JPEG export settings that actually matter

Exporting a JPG comes down to three decisions: how many pixels, how much compression, and which color space. Here is how to pick each one for social media, the web, email and print without guesswork.

You have finished developing a RAW file and the photo looks right on your screen. The last step, exporting a JPEG, is where many good images quietly get worse: they are blurred by a platform's resizer, crushed by heavy compression, or shown with dull colors because the color space was wrong. The good news is that only a handful of settings matter, and once you understand them you can pick sensible values in seconds.

This guide walks through those settings in the order you should think about them: the destination first, then pixel dimensions, then quality, then color and metadata.

Start with the destination, not the file

There is no single "best" export. A JPEG meant for a phone screen, one meant for a 30 x 40 cm print and one meant for a client's archive have different jobs. Before touching any setting, answer two questions:

• Where will it be seen? A social feed, a website, an email, a print lab, or a hard drive?
• Will anyone edit or crop it later? If yes, give them more pixels than the final use needs.

Your RAW file stays the master copy. A JPEG is just a delivery format, so it is perfectly normal to export the same photo several times at different sizes. If you are unsure why you would keep the RAW at all, the RAW vs JPEG guide covers the trade-offs.

Pixels are what count on screens

Every screen and every web platform thinks in pixels. A photo that is 2048 pixels on its long edge contains the same information whether its file says 72 PPI or 300 PPI. The PPI (pixels per inch) number stored in a JPEG is just a hint for printing software. On a website or in an app it is ignored.

That is why the old advice to "export at 72 dpi for the web" is a myth that refuses to die. What actually changes the file is the pixel dimensions. Set those and leave the PPI field alone unless a print lab specifically asks for it.

Commonly used sizes

Platforms change their display sizes and compression rules from time to time, so treat the numbers below as widely used starting points rather than official, permanent specifications. When a platform publishes its own current guidance, that wins.

Why 2048 px is a sweet spot for sharing

A 2048 px long edge is large enough to look crisp on almost any phone and on most laptop screens, small enough to upload quickly, and close to what several large platforms display. RAWSnap's Save for phone button uses exactly that: it resizes the developed image so the long edge is 2048 px. For Instagram, that file will still be downscaled to around 1080 px, but it gives the platform plenty to work with.

Print: now PPI matters

Printing is the one place where pixels per inch has a real meaning, because the paper has a physical size. The required pixel count is simply the print size multiplied by the resolution you want:

pixels needed = print size in inches x PPI

A common target for prints viewed at arm's length is 300 PPI. Large prints viewed from a distance can look fine at 150 to 200 PPI, because nobody inspects a poster from 20 cm away.

A 24-megapixel camera produces roughly 6000 x 4000 pixels, which covers a 12 x 18 inch print at 300 PPI with room to spare. For prints, always export at full resolution and let the lab or printer driver do any final scaling. In RAWSnap that is the Save full quality button, which re-decodes the RAW at full resolution before encoding the JPEG.

JPEG quality: where the savings are

JPEG is a lossy format. The quality setting controls how aggressively the encoder throws away fine detail and color information to shrink the file. The relationship between quality and file size is not linear:

• Quality 100 produces very large files for almost no visible gain over the low-to-mid 90s.
• Quality 85 to 95 is where most photographers live. Files are much smaller and differences are hard to see at normal viewing size.
• Below about 75, artifacts start to show: blocky skies, halos around high-contrast edges, and smeared fine texture such as grass or hair.

The scale is also not standardized. "Quality 80" in one program is not guaranteed to equal "80" in another, so judge by looking at the result rather than the number.

RAWSnap encodes every export at a fixed quality of 92%. That leaves headroom for platforms that recompress your upload, while keeping files far smaller than a quality-100 export. If you need a specific file-size limit, for example a competition that caps entries at 2 MB, export with Save for phone first; a 2048 px JPEG at that quality usually lands well under a few megabytes, though the exact size depends on how much detail is in the scene.

Avoid re-saving JPEGs

Every time a JPEG is opened, edited and saved as a JPEG again, it loses a little more quality. That is the strongest practical reason to keep the RAW: if you want a different look or size later, go back to the RAW and export a fresh JPEG instead of editing the old one.

Color space: export in sRGB for screens

A color space defines which range of colors the numbers in a file represent. For anything that will be viewed on the web, on phones or in messaging apps, sRGB is the safe choice. It is the default assumption of browsers and most apps, so colors look as intended even where color management is weak.

Wider spaces such as Adobe RGB or Display P3 can hold more saturated colors, but if a viewer treats them as sRGB, the image looks flat and dull. RAWSnap always outputs sRGB, which is the right answer for nearly every sharing scenario. The color spaces guide explains when a wider space is worth the trouble, mainly for certain print workflows.

Bit depth and the limits of JPEG

Standard JPEG stores 8 bits per channel, which is plenty for a finished image. It becomes a limitation only if you plan to edit the exported file heavily. Big pushes on 8-bit data, especially in smooth gradients like skies, can produce visible banding. The fix is to make your big adjustments while developing the RAW and treat the JPEG as final. If you need a 16-bit file for further retouching, use a full RAW editor that exports TIFF; RAWSnap is designed for finished JPEG output only.

Metadata: what goes along with the picture

JPEGs from cameras usually carry EXIF metadata: camera model, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, date and time, and sometimes GPS coordinates. That can be useful for your own records, and it can be a privacy problem when you share images publicly, since location data can reveal where you live or work.

Many social platforms strip most metadata on upload, but not every website, cloud folder or email client does. RAWSnap does not copy EXIF metadata into exported JPEGs at all. That means no location leaks, but it also means the exported file has no capture date or camera information. If you rely on dates to sort photos in a library app, keep that in mind and either keep the RAW alongside the JPEG or use filenames that include the date. The archiving guide has a simple naming scheme that helps here.

Sharpening and resizing

Downsizing an image tends to make it look slightly softer, which is why dedicated editors offer "output sharpening" tuned for screen or paper. RAWSnap does not have a sharpening control. If a resized photo looks a little soft, a small Contrast or Clarity boost (around +5 to +10) can make it feel crisper, since in RAWSnap Clarity acts as extra overall contrast. That is not true sharpening; for photos that need it, use an editor with output sharpening.

For critical print work, sharpening for a specific paper and viewing distance is a job for a full editor or the print lab's own process.

Quick recipes

1. Instagram or a messaging app: Save for phone (2048 px, sRGB). For a taller feed image, use RAWSnap's 4:5 or 3:4 crop and "Save for social", which exports exactly 1080 pixels wide.
2. Blog or portfolio: Save for phone for most images; full quality only if your site builder generates its own resized versions.
3. Email to a client: Save for phone, and send a handful at a time or use a file-sharing link for a full set.
4. Prints: Save full quality and check the aspect ratio of the paper.
5. A whole shoot: open every file and use the ZIP export buttons. The batch workflow guide shows how to keep looks consistent across a set.

FAQ

Should I export at 72 or 300 dpi for the web?

It makes no difference on screens. Browsers and apps display pixels and ignore the PPI or DPI value stored in the file. Choose the pixel dimensions instead.

What JPEG quality should I use?

Something in the 85 to 95 range suits almost all photos. Quality 100 inflates file size with little visible benefit. RAWSnap uses a fixed 92%.

Why does my photo look worse after uploading to social media?

Platforms resize and recompress uploads. Exporting close to the platform's display size in sRGB reduces how much the platform has to change, which usually keeps the image sharper.

How many pixels do I need for an 8 x 10 inch print?

About 2400 x 3000 pixels at 300 PPI, or 1600 x 2000 pixels at 200 PPI. Most modern cameras exceed this easily when you export at full resolution.

Does RAWSnap keep my camera settings and GPS location in the JPEG?

No. Exported JPEGs contain no EXIF metadata, so location data is not shared, but camera settings and capture date are not included either.