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Forum Discussion
does Dropbox compressed photo files???
I'm sending full resolution photo files to clients instead of burning them on a disc, but I want to make sure they are the full resolution. I had a client that had pictures made at Walgreens, and they were pixely..I told her not to resize them at all o her end, but now I'm wondering if they are compressed at all and no longer full resolution. If so, I need to go back to discs.
Thanks!
I uploaded a 107.5MB TIFF file to Dropbox using a desktop browser, then downloaded the file. I then compared the file in my download folder to the source file.
Both were exact matches down to the byte: 107,525,5436 bytes.
I then checked for JPG. Also an exact match 9,177,764 bytes.
Then I checked CR2 files (Cannon's proprietary file extension)
Drumroll...both files were 23,921,835 bytes.
If you are using some mobile app to upload your photos...switch to desktop if you care about such things, but blame the right party.
Last I checked, I do not work for Dropbox, nor do I own any stock. If you call someone a liar, you better be able to back it up at least as well as dropbox backs up your files.
Yep, the file size definitely changes a little bit once the upload to Dropbox happens.
What's going on, Dropbox?
I uploaded a 107.5MB TIFF file to Dropbox using a desktop browser, then downloaded the file. I then compared the file in my download folder to the source file.
Both were exact matches down to the byte: 107,525,5436 bytes.
I then checked for JPG. Also an exact match 9,177,764 bytes.
Then I checked CR2 files (Cannon's proprietary file extension)
Drumroll...both files were 23,921,835 bytes.
If you are using some mobile app to upload your photos...switch to desktop if you care about such things, but blame the right party.
Last I checked, I do not work for Dropbox, nor do I own any stock. If you call someone a liar, you better be able to back it up at least as well as dropbox backs up your files.
so how come the hash and size change? I think I can see in the EXIF that you automatically change the orientation without asking, but how come the file is 0.5%-1% smaller than on my phone? what else is edited? and why can't I avoid the renaming?
OrlaDropbox Staff
Hi Silisia, Dropbox does not compress photos. Files are synced exactly as they are.
I wrote that article, the originals are untouched on the device. The Dropbox App also adds a unique tracking ID to each photo uploaded via the App.
The tiles are significantly smaller. If you look at the blog post I wrote there is a GitHub repo, with a single image that has been via Dropbox, Google photos and iCloud.
If you look at the fine details there are differences. My main issue is the lack of honesty from Dropbox and the fact there is a mystery tracking number included in the photos.
As a photographer, I have had many complaints that the dropbox files are not the high res images that I uploaded. In fact Facebook shows better quality than dropbox. This revelation has come during my busiest season and I am left scrambling around to purchase thumb drives, upload, and mail out over 20 galleries so people can get them in time to print for the holidays. I am beyond frustrated and will be canceling my account in the new year. I am literally sick to my stomach that I have delivered a low quality product and possibly lost business because of it. I have fellow photographers as clients who brought this to my attention so this is not just one person's opinion.
As has been explained a number of times in this thread, the Dropbox iOS application that uploads from the main phone camera roll to Dropbox absolutely definitely changes files.
There is a blog post that I wrote that lays out in some detail with example files uploaded from my iPhone using a number of cloud services to show the differences, and in Dropbox's case the unique ID number embedded in the file.
I can't make any comment about the uploading of files via the desktop client or via the web as I haven't tested them, but I can say with certainty and proof that images are recompressed during upload from the iOS Dropbox app.
https://blog.night-shade.org.uk/2015/06/dropbox-iphone-camera-upload-changes-photos/
Holly, you're lying to us. I have the same experience.
Personal experience, Dropbox 3.8.6, Windows 10 Pro.
Someone's done some research on the images uploaded to dropbox and it appears that the images are being re-compressed upon upload. Hopefully the images on the original device aren't being harmed, too.
https://blog.night-shade.org.uk/2015/06/dropbox-iphone-camera-upload-changes-photos/
