How To Convert Images with MS Paint
Overview[edit | edit source]
This tutorial will demonstrate how to convert a .BMP screenshot into a .JPG picture using Microsoft Paint (which comes with Windows XP). This will allow the author to upload the image to TESNexus.com and showoff the mod. The .JPG image format is much smaller and TESNexus.com can automatically generate thumbnails of your pictures when you upload your mods.
NOTE: If you already have .JPG files and they are over 300kb, you probably don't have any compression enabled and are waisting valuable bandwidth. Follow these steps and simply re-save over the same file. Generally speaking, individual screenshots shouldn't be larger than 200kb. If you're argument for larger images is for greater detail, try zooming in (cropping) the images to concentrate the viewing (How To Crop Images with MS Paint).
Steps[edit | edit source]
Here are the steps to convert an image file (.BMP, .TIF, .PNG, .GIF) to .JPG:
1. Find your image file, right-click on it and open with Paint.
2. From the menu, click File, Save As, and change Save as type to JPEG (*.JPG;*.JPEG;*.JPE;*.JFIF)
3. Click Save
4. Close Microsoft Paint and delete or archive your old file since you now have a JPG version.
Here are some file size changes you can expect to see when converting from BMP to JPG:
| BMP Size | JPG Size | |
|---|---|---|
| File 1 | 7,681kb | 415kb |
| File 2 | 3,596kb | 252kb |
| File 3 | 1,475kb | 100kb |
| File 4 | 900kb | 45kb |
How You Can Help Hosting Sites[edit | edit source]
Most hosting sites' big support issue is bandwidth. By cropping your images and saving them in compressed JPG format, you could save more bandwidth than you might know.
Example:
Let's say you uploaded 4 images that were 1.5 MB each. Let's also assume that each download of the mod also equals the same number of image views each. If your mod was popular and received 1,000 downloads, that would generate 6,000 MB of bandwidth. (4 x 1.5 MB = 6 MB) X 1000 = 6000 MB
If you compressed those files as .JPG and each file was only 100kb each, that same number of downloads would only generate 400 MB. (4 x 0.1 MB = 0.4 MB) X 1000 = 400 MB.
By simply choosing the right image format, you could save hosting sites 5.6 GB of bandwidth with this example. That's larger than a DVD at 4.5 GB !!!
Source: LHammonds Web Site