PDF file size

SS
Posted By
S_Scott
Dec 31, 2008
Views
339
Replies
11
Status
Closed
I have an 11 x 17", 600 dpi PSD file that I need to convert to PDF for my printer. The file includes a fair amount of text that I would like to preserve; however, if I do not rasterize the text before saving, the resulting PDF is *huge* (200 Mb – as large as the original PSD). Rasterizing drops the file size to a fraction of the original (10 Mb).

My first hypothesis was that this problem resulted from the use of fonts without embedding permission. I rasterized those fonts, but the problem persists.

Any suggestions? What is causing the extra 190 Mb in file size?

Thanks!
Scott
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SS
S_Scott
Dec 31, 2008
I’m still baffled, but a close look at the PDFs produced by Photoshop leads me to believe that Photoshop is generating outlines for all the text and saving that in addition to the embedded fonts. Anyone have any clue how this can be avoided?
P
Phosphor
Dec 31, 2008
Understand that I VERY unclear on what I’m about to write…

I’m still looking, but a couple weeks ago I clearly remember reading something—pretty sure it was on the Illustrator forum—about an ‘extended’ version of PDF, called maybe "PDG" or "PDB", that was starting to be used and embedded right alongside (Or maybe within?) the output of a standard PDF file, because it allowed for features that PDF doesn’t. It was explained thatthis was the reason PDFs exported from newer versions of Illustrator were MUCH larger than the same file exported as PDF from earlier versions.

Maybe this is what you’re encountering?

I dunno, exactly, and wish I could be more help. But I do know the explanation came from a reputable source, very possibly Mordy Golding <http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/>.
M
Mylenium
Dec 31, 2008
Anyone have any clue how this can be avoided?

By choosing a different PDF level, most likely. Surely something with this PDF-X/ JDF stuff in the advanced profile options. I’d also get rid of layers in that case, as it seems that this function is not self-optimizing and for editable layers each gets its own chunk in the PDF instead of obbeying layer groups e.g. to combine text blocks. Anyway, you will get much more knowledgeable answers on the PDF/ Acrobat forums instead of my half-baked guesswork…

Mylenium
BL
Bob Levine
Dec 31, 2008
Save the PDF WITHOUT Preserve Photoshop Editing Capabilities checked. Adding that includes the PSD file with the PDF.

Be sure to save as PSD first.

Bob
SS
S_Scott
Jan 1, 2009
Thanks for all the excellent suggestions! I was able to work around this problem by printing to Adobe PDF instead of saving as a Photoshop PDF. The PDF-X standard didn’t make a difference when saving, but I used it for printing… not sure if it made a difference or not.

So I guess that using Distiller’s print driver is significantly different from Photoshop’s built in PDF authoring. Seems a little surprising that Photoshop does such a poor job on its own!
SS
S_Scott
Jan 1, 2009
It isn’t very flexible if I can’t send it to my printer 🙂
BL
Bob Levine
Jan 1, 2009
Poor job? You want small you sacrifice quality and flexibility which is exactly what happens with distilled PDFs.

Bob
BL
Bob Levine
Jan 1, 2009
It’s the printer that’s not very flexible I’m afraid. 😉

Bob
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Jan 2, 2009
If your printer cannot take CDs or DVDs, and lacks the capability to have 200 MB files uploaded to it over the Internet, you should shop around for a different printer.
M
Mylenium
Jan 2, 2009
Agreed. Next thing they’ll say is they cannot handle the plate layouts/ clichés for printing due to file size constraints… 😉

Mylenium
LO
Libigo_Ogibil
Jan 2, 2009
What Robert Levine said usually drastically reduces the file size – also, if you need to reduce it even further, are you sure you need 600DPI for the print? I’m sure reducing it a bit will make the file a bit smaller too?

Libigo
<http://www.freegraphicstools.com>

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