minutes to fix it.
Which probably explains how it took them 5 years to do it in Vista, when Mac/Linux/Beos - and in fact any non IE browser - had it nailed years ago.</rant-off>
GUYS should have made clear the image is a logo currently in jpeg format. It is being uploaded through a domain file manager to a directory in an ecommerce package. IE we are replacing the current logoHeader.gif so it has to be in gif format, unless we rewrite some of the code which we don't have permission to do.
Obviously the conversion from jpeg to gif pixelates the image, we can clean it up but its still not sharp enough, guess we are stuffed then.
Obviously the conversion from jpeg to gif pixelates the image, we can clean it up but its still not sharp enough, guess we are stuffed then.
Skier said:
If you want something quick, easy and free to do conversions between all sorts of formats download Irfan view from: www.irfanview.com
Others can debate the merits of different formats but for simple file format manipulation and a whole host of other functions this utility is tough to beat.
Others can debate the merits of different formats but for simple file format manipulation and a whole host of other functions this utility is tough to beat.
Hear, hear. irfanview is one of the first things I install on a new PC.
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