The difference between "Merge" and "Flatten" in terms of the file size

KF
Posted By
Kobe Fried Rice
May 4, 2011
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565
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All I have this 2gigs of a photoshop file.
I notice that Merging and Flattening give me a different file size.. a huge different,
Merge: 850mb
Flatten: 150mb

What is the difference? I don’t have any transparency. And this is for print.

Thanks
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May 8, 2011
On 2011-05-04 13:34:58 -0400, Kobe Fried Rice said:

All I have this 2gigs of a photoshop file.
I notice that Merging and Flattening give me a different file size.. a huge different,
Merge: 850mb
Flatten: 150mb

What is the difference? I don’t have any transparency. And this is for print.

Thanks

With Flatten, you merge all layers

With merge, you merge a layer ontop on another like merge layer 9 on layer 8

Hope this will help

JR
DJ
david johnson
May 11, 2011
On Sun, 8 May 2011 00:08:52 -0400, R2D3 wrote:

On 2011-05-04 13:34:58 -0400, Kobe Fried Rice said:

All I have this 2gigs of a photoshop file.
I notice that Merging and Flattening give me a different file size.. a huge different,
Merge: 850mb
Flatten: 150mb

What is the difference? I don’t have any transparency. And this is for print.

Thanks

With Flatten, you merge all layers

With merge, you merge a layer ontop on another like merge layer 9 on layer 8
Hope this will help

JR

i tried this myself out of curiosity. and i got the same end result from flatten and merge.

psd was just shy of 8mb
both saved jpg’s at level 8 were 695k

so not quite sure why youors would differ, i did try it on cs5
J
jaSPAMc
May 11, 2011
david johnson found these unused words:

On Sun, 8 May 2011 00:08:52 -0400, R2D3 wrote:

On 2011-05-04 13:34:58 -0400, Kobe Fried Rice said:

All I have this 2gigs of a photoshop file.
I notice that Merging and Flattening give me a different file size.. a huge different,
Merge: 850mb
Flatten: 150mb

What is the difference? I don’t have any transparency. And this is for print.

Thanks

With Flatten, you merge all layers

With merge, you merge a layer ontop on another like merge layer 9 on layer 8
Hope this will help

JR

i tried this myself out of curiosity. and i got the same end result from flatten and merge.

psd was just shy of 8mb
both saved jpg’s at level 8 were 695k

so not quite sure why youors would differ, i did try it on cs5

There’s also "Merge Visible", but all processes, if carried to have just one layer, end up the same size.
S
starchild1124
May 17, 2011
This is interesting about the file, merge, flatten etc. and sizes. I never really knew the difference, I mainly just flatten before I save, or if I’m going to do something that needs all on one layer. I have PS CS3 and mainly "self taught" (with a lot of help from tutorials and groups)
Maybe the different sizes of the files is because of the quality they are saved at? Like when you save a new file it has a setting for low, medium, high?

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