(Topic ID: 162605)

Showing JPGs or PDFs - what is better ?

By rolf_martin_062

7 years ago

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10 posts
5 Pinsiders participating
Latest reply 7 years ago by o-din
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Topic poll

Sort: Original A-Z Score

“What is better - JPG or PDF ?”

AAA: I prefer JPG 3 votes

25%
BBB: I prefer PDF 1 vote

8%
CCC: I do not care 8 votes

67%

(12 votes by 0 Pinsiders)

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aBig-Valley-Reset-Work-1200.pdf (PDF preview)

aBig-Valley-Reset-Work-1200_(resized).jpg

Hi pinsiders
here I show a JPG and the same Information as an PDF. Please vote for AAA or BBB or CCC.
Of interest is NOT the snippet of schema --- of interest is the "form of presentation". (((I showed the PDF already in (post-24): https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/big-valley-1970-goes-straight-into-game-over-where-to-troubleshoot#post-3209325 )))

I can think of "Pro's and Contra's":
Pro JPG: Most stuff is shown (in pinside) as an JPG, easy to work-over a downloaded "data", less work for me to do (no transcription / conversion to PDF).

Pro PDF: When looking at the PDF we can enlarge (step wise) and/or turn around the stuff. "Size of data to show in pinside is smaller - PDF = 237 KB, JPG = 431 KB".
Contra PDF: I must pay attention when I copy*** the pinside-PDF down onto my computer - if I use a simple "Copy ((graphic) save as)" then it will be converted to JPG - in a poor quality. I must use the button in the menue: "Save target as" to copy in PDF-format.
Everytime I transcript / converse JPG to PDF to JPG to PDF etc.: Loss in quality.

copy***: I have the german version of Microsoft-Products - everything is written in german.

Freeware to convert JPGs to PDFs: http://www.convert-jpg-to-pdf.net/
Free Service to convert PDFs to JPG: https://online2pdf.com/features --- convert PDF to Powerpoint. Well, here we also can convert JPGs to PDFs --- but I prefer the Freeware.
Greetings Rolf

aBig-Valley-Reset-Work-1200_(resized).jpg

aBig-Valley-Reset-Work-1200.pdf

png files. jpgs don't compress as well and aren't open source, .pdfs aren't as easily edited.

So my poll answer is neither.

Hi YeOldPinPlayer
thanks for Your answer. I do not know PNG-File-format. I see it when I want to "Save As ..." some data in MS-Paint. I try to add to the poll: DDD: I prefer PNG, EEE: I prefer BMP, FFF: I prefer BMP. The poll is "what format is best to look at in pinside / further private use of a copy". Greetings Rolf

Here is more about the png format.
http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/

In this case PDF is largely irrelevant because the source material is already bitmapped. The primary advantage of PDF over JPG is to render vector artwork (vectors describe shapes and are infinitely scalable; bitmaps describe pixels and are only as good as the quantity of pixels captured).

If you can PDF the source material in vector format the PDF is definitely superior. Because your source material is in MS Paint then all you're doing is saving a JPG in a PDF wrapper.

It looks like you're simply marking up scans in Paint. The scans will always be bitmapped. You should use PNG for this kind of artwork, as YeOldPinPlayer suggested. PNG is better suited for large areas of flat colour and will result in smaller file sizes. I'm unfamiliar with MS Paint so can't tell you how good its PNG compression is.

The only good reason for you to use PDF over a bitmap image format like JPG or PNG is that you can compile multiple pages into one document. Which might be valuable for your purposes instead of having separate image files for each page.

I don't know how many in the EM hangout understand any of this alphabet soup. This is the format many here are used to.

th_(resized).jpg

Ha!

Just trying to help. Long story short: PDF isn't suitable for bitmaps/scans unless you want to combine into a document with multiple pages. Use JPG or PNG. The OP JPG is perfectly readable. PNG might be better.

Quoted from o-din:
I don't know how many in the EM hangout understand any of this alphabet soup. This is the format many here are used to.

How old are you This was the format I remember.

Old enough to remember paying a quarter to get on the bus and riding to Anaheim to buy a $19.95 8-Track player.

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