File talk:decemberweenventcalendarday2.PNG

From Homestar Runner Wiki

[edit] Replace a PNG with a JPEG?

I'd like to slow down this deletion. Normally we opt for uploading PNG files for content from H*R over JPEGs (unless it's puppet stuff or other live action video) since PNGs are generally higher quality over PNG when it comes to drawings and animation. I think this advent calendar falls under that purview. As such, we should aim towards uploading these only as PNG and fixing the issues on this PNG instead of replacing it with a JPG. ---Stux 04:47, 3 December 2022 (UTC)

What are the issues exactly? ----J∃ffJMan 12:43, 3 December 2022 (UTC)

Good question: the reason PNGs are preferred over JPEG is because PNGs employ Lossless compression (which means that the image is reproduced exactly) versus JPEGs that employ Lossy compression (where the original image is approximated in order to gain further compression). Lossy compression is usually enough to fool the eye when it comes to photographs, but compression artifacts can be more easily seen in drawings and animation. This results in PNG images providing higher quality images over JPEGs when it comes to this kind of image, which happens to be frequently used on our site.

The Help:Image page where it reads at the bottom: "The image should be saved as a PNG if it's a drawing and as a JPEG if it is a photograph." This can also be seen on the big wiki via the use of the Bad JPEG template. Also please note that downloading a JPEG and re-uploading it as a PNG does not fix the issue as the JPEG has already lost the original color information. New PNGs should be created from the original source. --Stux 13:06, 3 December 2022 (UTC)

Also note HRW:IUP (which, I should note as an aside, does mention that descriptions and licensing for images should be set while uploading). The main exception that I can think of for using PNG for a drawing is if a Tweet uses a drawing that's already in JPEG format, in which case there's no benefit to converting it to PNG and doing so would result in unnecessary extra filesize. Otherwise lossless PNG is preferred for drawings. Though I have a feeling Jeffjman was referring to this image, in which case the main issue that seems to have spurred the new JPEG version is the black border being visible. DEI DAT VM^┌_{datvm center}\^{super contra}_┘ 13:33, 3 December 2022 (UTC)