Ftp Large Illustrator Files

Thanks to the internet we can send files quickly to the printer or client via ftp. But sometimes the files become quite large when combined, even when zipped. Here’s a great trick I’ve learned that will help get those file sizes down, which means less uploading time.

If you’re creating your layout in Adobe Illustrator, and the image you’re placing in the layout is large, let’s say it is 45” x 12”, 300dpi, and cmyk. That image would be 185 Megs when open and about 44 Megs saved as a jpeg. And when you save your Illustrator file with that image in it, the Illustrator file size becomes just as big as the image file size. Even zipping these files doesn’t reduce the file size much. The time it takes to upload a file this size sometimes takes too long. How do you get the file size down will keeping the high-resolution? Here is what you do:

If your image is created from a high-resolution (300dpi) layered Photoshop file, flatten the file, change the resolution to 72dpi and save it as a jpeg. Place the jpeg into your Illustrator file (make sure to link it, not embed it), and save the Illustrator file. You’ll notice the file size of the Illustrator file is a lot smaller when saved with a low-resolution jpeg linked to it.

Now, go back to your psd file, flatten again, but don’t change the resolution (keep it at 300dpi) and save it as a jpeg with the same name as the low-resolution jpeg. This jpeg and the Illustrator file you saved before are the files that you will zip and upload to the ftp site. The uploading time should be relatively short compared to the time it would take to upload the files had you saved the Illustrator file with the high-resolution file in it.

When the printer downloads the zipped files and opens up the Illustrator file, it will link to the high-resolution jpeg you’ve sent with it because it is saved with the same name as the low-resolution file. The file size was kept small, the upload time was short and you’ve met your deadline!