As a creative professional, it is exciting to have access to an infinite canvas like Mag+. One can get really carried away with bringing their design to life with HTML, movies and other rich media. The only problem is that these exciting options add to the overall file size of each issue. As your file size grows so does the ire of the accounting department.
Here are two tips for reducing that overall file size and, in turn, reducing the download costs associated with feature rich media.
First, saving your photos as level 8 jpgs can shave a few MBs off the end total. In Photoshop, just execute a “save as” and select the HIGH setting rather than the default maximum.
Second, using a software program such as Handbrake can compress your movie files into a much more palatable size. You can even set the desired file size within the interface. In a matter of minutes, I recently reduced a 114MB .mov file into a 34MB .m4v while retaining all the quality of the original.
Before and After Handbrake file sizes.
Hope this helps those of you out there with just these types of concerns.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Cheers – @magplus_matt
