[PDF] Reducing file size
Suzanne Shomate
Does anyone know how to effectively reduce file sizes of PDFs? Example: I have a 3MB PDF that is a newsletter. Lots of graphics and color. I need it to be less than 100k for the web.
Any suggestions?
Suzanne Shomate
Software Engineer
Eva-Tone, Inc.-Multimedia Department
www.eva-tone.com
Phone: 727-572-7000 x249
Fax: 727-573-5425
Bob Lema's Ideaworks
www.webfixr.com
==============================================
"The restriction of knowledge to an elite group
destroys the spirit of society and leads to its
intellectual impoverishment."
-- Albert Einstein
Becker Edward
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I can help a bit, but I'll sure be watching the answers since I'm also
interested in the question.
I've found that removing the thumbnails before publishing can be beneficial.
Also try a Save As (not just Save) and it seems to reduce the file a bit.
Beyond that, I'm interested in finding out more too.
Good luck
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Suzanne Shomate [SMTP:Suzanne...@EVA-TONE.com]
> Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 3:36 PM
> To: p...@lists.pdfzone.com
> Subject: [PDF] Reducing file size
>
> Does anyone know how to effectively reduce file sizes of PDFs? Example: I
> have a 3MB PDF that is a newsletter. Lots of graphics and color. I need it
> to be less than 100k for the web.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Suzanne Shomate
> Software Engineer
> Eva-Tone, Inc.-Multimedia Department
> www.eva-tone.com
> Phone: 727-572-7000 x249
> Fax: 727-573-5425
>
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Suzanne Shomate
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Lema's Ideaworks [mailto:idea...@volcano.net]
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 3:57 PM
To: p...@lists.pdfzone.com
Subject: Re: [PDF] Reducing file sizeSuzanne,What's the resolution of your graphics? Do want to see it on the web, or be downloaded and printed?-- Bob Lema
www.webfixr.com
==============================================
"The restriction of knowledge to an elite group
destroys the spirit of society and leads to its
intellectual impoverishment."
-- Albert Einstein
----- Original Message -----From: Suzanne Shomate
Jerry...@cedarapids.com
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>Does anyone know how to effectively reduce file sizes of PDFs?
>Example: I have a 3MB PDF that is a newsletter. Lots of graphics
>and color. I need it to be less than 100k for the web.
Suzanne,
There are two main ways to do this:
1. Distiller Settings - Generally, Screen Optimized will give the
smallest PDF files. Play with the settings to see what works best.
2. Embedding Fonts - This can make a huge difference (try not
embedding or subsetting). Doing a newsletter as you mention tells me
you may be using many different fonts (which is common) and
embedding fonts is a good idea because your average user may not
have 300 fonts on their system.
There are other options, but this is a good place to start.
Jerry
Cliff
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At 3:35 PM -0400 8/13/01, Suzanne Shomate wrote:
>Does anyone know how to effectively reduce file sizes of PDFs?
>Example: I have a 3MB PDF that is a newsletter. Lots of graphics and
>color. I need it to be less than 100k for the web.
Quite A Box of Tricks should do what you want. I must say I am not an
expert with it, so whether it will drop the size that much I can't
tell. However, a demo from their website (quite.com) would soon tell
you that.
--
Cliff
TypeShop Limited
Christchurch
New Zealand
Duff Johnson
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>This is a customer's project we do not currently have in hand but are doing research for in advance.
>I would think the resolution would be 600 dpi. The PDFs will be presented in HTML on a CD and on the web.
Adjust your Distiller settings as follows:
++ Ensure your fonts are subsetted - don't embed the whole font unless you HAVE to.
++ Set color and grayscale image resolution to 144 dpi
++ "Crank up" the JPEG compression until either (a) you can't stand it anymore, or (b) you've got the file-size you want.
Duff Johnson
Document Solutions, Inc.
www.document-solutions.com
Robert E. Moran
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Do a save as and check compression levels. Use LZW tiffs for images. HTH
Bob Moran
Suzanne Shomate wrote:
--
Robert E. Moran
Digital Constructs Inc.
759 North Park Avenue
Redding, CT 06896
Tel: 203-452-1116 Fax: 203-452-0416
www.dconstructs.com
E-mail rem...@dconstructs.com
Travel e-mail rem...@netscape.net
"Confusion is a misapprehension of a higher order." - Henry Miller
C. Scott Miller
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I only have a few hairs left.
For no apparent reason my Acrobat 5 Distiller on Mac has started gagging on
the Courier font. No matter what Quark file I distill, I get the following
log message:
%%[ Error: limitcheck; OffendingCommand: findfont ]%%
Stack:
/Font
/Font
/Courier
false
/Courier
/Courier
false
/Courier
.
.
.
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%
There is nothing wrong with the file, nor does it have any Courier in it. It
distills on another Mac running Distiller 4 and I have tried using an older
AdobePS driver; reinstalling Distiller, AdobePS, Create Adobe PDF; replacing
DistillerLib and DistillerLib Helper; creating a .ps of the Quark file and
distilling that; etc. - no go.
I'm stumped. I do not want to go back to Distiller 4. Anyone else faced this
problem? Anyone got a clue as to what would cause such an error?
I chose this list because the archives show that Todd Reid of Quark helped
someone with a Quark/Courier problem last year - but I doubt the problems
are related.
--
C. Scott Miller
Performance Graphics
mil...@performancegraphics.com
Aandi Inston
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>
> For no apparent reason my Acrobat 5 Distiller on Mac has
> started gagging on
> the Courier font. No matter what Quark file I distill, I get
> the following
> log message:
>
> %%[ Error: limitcheck; OffendingCommand: findfont ]%%
>
> Stack:
> /Font
> /Font
> /Courier ...
This almost always means that Distiller can no longer find
the fonts it used to have. Causes include
- moving Acrobat between folders or disks (don't)
- letting a font manager loose on the whole disk (don't)
- removing fonts that seem to be duplicates in the Acrobat
folders (don't)
- removing Distiller's font folder from its list of font
locations (put it back)
Most often, reinstall Acrobat puts right the damage.
Aandi
Todd Reid
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Well, since it is I who led you to this thread... =(;-Ž <---notice I
also have few hairs left!!
Everytime I've heard about people with "findfont" problems, it seems like it
points to Distiller not knowing where the fonts are.
If you're distilling with crop marks on, then there is indeed a courier
involved...for the slugline of the plate name for each XPress page. I would
look carefully at the settings in Distiller for where it is looking for
fonts...it seems Aandi ("da man") Inston has successfully guided people
through this one.
How about it, Aandi??
Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: C. Scott Miller [mailto:mil...@performancegraphics.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 12:53 PM
To: p...@lists.pdfzone.com
Subject: [PDF] Distiller/Courier Font Problem on Mac
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I only have a few hairs left.
For no apparent reason my Acrobat 5 Distiller on Mac has started gagging on
the Courier font. No matter what Quark file I distill, I get the following
log message:
%%[ Error: limitcheck; OffendingCommand: findfont ]%%
Stack:
/Font
/Font
/Courier
false
/Courier
/Courier
false
/Courier
.
.
.
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%
There is nothing wrong with the file, nor does it have any Courier in it. It
distills on another Mac running Distiller 4 and I have tried using an older
AdobePS driver; reinstalling Distiller, AdobePS, Create Adobe PDF; replacing
DistillerLib and DistillerLib Helper; creating a .ps of the Quark file and
distilling that; etc. - no go.
I'm stumped. I do not want to go back to Distiller 4. Anyone else faced this
problem? Anyone got a clue as to what would cause such an error?
I chose this list because the archives show that Todd Reid of Quark helped
someone with a Quark/Courier problem last year - but I doubt the problems
are related.
--
C. Scott Miller
Performance Graphics
mil...@performancegraphics.com
Rich Sprague MCS
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On 8/14/01 11:52 AM, "C. Scott Miller" <mil...@performancegraphics.com>
wrote:
> I only have a few hairs left.
>
> For no apparent reason my Acrobat 5 Distiller on Mac has started gagging on
> the Courier font. No matter what Quark file I distill, I get the following
> log message:
>
> %%[ Error: limitcheck; OffendingCommand: findfont ]%%
Scott,
I've seen this same error too, from Quark, and it's cost me a few hairs as
well.
I just changed the Distiller Optimized Settings for fonts to warn and
continue, and moved on to some other crisis.
Of course, this is a potentially disastrous step unless, as I do, one
pre-flights all PDFs with a program like PitStop which checks to make sure
that all required fonts are embedded (and subset).
Rich
---------------------------------------------------
Rich Sprague (916) 447-8757
Monarch Color Service ri...@mcsdigital.com
A Digital Printing & Prepress Company
---------------------------------------------------
Jacob Schäffer
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Rich,
Well, I know that PitStop is a very useful tool, but sometimes PitStop
definitely isn't the only route to the holy grail (Pretty often, I'd say,
but that's my personal opinion - strictly off the record, of course).
I'd definitely stick to Aandi's gifted explanation since it free of charge
and very, very true!
Best Regards
Jacob Schäffer
Grafikhuset
-----Original Message-----
From: owne...@lists.pdfzone.com [mailto:owne...@lists.pdfzone.com]On
Behalf Of Rich Sprague (MCS)
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 9:47 PM
To: p...@lists.pdfzone.com
Rich Sprague MCS
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On 8/14/01 1:58 PM, "Jacob Schäffer" <ja...@grafikhuset.dk> wrote:
> I'd definitely stick to Aandi's gifted explanation since it free of charge
> and very, very true!
---------
This almost always means that Distiller can no longer find
the fonts it used to have. Causes include
- moving Acrobat between folders or disks (don't)
- letting a font manager loose on the whole disk (don't)
- removing fonts that seem to be duplicates in the Acrobat
folders (don't)
- removing Distiller's font folder from its list of font
locations (put it back)
Most often, reinstall Acrobat puts right the damage.
From Aandi
---------
>> For no apparent reason my Acrobat 5 Distiller on Mac has started gagging
>> on the Courier font. No matter what Quark file I distill, I get the following
>> log message:
>>
>> %%[ Error: limitcheck; OffendingCommand: findfont ]%%
>>> There is nothing wrong with the file, nor does it have any Courier in it. It
>>> distills on another Mac running Distiller 4 and I have tried using an older
>>> AdobePS driver; reinstalling Distiller, AdobePS, Create Adobe PDF; replacing
>>> DistillerLib and DistillerLib Helper; creating a .ps of the Quark file and
>>> distilling that; etc. - no go.
Scott,
Aandi offers sage advice, but you have already informed us that you
reinstalled the software. By any chance, did you happen to toss the
Distiller preferences when you did so? (Scott's on a Mac). Just a wild guess
since nothing else has seemed to work for you.
Dean Laffan
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on 8/14/01 5:35 AM, Suzanne Shomate at Suzanne...@EVA-TONE.com wrote:
> Does anyone know how to effectively reduce file sizes of PDFs? Example:
> I have a 3MB PDF that is a newsletter. Lots of graphics and color. I
> need it to be less than 100k for the web.
You could get significant file size reductions back in the good old Acrobat
V3 days, we use to "refry" the PDFs by printing them to PS and
redistilling. Adobe frowned on the process for some reason I can't remember
and subsequently they seem to have disabled Acrobats ability to do this ...
Questions:
a) What was going on in the refrying that was so efficient ?
b) Why did Adobe stop this ?
c) Is there a workaround/hack for it ?
regards
***
dean laffan
real world productions
melbourne, australia
ph +613-9419-3966
Mobile - 0418-525-315
It said on the box: 'Requires Windows 95 or better' ... so I bought a Mac !
C. Scott Miller
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on 8/14/01 12:10 PM, Aandi Inston at listr...@quite.com wrote:
> This almost always means that Distiller can no longer find
> the fonts it used to have. Causes include
>
> - moving Acrobat between folders or disks (don't)
> - letting a font manager loose on the whole disk (don't)
> Most often, reinstall Acrobat puts right the damage.
Well, I AM guilty of moving Acrobat from its installed location and using
Font Reserve (but as a graphic designer I really can't live without that) -
and I reinstalled Acrobat.
Looking at Distiller "Font Locations" did help since it was the Fonts in the
Resource folder that were "dislocated."
So I guess its time to get out the Rogaine and prepare for the next round of
hairpulling.
Thanks everybody for the help!
--
C. Scott Miller
Performance Graphics
mil...@performancegraphics.com
Rich Sprague MCS
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On 8/14/01 4:29 PM, "Dean Laffan" <em...@realworld.com.au> wrote:
> on 8/14/01 5:35 AM, Suzanne Shomate at Suzanne...@EVA-TONE.com wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know how to effectively reduce file sizes of PDFs? Example:
>> I have a 3MB PDF that is a newsletter. Lots of graphics and color. I
>> need it to be less than 100k for the web.
>
> You could get significant file size reductions back in the good old Acrobat
> V3 days, we use to "refry" the PDFs by printing them to PS and
> redistilling. Adobe frowned on the process for some reason I can't remember
> and subsequently they seem to have disabled Acrobats ability to do this ...
>
> Questions:
>
> a) What was going on in the refrying that was so efficient ?
Acrobat 4.0 had serious compression issues which were fixed in 4.05. As an
alternative to using the bloated file, you could print the PDF to
Postscript, and redistill with Acrobat 3, and the PDF would be hugely
smaller.
You could also by-pass certain loopholes in A4, including removing security,
by refrying.
> b) Why did Adobe stop this?
You can still refry, but there's no reason to do so. Adobe patched the leaks
in the dike with 4.05x+.
> c) Is there a workaround/hack for it?
No workaround is necessary. If you wish to make a smaller file size, there
are several things you can do:
1) With the original PostScript file, redistill with different optimized
settings.
2) Use tools available from http://www.quite.com and now I believe also
http://www.lantanarips.com to downsample individual images or entire pages
in your PDF.
3) Re-postscript your PDF and refry it with higher compression Distiller
settings (i.e. Lower quality).
There may be others...but these are the foremost in my mind.
Rich
P.S. The objects that make larger file sizes are bitmapped images. The more
images you have in the file, color particularly, and the higher the
resolution, the larger your PDF file's going to be.
Rich
---------------------------------------------------
Rich Sprague (916) 447-8757
Monarch Color Service ri...@mcsdigital.com
A Digital Printing & Prepress Company
---------------------------------------------------
Susan Frank
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Dean,
Why do you say that the "refry" is no longer possible? As far as I can tell, it works the same way it always did. The method I use is to print the file in Acrobat using the "print to file" option, and then Distill the postscript file created.
Susan Frank
Document Solutions, Inc.
www.document-solutions.com
>>> em...@realworld.com.au 08/14/01 04:29PM >>>
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on 8/14/01 5:35 AM, Suzanne Shomate at Suzanne...@EVA-TONE.com wrote:
> Does anyone know how to effectively reduce file sizes of PDFs? Example:
> I have a 3MB PDF that is a newsletter. Lots of graphics and color. I
> need it to be less than 100k for the web.
You could get significant file size reductions back in the good old Acrobat
V3 days, we use to "refry" the PDFs by printing them to PS and
redistilling. Adobe frowned on the process for some reason I can't remember
and subsequently they seem to have disabled Acrobats ability to do this ...
Questions:
a) What was going on in the refrying that was so efficient ?
b) Why did Adobe stop this ?
c) Is there a workaround/hack for it ?
regards
***
dean laffan
real world productions
melbourne, australia
ph +613-9419-3966
Mobile - 0418-525-315
It said on the box: 'Requires Windows 95 or better' ... so I bought a Mac !
Dean Laffan
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__________________________________________________________________
on 8/15/01 10:11 AM, Susan Frank at Su...@document-solutions.com wrote:
> Why do you say that the "refry" is no longer possible? As far as I can tell,
> it works the same way it always did. The method I use is to print the file in
> Acrobat using the "print to file" option, and then Distill the postscript file
> created.
You're right Susan I just tried again myself and it was fine. I do remember
having trouble with this previously ... I dunno ? ... maybe I'm nuts, or
maybe it was in 4.0 not 4.05 along the lines of Rich's comments:
>> Acrobat 4.0 had serious compression issues which were fixed in 4.05. As an
>> alternative to using the bloated file, you could print the PDF to
>> Postscript, and redistill with Acrobat 3, and the PDF would be hugely
>> smaller.
Of course you still can't print a PDF to the PDF writer, though why you'd
want to ... ?
Also you said:
> For example, I can get a
> 3MB file down to 1.5MB, but that's it. Most you can hope for is a 50-75%
> reduction depending on file size and content (images vs. text, vector
> vs. rastar).
Wow! A 50-75% reduction on an existing PDF is not good enough ? You're a
hard taskmaster ! ;-)
Dirmeyer, Robert
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Hello list,
I'm intrigued by the refry process. We post print-optimized PDFs on our
website. They are ads that our field units may download and pass along to
their local print media. We promise the field units that these are print
quality ads and have had no complaints to date. The PDF file size is usually
no problem but sometimes the designers and/or their clients go color and
graphics crazy! If I refried some of those larger files would I be
sacrificing print quality? Many thanks in advance, and thanks to everyone of
you, you've all taught me so much. (Mac, OS9.1, Acrobat 4.05).
Robert Dirmeyer
Electronic Publishing Associate
Creative Services
American Red Cross
202-639-3243 (voice)
202-639-3266 (fax)
Dirm...@usa.redcross.org
> > Why do you say that the "refry" is no longer possible? As far as I can
> tell,
> > it works the same way it always did. The method I use is to print the
> file in
> > Acrobat using the "print to file" option, and then Distill the
> postscript file
> > created.
>
> You're right Susan I just tried again myself and it was fine. I do
> remember
> having trouble with this previously ... I dunno ? ... maybe I'm nuts, or
> maybe it was in 4.0 not 4.05 along the lines of Rich's comments:
>
>
E-Business Communication Association -
Rich Sprague MCS
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On 8/15/01 9:54 AM, "Dirmeyer, Robert" <Dirm...@usa.redcross.org> wrote:
> I'm intrigued by the refry process. We post print-optimized PDFs on our
> website. They are ads that our field units may download and pass along to
> their local print media. We promise the field units that these are print
> quality ads and have had no complaints to date. The PDF file size is usually
> no problem but sometimes the designers and/or their clients go color and
> graphics crazy! If I refried some of those larger files would I be
> sacrificing print quality? Many thanks in advance, and thanks to everyone of
> you, you've all taught me so much. (Mac, OS9.1, Acrobat 4.05).
Robert,
Based on your purported use, you should be using *press* optimized settings,
and not *print*.
Assuming that your original PDFs are CMYK with a 300 dpi resolution for
bitmap images, any downsampling to make PDF file sizes smaller is going to
cause a loss of quality, and make the PDF useless for going to print. The
*screen* optimized settings will make for small files, but the images are
only 72 dpi and will be converted to RGB color space.
Press-optimized PDFs should, if all things are equal, be capable of
providing faithful color reproduction. I use them all the time to submit
projects for film output and/or high-quality full-color printing. No one has
*ever* complained about the quality of our proofs or printed materials.
Good luck.
Rich
---------------------------------------------------
Rich Sprague (916) 447-8757
Monarch Color Service ri...@mcsdigital.com
A Digital Printing & Prepress Company
---------------------------------------------------
Dov Isaacs
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__________________________________________________________________
Robert,
The "refry" process will indeed lose links, bookmarks, attachments,
etc., everything other than pure print-based graphics objects.
Furthermore, you can in fact see significant image degradation if
any of the images in your original PDF file are JPEG-compressed and
your "refried" PDF likewise uses JPEG compression for images (or
"automatic" compression which may choose JPEG). Why? JPEG is in
fact a lossy compression. Every new generation of decompress
and recompress loses a bit more data and can quickly yield image
artifacts and irregularities. In fact, some of the "improvement"
in size that one may see from "refrying" assuming that the original
PDF file has no links, bookmarks, attachments, etc. may be due
to the loss of image data.
I would NEVER recommend the "refry" process for any professional use.
- Dov
At 8/15/2001 09:54 AM, Dirmeyer, Robert wrote:
>Hello list,
>
>I'm intrigued by the refry process. We post print-optimized PDFs on our
>website. They are ads that our field units may download and pass along to
>their local print media. We promise the field units that these are print
>quality ads and have had no complaints to date. The PDF file size is usually
>no problem but sometimes the designers and/or their clients go color and
>graphics crazy! If I refried some of those larger files would I be
>sacrificing print quality? Many thanks in advance, and thanks to everyone of
>you, you've all taught me so much. (Mac, OS9.1, Acrobat 4.05).
>
>Robert Dirmeyer