Is it possible that a file size increases “by itself” during printing?












12














I have a PDF file, 1.26 MB (physical size). When I sent it to a wired printer, the window showed that file now had a size of 3.23 GB. What's going on here ?



Attached is the desktop screenshot, where the PDF of 1.26MB is shown on the right. The window that shows 3.23 GB is in the back (apology for the quality).
enter image description here










share|improve this question
























  • Clearly something else is going on. Your PDF did not increase in size to 3.23GB. But there is no way of knowing what the real situation entails based on the limited information you've provided.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:22










  • @n8te, not sure what specific info would be helpful.
    – B Chen
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25










  • If nothing else, a screenshot of where you're seeing that it says the PDF is now 3.23GB.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25






  • 8




    The PDF file size hasn't changed ... the larger window with 4.25/3.36 gb is the printer spool file. The amount of data that gets sent to a printer has nothing whatever to do with the size of the file being printed and is temporary in any case. Short version: don't worry about it.
    – Steve Rindsberg
    Mar 31 '18 at 0:17










  • To amplify what @SteveRindsberg has said, depending on the document’s format and the printer’s capabilities, it is most likely that the PDF was rasterized by the print driver to actually print things out. Remember, a PDF is basically a postscript file which is basically a vector document which is just a pile of calculations telling the screen what to render. If you are printing to a printer without native postscript capabilities, the contents of the document need to be rasterized somewhere somehow and that can instantly balloon up the actual size of the file that gets sent to the printer.
    – JakeGould
    Apr 1 '18 at 4:19
















12














I have a PDF file, 1.26 MB (physical size). When I sent it to a wired printer, the window showed that file now had a size of 3.23 GB. What's going on here ?



Attached is the desktop screenshot, where the PDF of 1.26MB is shown on the right. The window that shows 3.23 GB is in the back (apology for the quality).
enter image description here










share|improve this question
























  • Clearly something else is going on. Your PDF did not increase in size to 3.23GB. But there is no way of knowing what the real situation entails based on the limited information you've provided.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:22










  • @n8te, not sure what specific info would be helpful.
    – B Chen
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25










  • If nothing else, a screenshot of where you're seeing that it says the PDF is now 3.23GB.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25






  • 8




    The PDF file size hasn't changed ... the larger window with 4.25/3.36 gb is the printer spool file. The amount of data that gets sent to a printer has nothing whatever to do with the size of the file being printed and is temporary in any case. Short version: don't worry about it.
    – Steve Rindsberg
    Mar 31 '18 at 0:17










  • To amplify what @SteveRindsberg has said, depending on the document’s format and the printer’s capabilities, it is most likely that the PDF was rasterized by the print driver to actually print things out. Remember, a PDF is basically a postscript file which is basically a vector document which is just a pile of calculations telling the screen what to render. If you are printing to a printer without native postscript capabilities, the contents of the document need to be rasterized somewhere somehow and that can instantly balloon up the actual size of the file that gets sent to the printer.
    – JakeGould
    Apr 1 '18 at 4:19














12












12








12


1





I have a PDF file, 1.26 MB (physical size). When I sent it to a wired printer, the window showed that file now had a size of 3.23 GB. What's going on here ?



Attached is the desktop screenshot, where the PDF of 1.26MB is shown on the right. The window that shows 3.23 GB is in the back (apology for the quality).
enter image description here










share|improve this question















I have a PDF file, 1.26 MB (physical size). When I sent it to a wired printer, the window showed that file now had a size of 3.23 GB. What's going on here ?



Attached is the desktop screenshot, where the PDF of 1.26MB is shown on the right. The window that shows 3.23 GB is in the back (apology for the quality).
enter image description here







printing printer






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Apr 1 '18 at 3:57









Boaz

248210




248210










asked Mar 30 '18 at 23:02









B ChenB Chen

16519




16519












  • Clearly something else is going on. Your PDF did not increase in size to 3.23GB. But there is no way of knowing what the real situation entails based on the limited information you've provided.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:22










  • @n8te, not sure what specific info would be helpful.
    – B Chen
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25










  • If nothing else, a screenshot of where you're seeing that it says the PDF is now 3.23GB.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25






  • 8




    The PDF file size hasn't changed ... the larger window with 4.25/3.36 gb is the printer spool file. The amount of data that gets sent to a printer has nothing whatever to do with the size of the file being printed and is temporary in any case. Short version: don't worry about it.
    – Steve Rindsberg
    Mar 31 '18 at 0:17










  • To amplify what @SteveRindsberg has said, depending on the document’s format and the printer’s capabilities, it is most likely that the PDF was rasterized by the print driver to actually print things out. Remember, a PDF is basically a postscript file which is basically a vector document which is just a pile of calculations telling the screen what to render. If you are printing to a printer without native postscript capabilities, the contents of the document need to be rasterized somewhere somehow and that can instantly balloon up the actual size of the file that gets sent to the printer.
    – JakeGould
    Apr 1 '18 at 4:19


















  • Clearly something else is going on. Your PDF did not increase in size to 3.23GB. But there is no way of knowing what the real situation entails based on the limited information you've provided.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:22










  • @n8te, not sure what specific info would be helpful.
    – B Chen
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25










  • If nothing else, a screenshot of where you're seeing that it says the PDF is now 3.23GB.
    – n8te
    Mar 30 '18 at 23:25






  • 8




    The PDF file size hasn't changed ... the larger window with 4.25/3.36 gb is the printer spool file. The amount of data that gets sent to a printer has nothing whatever to do with the size of the file being printed and is temporary in any case. Short version: don't worry about it.
    – Steve Rindsberg
    Mar 31 '18 at 0:17










  • To amplify what @SteveRindsberg has said, depending on the document’s format and the printer’s capabilities, it is most likely that the PDF was rasterized by the print driver to actually print things out. Remember, a PDF is basically a postscript file which is basically a vector document which is just a pile of calculations telling the screen what to render. If you are printing to a printer without native postscript capabilities, the contents of the document need to be rasterized somewhere somehow and that can instantly balloon up the actual size of the file that gets sent to the printer.
    – JakeGould
    Apr 1 '18 at 4:19
















Clearly something else is going on. Your PDF did not increase in size to 3.23GB. But there is no way of knowing what the real situation entails based on the limited information you've provided.
– n8te
Mar 30 '18 at 23:22




Clearly something else is going on. Your PDF did not increase in size to 3.23GB. But there is no way of knowing what the real situation entails based on the limited information you've provided.
– n8te
Mar 30 '18 at 23:22












@n8te, not sure what specific info would be helpful.
– B Chen
Mar 30 '18 at 23:25




@n8te, not sure what specific info would be helpful.
– B Chen
Mar 30 '18 at 23:25












If nothing else, a screenshot of where you're seeing that it says the PDF is now 3.23GB.
– n8te
Mar 30 '18 at 23:25




If nothing else, a screenshot of where you're seeing that it says the PDF is now 3.23GB.
– n8te
Mar 30 '18 at 23:25




8




8




The PDF file size hasn't changed ... the larger window with 4.25/3.36 gb is the printer spool file. The amount of data that gets sent to a printer has nothing whatever to do with the size of the file being printed and is temporary in any case. Short version: don't worry about it.
– Steve Rindsberg
Mar 31 '18 at 0:17




The PDF file size hasn't changed ... the larger window with 4.25/3.36 gb is the printer spool file. The amount of data that gets sent to a printer has nothing whatever to do with the size of the file being printed and is temporary in any case. Short version: don't worry about it.
– Steve Rindsberg
Mar 31 '18 at 0:17












To amplify what @SteveRindsberg has said, depending on the document’s format and the printer’s capabilities, it is most likely that the PDF was rasterized by the print driver to actually print things out. Remember, a PDF is basically a postscript file which is basically a vector document which is just a pile of calculations telling the screen what to render. If you are printing to a printer without native postscript capabilities, the contents of the document need to be rasterized somewhere somehow and that can instantly balloon up the actual size of the file that gets sent to the printer.
– JakeGould
Apr 1 '18 at 4:19




To amplify what @SteveRindsberg has said, depending on the document’s format and the printer’s capabilities, it is most likely that the PDF was rasterized by the print driver to actually print things out. Remember, a PDF is basically a postscript file which is basically a vector document which is just a pile of calculations telling the screen what to render. If you are printing to a printer without native postscript capabilities, the contents of the document need to be rasterized somewhere somehow and that can instantly balloon up the actual size of the file that gets sent to the printer.
– JakeGould
Apr 1 '18 at 4:19










4 Answers
4






active

oldest

votes


















29














From the following Microsoft Support Article: "The size of the EMF spool file may become very large when you print a document that contains lots of raster data"




Symptoms When you print a document that contains lots of raster data, the size of the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) spool file may become
very large. Files such as Adobe .pdf files or Microsoft Word
.doc/.docx documents may contain lots of raster data. Adobe .pdf files
and Word .doc/.docx documents that contain gradients are even more
likely to contain lots of raster data.



Cause This problem occurs because Graphics Device Interface (GDI) does not compress raster data when the GDI processes EMF spool files
and generates EMF spool files.



This problem is very prominent with printers that support higher
resolutions. The size of the raster data increases by four times if
the dots-per-inch (dpi) in the file increases by two times. For
example, a .pdf file of 1 megabyte (MB) may generate an EMF spool file
of 500 MB. Therefore, you may notice that the printing process
decreases in performance.



Resolution

To resolve this problem, bypass EMF spooling. To do this, follow these steps:



1. Open the properties dialog box for the printer.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Click the Print directly to the printer option.


Note This will disable all print processor-based features such as the
following features:




  • N-up

  • Watermark

  • Booklet printing

  • Driver collation

  • Scale-to-fit




TL;DR - Your PDF file didn't increase in size. It is only a large spool file that was created. It's nothing to worry about but Microsoft provides a solution listed above to prevent that situation from happening again (with a reduction of features).






share|improve this answer





























    5














    There are a number of reasons why a print file may be a lot larger than the original PDF/DOC/PPT, etc.




    1. The first one applies particularly to files that started out as PowerPoint (PPT) presentations. A presentation typically has the same background graphics on every slide. In the PPT file (or a PDF created from it) that graphic only appears once, and every slide has a reference to it. In the print file, that same graphics will be added once for every slide. A 1 MB graphics in a 20 page page presentation will thus become 20 MB in the spool file. And it could be a lot larger, because of the next issue.


    2. An image may grow when sent to a printer, depending on the printer model. Suppose you have a 1000 x 1000 pixel colour image. The displayed size of it is such that, when printed, it will show as 10" x 10". If you use a PCL5 or GDI printer that is set for 300 dpi, that image will be sent as a 3000 x 3000 pixel image (10 x 300) to account for the printer's resolution. So it is suddenly 9 times larger. This would not happen with PostScript printers, as they are capable of scaling images to suit.


    3. Some people think that, if an image will be printed on a 1200 dpi printer, it needs to be scanned at 1200 dpi for best results, giving a size increase of 16 times compared to 300 dpi. In fact, for printing you only need 300 dpi, regardless of printer resolution. For most applications even 200 dpi will be perfectly adequate. Only for top-end prints (on a printer capable of 2400 dpi or better) would you scan at 600 dpi.



    Note that here are no desktop printers capable of printing better than 1200 dpi (1440 dpi for some inkjets). Any higher quoted "resolution" is only intended to give an idea of the quality of the printer's halftoning (the ability to print shades of colour).






    share|improve this answer































      2














      It is a misconception. The size shown in the printer dialogue is not the file size, it is the size of the print data (the size of the spool for the print job).



      Your file size has not changed.






      share|improve this answer





























        0














        On Windows, what data (format) goes to the printer almost never is the same as the document format you create and edit or receive from someone.
        (An exception may be an XPS document viewed in an XPS viewer being sent to an XPS-capable printer...)



        The document format may be Excel/XLS(X), Word/DOC(X), PowerPoint/PPT(X), PDF, HTML, EPUB, whatever. No printer understands these formats. A printer requires some specific format(s) to be able to consume it and print it on paper.



        The data transfered to the print device (and before transfer being spooled in a local folder) is different: On Windows the locally spooled file format is EMF ('Enhanced Meta File') or (O)XPS ('(Open) XML Paper Specification'). But these are are also not suitable for a printer. Also, it is not the original file which gets sent to the printer and then is no longer on your PC: it's a copy of the file, and that copy needs to be converted to suit the printer. It is the job of the Printer Driver to accomplish this conversion:




        • a PostScript printer wants PostScript

        • a PCL printer wants PCL

        • an ESC/P printer wants ESCP

        • an RCPS printer wants RPCS

        • a raster printer wants raster data (many possible variants)


        So some printer drivers will convert all pages to hi-res raster data, which takes a lot of bytes. And this is what you observe as the "increase" of file size, but mis-interpreted it: because your original document is still un-changed (in format as well as in file size).






        share|improve this answer





















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          4 Answers
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          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          29














          From the following Microsoft Support Article: "The size of the EMF spool file may become very large when you print a document that contains lots of raster data"




          Symptoms When you print a document that contains lots of raster data, the size of the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) spool file may become
          very large. Files such as Adobe .pdf files or Microsoft Word
          .doc/.docx documents may contain lots of raster data. Adobe .pdf files
          and Word .doc/.docx documents that contain gradients are even more
          likely to contain lots of raster data.



          Cause This problem occurs because Graphics Device Interface (GDI) does not compress raster data when the GDI processes EMF spool files
          and generates EMF spool files.



          This problem is very prominent with printers that support higher
          resolutions. The size of the raster data increases by four times if
          the dots-per-inch (dpi) in the file increases by two times. For
          example, a .pdf file of 1 megabyte (MB) may generate an EMF spool file
          of 500 MB. Therefore, you may notice that the printing process
          decreases in performance.



          Resolution

          To resolve this problem, bypass EMF spooling. To do this, follow these steps:



          1. Open the properties dialog box for the printer.
          2. Click the Advanced tab.
          3. Click the Print directly to the printer option.


          Note This will disable all print processor-based features such as the
          following features:




          • N-up

          • Watermark

          • Booklet printing

          • Driver collation

          • Scale-to-fit




          TL;DR - Your PDF file didn't increase in size. It is only a large spool file that was created. It's nothing to worry about but Microsoft provides a solution listed above to prevent that situation from happening again (with a reduction of features).






          share|improve this answer


























            29














            From the following Microsoft Support Article: "The size of the EMF spool file may become very large when you print a document that contains lots of raster data"




            Symptoms When you print a document that contains lots of raster data, the size of the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) spool file may become
            very large. Files such as Adobe .pdf files or Microsoft Word
            .doc/.docx documents may contain lots of raster data. Adobe .pdf files
            and Word .doc/.docx documents that contain gradients are even more
            likely to contain lots of raster data.



            Cause This problem occurs because Graphics Device Interface (GDI) does not compress raster data when the GDI processes EMF spool files
            and generates EMF spool files.



            This problem is very prominent with printers that support higher
            resolutions. The size of the raster data increases by four times if
            the dots-per-inch (dpi) in the file increases by two times. For
            example, a .pdf file of 1 megabyte (MB) may generate an EMF spool file
            of 500 MB. Therefore, you may notice that the printing process
            decreases in performance.



            Resolution

            To resolve this problem, bypass EMF spooling. To do this, follow these steps:



            1. Open the properties dialog box for the printer.
            2. Click the Advanced tab.
            3. Click the Print directly to the printer option.


            Note This will disable all print processor-based features such as the
            following features:




            • N-up

            • Watermark

            • Booklet printing

            • Driver collation

            • Scale-to-fit




            TL;DR - Your PDF file didn't increase in size. It is only a large spool file that was created. It's nothing to worry about but Microsoft provides a solution listed above to prevent that situation from happening again (with a reduction of features).






            share|improve this answer
























              29












              29








              29






              From the following Microsoft Support Article: "The size of the EMF spool file may become very large when you print a document that contains lots of raster data"




              Symptoms When you print a document that contains lots of raster data, the size of the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) spool file may become
              very large. Files such as Adobe .pdf files or Microsoft Word
              .doc/.docx documents may contain lots of raster data. Adobe .pdf files
              and Word .doc/.docx documents that contain gradients are even more
              likely to contain lots of raster data.



              Cause This problem occurs because Graphics Device Interface (GDI) does not compress raster data when the GDI processes EMF spool files
              and generates EMF spool files.



              This problem is very prominent with printers that support higher
              resolutions. The size of the raster data increases by four times if
              the dots-per-inch (dpi) in the file increases by two times. For
              example, a .pdf file of 1 megabyte (MB) may generate an EMF spool file
              of 500 MB. Therefore, you may notice that the printing process
              decreases in performance.



              Resolution

              To resolve this problem, bypass EMF spooling. To do this, follow these steps:



              1. Open the properties dialog box for the printer.
              2. Click the Advanced tab.
              3. Click the Print directly to the printer option.


              Note This will disable all print processor-based features such as the
              following features:




              • N-up

              • Watermark

              • Booklet printing

              • Driver collation

              • Scale-to-fit




              TL;DR - Your PDF file didn't increase in size. It is only a large spool file that was created. It's nothing to worry about but Microsoft provides a solution listed above to prevent that situation from happening again (with a reduction of features).






              share|improve this answer












              From the following Microsoft Support Article: "The size of the EMF spool file may become very large when you print a document that contains lots of raster data"




              Symptoms When you print a document that contains lots of raster data, the size of the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) spool file may become
              very large. Files such as Adobe .pdf files or Microsoft Word
              .doc/.docx documents may contain lots of raster data. Adobe .pdf files
              and Word .doc/.docx documents that contain gradients are even more
              likely to contain lots of raster data.



              Cause This problem occurs because Graphics Device Interface (GDI) does not compress raster data when the GDI processes EMF spool files
              and generates EMF spool files.



              This problem is very prominent with printers that support higher
              resolutions. The size of the raster data increases by four times if
              the dots-per-inch (dpi) in the file increases by two times. For
              example, a .pdf file of 1 megabyte (MB) may generate an EMF spool file
              of 500 MB. Therefore, you may notice that the printing process
              decreases in performance.



              Resolution

              To resolve this problem, bypass EMF spooling. To do this, follow these steps:



              1. Open the properties dialog box for the printer.
              2. Click the Advanced tab.
              3. Click the Print directly to the printer option.


              Note This will disable all print processor-based features such as the
              following features:




              • N-up

              • Watermark

              • Booklet printing

              • Driver collation

              • Scale-to-fit




              TL;DR - Your PDF file didn't increase in size. It is only a large spool file that was created. It's nothing to worry about but Microsoft provides a solution listed above to prevent that situation from happening again (with a reduction of features).







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered Mar 31 '18 at 0:50









              n8ten8te

              4,71972232




              4,71972232

























                  5














                  There are a number of reasons why a print file may be a lot larger than the original PDF/DOC/PPT, etc.




                  1. The first one applies particularly to files that started out as PowerPoint (PPT) presentations. A presentation typically has the same background graphics on every slide. In the PPT file (or a PDF created from it) that graphic only appears once, and every slide has a reference to it. In the print file, that same graphics will be added once for every slide. A 1 MB graphics in a 20 page page presentation will thus become 20 MB in the spool file. And it could be a lot larger, because of the next issue.


                  2. An image may grow when sent to a printer, depending on the printer model. Suppose you have a 1000 x 1000 pixel colour image. The displayed size of it is such that, when printed, it will show as 10" x 10". If you use a PCL5 or GDI printer that is set for 300 dpi, that image will be sent as a 3000 x 3000 pixel image (10 x 300) to account for the printer's resolution. So it is suddenly 9 times larger. This would not happen with PostScript printers, as they are capable of scaling images to suit.


                  3. Some people think that, if an image will be printed on a 1200 dpi printer, it needs to be scanned at 1200 dpi for best results, giving a size increase of 16 times compared to 300 dpi. In fact, for printing you only need 300 dpi, regardless of printer resolution. For most applications even 200 dpi will be perfectly adequate. Only for top-end prints (on a printer capable of 2400 dpi or better) would you scan at 600 dpi.



                  Note that here are no desktop printers capable of printing better than 1200 dpi (1440 dpi for some inkjets). Any higher quoted "resolution" is only intended to give an idea of the quality of the printer's halftoning (the ability to print shades of colour).






                  share|improve this answer




























                    5














                    There are a number of reasons why a print file may be a lot larger than the original PDF/DOC/PPT, etc.




                    1. The first one applies particularly to files that started out as PowerPoint (PPT) presentations. A presentation typically has the same background graphics on every slide. In the PPT file (or a PDF created from it) that graphic only appears once, and every slide has a reference to it. In the print file, that same graphics will be added once for every slide. A 1 MB graphics in a 20 page page presentation will thus become 20 MB in the spool file. And it could be a lot larger, because of the next issue.


                    2. An image may grow when sent to a printer, depending on the printer model. Suppose you have a 1000 x 1000 pixel colour image. The displayed size of it is such that, when printed, it will show as 10" x 10". If you use a PCL5 or GDI printer that is set for 300 dpi, that image will be sent as a 3000 x 3000 pixel image (10 x 300) to account for the printer's resolution. So it is suddenly 9 times larger. This would not happen with PostScript printers, as they are capable of scaling images to suit.


                    3. Some people think that, if an image will be printed on a 1200 dpi printer, it needs to be scanned at 1200 dpi for best results, giving a size increase of 16 times compared to 300 dpi. In fact, for printing you only need 300 dpi, regardless of printer resolution. For most applications even 200 dpi will be perfectly adequate. Only for top-end prints (on a printer capable of 2400 dpi or better) would you scan at 600 dpi.



                    Note that here are no desktop printers capable of printing better than 1200 dpi (1440 dpi for some inkjets). Any higher quoted "resolution" is only intended to give an idea of the quality of the printer's halftoning (the ability to print shades of colour).






                    share|improve this answer


























                      5












                      5








                      5






                      There are a number of reasons why a print file may be a lot larger than the original PDF/DOC/PPT, etc.




                      1. The first one applies particularly to files that started out as PowerPoint (PPT) presentations. A presentation typically has the same background graphics on every slide. In the PPT file (or a PDF created from it) that graphic only appears once, and every slide has a reference to it. In the print file, that same graphics will be added once for every slide. A 1 MB graphics in a 20 page page presentation will thus become 20 MB in the spool file. And it could be a lot larger, because of the next issue.


                      2. An image may grow when sent to a printer, depending on the printer model. Suppose you have a 1000 x 1000 pixel colour image. The displayed size of it is such that, when printed, it will show as 10" x 10". If you use a PCL5 or GDI printer that is set for 300 dpi, that image will be sent as a 3000 x 3000 pixel image (10 x 300) to account for the printer's resolution. So it is suddenly 9 times larger. This would not happen with PostScript printers, as they are capable of scaling images to suit.


                      3. Some people think that, if an image will be printed on a 1200 dpi printer, it needs to be scanned at 1200 dpi for best results, giving a size increase of 16 times compared to 300 dpi. In fact, for printing you only need 300 dpi, regardless of printer resolution. For most applications even 200 dpi will be perfectly adequate. Only for top-end prints (on a printer capable of 2400 dpi or better) would you scan at 600 dpi.



                      Note that here are no desktop printers capable of printing better than 1200 dpi (1440 dpi for some inkjets). Any higher quoted "resolution" is only intended to give an idea of the quality of the printer's halftoning (the ability to print shades of colour).






                      share|improve this answer














                      There are a number of reasons why a print file may be a lot larger than the original PDF/DOC/PPT, etc.




                      1. The first one applies particularly to files that started out as PowerPoint (PPT) presentations. A presentation typically has the same background graphics on every slide. In the PPT file (or a PDF created from it) that graphic only appears once, and every slide has a reference to it. In the print file, that same graphics will be added once for every slide. A 1 MB graphics in a 20 page page presentation will thus become 20 MB in the spool file. And it could be a lot larger, because of the next issue.


                      2. An image may grow when sent to a printer, depending on the printer model. Suppose you have a 1000 x 1000 pixel colour image. The displayed size of it is such that, when printed, it will show as 10" x 10". If you use a PCL5 or GDI printer that is set for 300 dpi, that image will be sent as a 3000 x 3000 pixel image (10 x 300) to account for the printer's resolution. So it is suddenly 9 times larger. This would not happen with PostScript printers, as they are capable of scaling images to suit.


                      3. Some people think that, if an image will be printed on a 1200 dpi printer, it needs to be scanned at 1200 dpi for best results, giving a size increase of 16 times compared to 300 dpi. In fact, for printing you only need 300 dpi, regardless of printer resolution. For most applications even 200 dpi will be perfectly adequate. Only for top-end prints (on a printer capable of 2400 dpi or better) would you scan at 600 dpi.



                      Note that here are no desktop printers capable of printing better than 1200 dpi (1440 dpi for some inkjets). Any higher quoted "resolution" is only intended to give an idea of the quality of the printer's halftoning (the ability to print shades of colour).







                      share|improve this answer














                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer








                      edited Mar 31 '18 at 9:00

























                      answered Mar 31 '18 at 2:48









                      hdhondthdhondt

                      2,7502910




                      2,7502910























                          2














                          It is a misconception. The size shown in the printer dialogue is not the file size, it is the size of the print data (the size of the spool for the print job).



                          Your file size has not changed.






                          share|improve this answer


























                            2














                            It is a misconception. The size shown in the printer dialogue is not the file size, it is the size of the print data (the size of the spool for the print job).



                            Your file size has not changed.






                            share|improve this answer
























                              2












                              2








                              2






                              It is a misconception. The size shown in the printer dialogue is not the file size, it is the size of the print data (the size of the spool for the print job).



                              Your file size has not changed.






                              share|improve this answer












                              It is a misconception. The size shown in the printer dialogue is not the file size, it is the size of the print data (the size of the spool for the print job).



                              Your file size has not changed.







                              share|improve this answer












                              share|improve this answer



                              share|improve this answer










                              answered Apr 1 '18 at 7:24









                              WilltechWilltech

                              1825




                              1825























                                  0














                                  On Windows, what data (format) goes to the printer almost never is the same as the document format you create and edit or receive from someone.
                                  (An exception may be an XPS document viewed in an XPS viewer being sent to an XPS-capable printer...)



                                  The document format may be Excel/XLS(X), Word/DOC(X), PowerPoint/PPT(X), PDF, HTML, EPUB, whatever. No printer understands these formats. A printer requires some specific format(s) to be able to consume it and print it on paper.



                                  The data transfered to the print device (and before transfer being spooled in a local folder) is different: On Windows the locally spooled file format is EMF ('Enhanced Meta File') or (O)XPS ('(Open) XML Paper Specification'). But these are are also not suitable for a printer. Also, it is not the original file which gets sent to the printer and then is no longer on your PC: it's a copy of the file, and that copy needs to be converted to suit the printer. It is the job of the Printer Driver to accomplish this conversion:




                                  • a PostScript printer wants PostScript

                                  • a PCL printer wants PCL

                                  • an ESC/P printer wants ESCP

                                  • an RCPS printer wants RPCS

                                  • a raster printer wants raster data (many possible variants)


                                  So some printer drivers will convert all pages to hi-res raster data, which takes a lot of bytes. And this is what you observe as the "increase" of file size, but mis-interpreted it: because your original document is still un-changed (in format as well as in file size).






                                  share|improve this answer


























                                    0














                                    On Windows, what data (format) goes to the printer almost never is the same as the document format you create and edit or receive from someone.
                                    (An exception may be an XPS document viewed in an XPS viewer being sent to an XPS-capable printer...)



                                    The document format may be Excel/XLS(X), Word/DOC(X), PowerPoint/PPT(X), PDF, HTML, EPUB, whatever. No printer understands these formats. A printer requires some specific format(s) to be able to consume it and print it on paper.



                                    The data transfered to the print device (and before transfer being spooled in a local folder) is different: On Windows the locally spooled file format is EMF ('Enhanced Meta File') or (O)XPS ('(Open) XML Paper Specification'). But these are are also not suitable for a printer. Also, it is not the original file which gets sent to the printer and then is no longer on your PC: it's a copy of the file, and that copy needs to be converted to suit the printer. It is the job of the Printer Driver to accomplish this conversion:




                                    • a PostScript printer wants PostScript

                                    • a PCL printer wants PCL

                                    • an ESC/P printer wants ESCP

                                    • an RCPS printer wants RPCS

                                    • a raster printer wants raster data (many possible variants)


                                    So some printer drivers will convert all pages to hi-res raster data, which takes a lot of bytes. And this is what you observe as the "increase" of file size, but mis-interpreted it: because your original document is still un-changed (in format as well as in file size).






                                    share|improve this answer
























                                      0












                                      0








                                      0






                                      On Windows, what data (format) goes to the printer almost never is the same as the document format you create and edit or receive from someone.
                                      (An exception may be an XPS document viewed in an XPS viewer being sent to an XPS-capable printer...)



                                      The document format may be Excel/XLS(X), Word/DOC(X), PowerPoint/PPT(X), PDF, HTML, EPUB, whatever. No printer understands these formats. A printer requires some specific format(s) to be able to consume it and print it on paper.



                                      The data transfered to the print device (and before transfer being spooled in a local folder) is different: On Windows the locally spooled file format is EMF ('Enhanced Meta File') or (O)XPS ('(Open) XML Paper Specification'). But these are are also not suitable for a printer. Also, it is not the original file which gets sent to the printer and then is no longer on your PC: it's a copy of the file, and that copy needs to be converted to suit the printer. It is the job of the Printer Driver to accomplish this conversion:




                                      • a PostScript printer wants PostScript

                                      • a PCL printer wants PCL

                                      • an ESC/P printer wants ESCP

                                      • an RCPS printer wants RPCS

                                      • a raster printer wants raster data (many possible variants)


                                      So some printer drivers will convert all pages to hi-res raster data, which takes a lot of bytes. And this is what you observe as the "increase" of file size, but mis-interpreted it: because your original document is still un-changed (in format as well as in file size).






                                      share|improve this answer












                                      On Windows, what data (format) goes to the printer almost never is the same as the document format you create and edit or receive from someone.
                                      (An exception may be an XPS document viewed in an XPS viewer being sent to an XPS-capable printer...)



                                      The document format may be Excel/XLS(X), Word/DOC(X), PowerPoint/PPT(X), PDF, HTML, EPUB, whatever. No printer understands these formats. A printer requires some specific format(s) to be able to consume it and print it on paper.



                                      The data transfered to the print device (and before transfer being spooled in a local folder) is different: On Windows the locally spooled file format is EMF ('Enhanced Meta File') or (O)XPS ('(Open) XML Paper Specification'). But these are are also not suitable for a printer. Also, it is not the original file which gets sent to the printer and then is no longer on your PC: it's a copy of the file, and that copy needs to be converted to suit the printer. It is the job of the Printer Driver to accomplish this conversion:




                                      • a PostScript printer wants PostScript

                                      • a PCL printer wants PCL

                                      • an ESC/P printer wants ESCP

                                      • an RCPS printer wants RPCS

                                      • a raster printer wants raster data (many possible variants)


                                      So some printer drivers will convert all pages to hi-res raster data, which takes a lot of bytes. And this is what you observe as the "increase" of file size, but mis-interpreted it: because your original document is still un-changed (in format as well as in file size).







                                      share|improve this answer












                                      share|improve this answer



                                      share|improve this answer










                                      answered Dec 15 '18 at 18:40









                                      Kurt PfeifleKurt Pfeifle

                                      9,21713555




                                      9,21713555






























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