Graphics

Internet Image Degradation

Do things grow old in cyberspace? The answer is "yes"...

When pictures are constantly copied from website to website, and recompressed and rescaled every time, an interesting loss of quality occurs gradually over time. This page tries to simulate and display this gradual devolution. The first picture is the original.

First someone reduced to a 26 color gif.

Then they resized the image to 422 pixels and compressed the image at 63% jpeg quality.

Someone else resized the image to 339 pixels and compressed the image at 23% jpeg quality.

After that, they added a bit of contrast, added a bit of sharpen because it looked blurry, resized the image to 444 pixels and compressed the image at 30% jpeg quality.

Then someone resized the image to 446 pixels and compressed the image at 33% jpeg quality.

Then they reduced to a 51 color gif.

Someone added a bit of contrast, resized the image to 410 pixels and compressed the image at 46% jpeg quality.

After that, they rotated the image, resized the image to 508 pixels and compressed the image at 19% jpeg quality.

Then someone reduced to a 29 color gif.

After that and they reduced to a 41 color gif.

Someone else reduced to a 14 color gif.

Then they added a bit of sharpen because it looked blurry, resized the image to 473 pixels, compressed the image at 14% jpeg quality and then someone added a bit of contrast, resized the image to 401 pixels and compressed the image at 10% jpeg quality.

Someone resized the image to 351 pixels and compressed the image at 15% jpeg quality and someone else reduced to a 13 color gif.

Someone reduced to a 43 color gif and someone else resized the image to 568 pixels and compressed the image at 33% jpeg quality.

After that, they resized the image to 512 pixels, compressed the image at 32% jpeg quality and after that, they added a bit of contrast, resized the image to 540 pixels and compressed the image at 35% jpeg quality.

Then someone reduced to a 20 color gif and after that, they resized the image to 348 pixels and compressed the image at 12% jpeg quality.

Someone else reduced to a 29 color gif and after that, they resized the image to 376 pixels and compressed the image at 17% jpeg quality.

Someone else resized the image to 324 pixels, compressed the image at 32% jpeg quality and then someone added a bit of contrast, resized the image to 401 pixels and compressed the image at 35% jpeg quality.

Someone else reduced to a 18 color gif and then they reduced to a 11 color gif.

Then they resized the image to 525 pixels, compressed the image at 30% jpeg quality and then they resized the image to 337 pixels and compressed the image at 34% jpeg quality.

Finally someone added a bit of contrast, resized the image to 442 pixels and compressed the image at 24% jpeg quality.

Oh my, that got pretty bad.

Website by Joachim Michaelis