BMP Compression

[eb1mom]

I am reworking an old database with many embedded Bmp
images. I would like to make sure they are as small as
possible. Several are over 2 Mgs. Database will be used at
multiple sites so linking images just isn't an option. Does
anyone know of a good program to reduce BMP size without
losing too much quality? Thank-you

 

[Nikos Yannacopoulos]

I know one you can use to save them as .jpg at a fraction of the size
without significant quality loss. It comes free with Windows, and it's
called Paint!

HTH,
Nikos

 

[Joseph Meehan]

I am reworking an old database with many embedded Bmp
images. I would like to make sure they are as small as
possible. Several are over 2 Mgs. Database will be used at
multiple sites so linking images just isn't an option. Does
anyone know of a good program to reduce BMP size without
losing too much quality? Thank-you

BMP is rather universal, but makes for large file sizes. Converting
them to jpg will greatly reduce the size, depending on the software you
have, you can control the amount of compression used. Also 2 meg BMP is far
larger than you normally need to display on a computer screen What is the
final use? You can resize an image file and that will dump some data, but
if it is oversized to begin with you don't need the additional.

Note
Resize: does not compress, but makes the image smaller. That smaller
image may well show up fill size when displayed, especially if, as it
appears in your case, the original was oversized and was being shrunk to
begin with.

Compress: This does not change the size of the image, but like zipping a
file, it sort of keeps all the original data and size, but compresses it.
In reality there is some loss of data with most systems, but few people will
notice if used right.

 

[Guest]

hi.
see this site for additional help
http://www.lebans.com/loadsavejpeg.htm

 

[eb1mom]

Thanks for all the information. This site is great.

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

I am reworking an old database with many embedded Bmp
images. I would like to make sure they are as small as
possible. Several are over 2 Mgs. Database will be used at
multiple sites so linking images just isn't an option. Does
anyone know of a good program to reduce BMP size without
losing too much quality? Thank-you

There's a point that may not be clear from the responses you've
received. Saving images in your tables in JPEG or another compressed
format -- as OLE Object fields --isn't going to save you any space.
That's because Access will always *also* store an uncompressed bitmap
version of the image, so that it can show it when the field is
displayed.

However, you can, with a bit of code, store just the raw image data in a
long binary field, and then extract it for handling as an image whenever
you need to display or edit it. I believe someone has already posted a
link to Stephen Lebans' site, which has the wizardry required for this:

http://www.lebans.com/loadsavejpeg.htm

I just didn't want you to overlook that.