image file size oddness in Tiger

jpollock · #1 December 14th, 2005, 06:49 AM

Hello all,

I've run into some oddness with file sizes of graphics in OS X 10.4.3 that I thought some others may have seen. The drive is formatted as HFS+ (just to avoid any thought of it being a minimum block size issue). I don't recall seeing this problem with OS X 10.2.8.

So I have an image file that the Finder says is 600k. However, Photoshop claims the file is 1.05MB. I then reduce the file size in Photoshop by changing it to indexed color mode, and Photoshop then claims the file is now 300k. But the Finder says the file is still 600k. However, when submitted to a website that only accepts file sizes of 375k or less, the file is accepted. And when the file is emailed to a Windows machine without being stuffed first (a step that I imagined would strip the resource fork from the file), Windows claims the file is 200k (but when the file is emailed back to the Mac from the Windows machine, it's once again 600k). I also tried copying the file using the cp command in terminal (which supposedly does strip the resource fork out), but it made no change to the file size.

I have no idea what to make of this. At first I thought it was a Photoshop issue, but now I'm thinking the Finder may be misreporting the file sizes.

jpollock · #2 December 16th, 2005, 11:17 AM

bump. I'd really love it if anyone has any thoughts on this problem!

ra3ndy · #3 December 16th, 2005, 11:27 AM

Hmm...I don't have a solution, but I might have thoughts. I've seen this before (working with small graphics in photoshop). I, too believe that Finder has always misrepresented the size of a file made in photoshop.

Try this: Open the file in Photoshop, and do a File --> Save As... and give it the same name. This will delete the old file and write an exact copy in it's place. If there is just a system cache error that is reporting an old file size, this should clear it up.

I always seem to get less of these problems when I run maintenance programs on my Mac regularly. Cocktail is a popular application for general, all purpose clean-up & maintenance.

Good luck tho!

ElDiabloConCaca · #4 December 16th, 2005, 12:07 PM

They wouldn't happen to be JPEG files, would they? PhotoShop reports the uncompressed size of JPEG files, which will be two to three times as large as the actual file is on the disk.

**fryke** · #5 December 16th, 2005, 12:23 PM

And _always_ use the web export dialog for graphics you want to put on the web...

ra3ndy · #6 December 16th, 2005, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fryke

And _always_ use the web export dialog for graphics you want to put on the web...

absolutely true. "Save for web" has become my most preferred method of saving small graphics, even if not for the web.

jpollock · #7 December 16th, 2005, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the suggestions, all! Here are my responses to what's been said:

Quote:

Try this: Open the file in Photoshop, and do a File --> Save As... and give it the same name. This will delete the old file and write an exact copy in it's place. If there is just a system cache error that is reporting an old file size, this should clear it up.

I actually had tried this out of desperation at one point but it didn't help, unfortunately.

Quote:

They wouldn't happen to be JPEG files, would they? PhotoShop reports the uncompressed size of JPEG files, which will be two to three times as large as the actual file is on the disk.

Originally the files were JPEGs, but I tried saving them as Compuserve GIFs after switching them into indexed color mode (in fact, saving as jpeg isn't an option once in indexed color mode) and still had the same problem.

Quote:

And _always_ use the web export dialog for graphics you want to put on the web...

Yes, I tried this since it's known to reduce the image size, but it didn't help.

The part that bugs me is not when Photoshop claims the file is bigger than the Finder does, but rather the part where I successfully reduce the file size in Photoshop but the Finder still reports the file size to be twice as large.