LZW Compression

Why does MS Office Document Imaging 2003 offer LZW compression? Is it
supposed to work? When I open a .tif file with no compression and then save
as by indicating LZW compression, Document Imaging saves the document
without any compression. What's going on?

Hi Jay,

Yes, the LZW compression does work, but what you
see as a result in file size can depend on the
content of the graphic, including the source and
bit rate used.

For example, if I create a 1000 pxl by 1000 pxl
graphic in a single solid color at 100 ppi and
save it uncompressed it takes 2.8mb. Same file
saved with LZW compression will yield a file of 108K.
But in a complex graphic (painting or photo) it
can be a no change or even slightly larger file
than the original.

This information may be helpful to you regarding
the LZW compression.
http://www.scantips.com/basics9t.html

You can also choose JPEG compression in MS Office
Document Imaging for TIF files.

======
"Jay Gourley" wrote in message ...
Why does MS Office Document Imaging 2003 offer LZW compression? Is it
supposed to work? When I open a .tif file with no compression and then save
as by indicating LZW compression, Document Imaging saves the document
without any compression. What's going on?
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 Editions explained
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:31:59 -0500, "Jay Gourley"
wrote:

Why does MS Office Document Imaging 2003 offer LZW compression? Is it
supposed to work? When I open a .tif file with no compression and then save
as by indicating LZW compression, Document Imaging saves the document
without any compression. What's going on?

I suspect LZW won't compress a tif file. Very few lossless compressions
schemes will make much of a dent on that type of file. You are stuck with a
"lossy" method if you want to get any significant compression, line jpeg
(jpg).