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I am trying to convert several GIF files into JPG format, but I want to do it with minimal loss.

Generally, when saving files in the JPG format results in loss of quality. How can I minimize that loss with any free tools available to me? For the sake of this question, Microsoft Paint and Microsoft Paint 3D should be considered "free" tools, since I have access to them. Similarly, any utility freely distributed on the Interwebs would count.

Thanks!

P.S.: The reason I want JPGs over GIFs is to add metadata tags that travel with the file.

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  • Why do you say that "Generally, when saving files in the JPG format results in loss of quality"? There should not be any noticeable loss of quality unless you also resize to a smaller size. One thing that is happening is that it losses transparency and gets white where it was transparent.
    – Yisroel Tech
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 6:22
  • @YisroelTech: JPG is a lossy compression format. Every time an image gets encoded (or re-enconded) as a JPG image quality can, in principle, deteriorate. See this article for more info: learnmem.cshlp.org/site/misc/tsg_JPEG_instructions.pdf
    – ltcomdata
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 14:10
  • I know that in principle it does, was just saying that in actuality - if you are not talking about extream zooms etc - it's not noticeable.
    – Yisroel Tech
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 14:31
  • How about GIMP or IrfanView
    – albert
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 14:53
  • Image Converter is great, Has been around and supported for over 30 years.. Not free.
    – Natsfan
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 21:24

1 Answer 1

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Any image converter (not minimal Image Editor, like paint) should give you quality options when converting the format, and if you choose the best quality you should be fine (although there definitely will be some loss of quality due to change it the compression type.)

I'm using the CoffeeCup PixConverter which is free, easy to use, and has all kind of conversion options. Set it as below (Quality 100%, No resize, No smaller color depth) and the photo should stay very high res and sharp.

enter image description here

As an aside, PNG support XMP to have metadata attached to it, so if it is only for your need that you want to have the metadata on the file, PNG with an XMP Writing software might be a solution.

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  • Thank you Yisroel. I did find the relevant settings in the program I went with (XnConvert). Also, I decided instead to convert to .tif files, which are also editable by Windows natively.
    – ltcomdata
    Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 23:19

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