Photoshop skills / reduce file size

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 1. Add a white layer to reduce the file size < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > one of the simplest and most effective technologies to reduce large files is to simply add a solid color layer at the top of the layers panel. Press shift-ctrl-n to create a new layer at the top, and then press shift-f5 to fill it with white. After that, you only need to save your PSD file</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > as you can see, this method allows us to reduce the file size from 181 MB to 171 MB. The main advantage of this technology is that creating solid color layers is super fast and easy. However, the results of file compression are different, so in some cases, it only gives us small compression. In other cases, it can reduce the large file to 50%. In addition, it is also important to inform your customers of this solid color layer, because not everyone is familiar with Photoshop and they will be confused by seeing the document white canvas without any design elements</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 2. Reduce the file size by making layers invisible < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > another similar method to reduce the PSD file size is to make all layers invisible before saving   invisible. Therefore, all you have to do is uncheck   “   All eye icons in the layers panel</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > as you can see, this method gives us the same result as the previous one. Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages here are the same</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 3. Flatten the layer to reduce the size of PSD file < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > let’s use another effective technology to reduce the file size. Right click & gt; Flatten the image. After that, all layers are merged into one layer</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > flattening Photoshop size reduction method is super effective. As you can see, the file size is now reduced by 98%, but the main disadvantage is that you don’t have access to any layers and can’t edit them. Therefore, although this is a very effective technology, it is also destructive to the structure of PSD layer</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 4. Optimize the layer structure to reduce the size of PSD file < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > if you want to know how to reduce the file size without losing editing the basic layer, please try another method. In my template, I don’t actually use many invisible texture layers. Let’s shift select all these layers and click the delete button</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > as you can see, when dealing with large files (such as painting templates, printing templates and other PSD with many elements) in Photoshop, sometimes these files are not required for our specific design tasks, which will bring us a large file size. I reduced the file size by 76 MB only by removing unused invisible layers in the final version of the project</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 5. Reduce PSD file size by rasterizing smart objects < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > the next technology to reduce file size in Photoshop is rasterizing smart object layer. A smart object is a layer that contains raster or vector image data and allows you to apply Photoshop filters in a lossless manner. In addition, smart objects are used to create placeholders in Photoshop templates</ Span > < / section > < section > < span > let’s right-click & gt; Rasterize layers rasterize smart objects. If the placeholder layer is not visible, we can also delete it to make the file smaller</ span>

< section > < span > this method enables us to reduce the file size by 33 MB, which is a good result. But don’t forget that if you rasterize smart objects, you won’t be able to edit filters or change the contents of placeholders. You can also use the rasterize layer style feature on a layer and apply any layer style to that layer style in the same way</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 6. Reduce the layer to reduce the file size < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > another good way to reduce large files in Photoshop is to use the cropping function. The texture in my template is actually larger than the document canvas. We can easily delete the texture part outside the document to reduce the size of the Photoshop file</ Span > < / section > < section > < span > Click m to activate“   Rectangular marquee tool, then select the entire canvas of the document and“   Select the background layer in the layers panel. After that, go to image & gt; Crop</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > cropping the image helps us reduce the file size by 74 MB. The main advantage of this method is that we will not lose any important layers, and we can still use smart objects and other layers</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 7. Use the merge function to save and reduce the PSD file < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > another good choice to reduce the file size in Photoshop is to merge layers. In my template, I have two smart objects that will be merged into one layer by holding down shift and selecting the two layers, then right-click & gt; Merge. In addition, we can easily merge textures using the same blend mode – just don’t forget that you will need to change the blend mode of the merged layer again</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > merging layers helps us reduce the file size by 35 MB. The only disadvantage of this method is that after you merge layers, you cannot change the smart object filter or use each texture separately</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 8. Create adjustment layers to reduce PSD file size < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > you can create a special layer to reduce file size without copying the layer and applying brightness / contrast, Hue / saturation or any other adjustment filters to it. In the template here, I made some color correction layers by using adjustment layers</ Span > < / section > < section > < span > you can set your own settings in the following ways: go to“   Layer & gt; Adjust new layer, and then select the layer required for the project</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > I created a copy of the main image layer to adjust it, which immediately increased the file size by 10 Mb. If we use adjustment layers instead of creating duplicates, it will keep the file size unchanged</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 9. Change the size of the drawing board to reduce the PSD file < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > in order to reduce the file, Photoshop also provides a very obvious solution. Change the canvas size of the document! You can click alt-ctrl-i and change the size to a smaller size. For me, my size is 1500 x 1000 pixels. So I changed it to 800 x 533 pixels</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > as you can see, this method enables us to reduce the PSD file size by 113 MB, which is a good result. But < / span > < span > Yes, if you use a print template, you don’t want to change the size of the sketchpad – this technology is more suitable for digital design projects</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 10. Make PSD files smaller by changing PS preferences < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > the next method we will use to reduce file size is to change preferences. Go to“   Edit & gt; “Preferences” & gt; “File processing” and then“   Maximize PSD file compatibility is set to“   Never. Or set it to ask if you want to decide whether to use this feature each time you save an image</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > this method can provide different results for us to reduce the file size, just like the first technology using solid color layer. As far as I’m concerned, it only helped me reduce the size by 3 Mb. The main disadvantage is that your files may generate errors in earlier versions of Photoshop and other applications. Therefore, I don’t think this is the best choice in most cases</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 11. Reduce the file size by saving the file as a layered TIFF < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > you can also save the project as a layered TIFF file to make the file smaller. All you need to do is go to“   File & gt; Save as, then select the. TIFF file format, and then save it before clicking OK“   Set image and layer compression to zip</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < span > the layered TIFF file format saves me 46 MB of disk space. The best thing is that you can easily open this TIFF file while all adjustment layers and smart objects are still fully editable. For the disadvantages, what I want to say is that saving files takes more time, and some applications cannot use layered TIFF files (especially if you use specific Photoshop layers, such as smart objects, adjustment layers, etc.)</ span>

< section > < strong > < span > 12. Reduce PSD files by compressing them into ZIP compressed files < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > another obvious solution to reduce the size of Photoshop files is to use archiving tools such as winzip. I archived files through WinRAR using the “best” compression option, which reduced my size by 38 MB. This is a super simple way to reduce size</ span>

< section > < / section > < section > < strong > < span > 13. Combine restoration technology to get the best results < / span > < / strong > < / section > < section > < span > finally, I decided to use several technologies at once to understand how it changes the size of PSD template. Therefore, I used the following method: compress all images and textures, and then crop all unnecessary elements in the texture. After that, I merged layers (excluding smart objects) and deleted all unnecessary invisible layers. Then I changed the canvas size from 1500 pixels to 1200 pixels. Before saving the file, I make all layers invisible. Finally, I compress the final file to. ZIP format at the maximum compression rate</ Span > < / section > < section > < span > use all these methods at once to reduce the file size to only 28 MB! And, most importantly, all smart objects are still fully editable, and we don’t lose much quality</ span>

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