File size and greener internetting

There seems to be a misconception that large images automatically lead to a large file size. There is a little bit truth in that but JPEG compression plays a much bigger role. Here are two images both with the same dimensions (1200x800). Both resized and saved in Irfanview. One with a JPEG quality of 100% (no compression) and the other one with a JPEG quality of 80%. Can you spot the difference? The 100% one is 693kb, the 80% one is 126kb.

How does that relate to greener internetting. Well all those bits of course have to travel from wherever they are stored to your computer. Bigger files take a heavier toll on the infrastructure and thus use more electricity.

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