How to Save Your Images under Different File Types

[Mudslide]

Thanks for the tut, helpfull for us noobs usually.

:???:

I have also been saving them all in JPEG for interchanging grafics with people who don't have Paint.Net and kept wondering why it looks sorta bloody potato sometimes.

[Myrddin]

JPG does, usually, offer the lowest file size over the better quality formats, such as PNG, so JPG is not all that bad.

If you are to use PNGs more often now, and for sharing with others - be it over a forum or e-mail - then you should not forget the OptiPNG file type plugin that will compress your PNGs to a more 'manageable' size, if that is needed.

Glad people are still finding this tutorial useful.

[Motoko21]

Awesome, I had questions like these.

[AlexsDraws]

Or you acn just save it as all files and add the extension of the file you want it to be saved as. Lets say i weas to save a file named 'fire' then i say save as and i choose save as all files then were it asks for the name I would type in fire.(here would got the extention of the file type).So if I wanted to save it as a RAW file I would type the save as"fire.raw"

[Myrddin]

You could do that, yes, if Paint.NET had the 'All Files' option. You may not have noticed the omission of this generic file type in the Save (As) dialog.

In a program that does include this 'format', the you are certainly correct, you are able to opt for 'All Files' then manually define your format by amending the extension onto the file's name.

[Spikehead777]

What happened to the .dds file type? It's there in your screen shot, but I don't have it available.

EDIT: Never mind, I updated and it was there.

Move along people, nothing to see in this post.

[Saabo]

Cool very nice.

I knew about them but didnt know the quality and all aspects so this helped

[Jordan C King]

iconj.com uploads .ico files. Why not add that?

[Myrddin]

EDIT: okay, I've just seen when Jordan's comment was posted... Ugh, I dislike being out-of-the-loop for a while.

iconj.com uploads .ico files. Why not add that?

Because whilst I could list for every file type every place of upload, I'm not going to as the list would end up being huge. Throughout the Forum, we advise users to utilise the services of either Photobucket or Imageshack, therefore within my tutorial I conformed to our own advice.

If a certain amount of interest arises in uploading ICO files, I will amend my tutorial to include your recommended site. Or to ZIP the ICO file for upload here.

[johnnymaddog]

I'd like to save a file as a gif, but don't know how to reduce the number of colours in the image. Is there a way to do this? :?

[Myrddin]

You can't from within the saving process, that is something you must do whilst editing the image. The best way I can think, and use myself, is Curtis' Selective Palette plugin, from his plugin pack.

Reduce the colours first, then save.

I hope this works out for you.

[Don_Rade]

This is a nice tut!!!! I mean everybody knows how to save image under different file type.... But not everybody knows which file means what...!! I personally didnt..... But now I do... Thx for this!!!

[CH3RRii_x]

Thanx (:

That really helped

[kelly]

I have been creating wallpaper for my website and saving as jpeg so that I can keep the colors. I read that gif only saves colors that are in the basic 256. I even experimented and what they say about gif and colors is true.

of course, I have been very sad with the rough edges of the images after saving in jpeg.

What can you recommend in this case?

Which mode of saving would preserve color AND smooth edges of my curvy drawings? :?: :?:

I love paint dot net and have promoted it every chance I get.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Try *.png. The size will probably be larger, but you can optimize this format with the Optipng plugin.

[kelly]

Thanks.

ok,

2 questions:

-will I have an option of whether or not to compress when I save as PNG after installing plugin?

-will that preserve the color / hex code that is outside of the 256?

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Yes and yes.

[heronpt]

Both attempting to save to a folder outside of Paint.net, and saving within Paint.net, I get a message stating: "Unable to save to due unspecified error." I have done: Control +Shift +F to compress the layers. I have Windows 7 and have saved files to other folders in the past.

Any suggestions on where to start to find the "unspecified error?"

Thank you, Carol

I've attempted saving using .png

Edited April 19, 2010 by heronpt

[Sarkut]

heronpt,

It has been several hours since your post, so I don't know

if you still have the file open and still are seeking a solution.

If so, the following is worth trying.

You have flattened the image using Control +Shift +F.

Now do this:

Ctrl A

Ctrl C

Ctrl D

Ctrl + Alt V

This will copy/paste the image into a new file.

Maybe it will save sucessfully from the new file.

[m4mazix]

Is there any way to set a file type as default for saving an image ? So that I would not have to change it every time I save something..

Thx for Help ..

[Zyst]

Is there any way to set a file type as default for saving an image ? So that I would not have to change it every time I save something..

Thx for Help ..

I haven't found a way, and I don't think there is one. If there is, I'd like to know as well.

I just read this tutorial for the first time today, and it's actually really helpful. I never understood fully the different file types.

Also, I usually flatten the image in Paint.NET, select all, and, after copying, undo all of that. Then I open Paint and save the image as a .BMP, so I can upload it to Photobucket, but now I guess I'll start saving them as .PNGs.

My method, though long, makes it so I can later come back and edit the image, in the original .PDN format.

This is a quote from over 2 years ago, and I don't think I had PDN back then. But I've used the method of saving an image as a PNG, it asks to flatten, then it saves, and then I undo the flattening and continue any work on the image that I want. I do this often when toying with an image, and trying different effects. If I find an image I like, I save it, and continue experimenting. This way, I don't have to remember how far back in history to go, nor do I have to reopen a PDN to "restore" my work to that point later on.

I'll also save a file as a PDN if I require flattening an image to try an idea I just came up with that needs it, so I can restore myself to that point more easily.

[timmay1115]

I just recently discovered that if you "Save As" a JPEG or PNG prior to saving as a PDN you'll need to "Undo" the "Flatten Image" before saving as PDN or else you end up with a PDN with no layers and no way to retrieve them.