Compression (or not) of image files

[David_Juhlin]

We have a request to store photos "in their original format", without compression, etc.

I know that OnBase will generally compress text and other files, and I see in the MRG that we can set INI settings (for the Thick Client) or CompressMode, but before I spend a lot of time testing, I hope someone has a definitive answer to this question:

How can we ensure these photos (most likely JPEG files) are not compressed/altered when they are stored in OnBase?

(Does it matter if the photos are swept into a scan queue vs imported? Does the use of the Thick Client vs Unity Client have an impact?) 

Thanks,
David

[Ryan_Wakefield]

Well, I do want to make sure to note on this that JPEG's are already a compressed file. So technically when you are storing the files as JPEG's then you are storing them as compressed files.

However, if you are storing documents in the Image File Format (TIF) then those aren't compressed and they can be if you would like them to be.

Overall, it just depends on the type of file and whether it can be compressed or not.

So I would work on reviewing all of the different file formats of the documents you currently have stored in OnBase and then determining whether they can be compressed or not.

I know this isn't a perfect answer, but I think it does at least give you a lot of details to work with to make a well informed decision.

[Thomas_Reu]

Just because it is original format doesn't mean it isn't already compressed.   Tifs can be uncompressed, as Ryan alludes to, or they can have various types of compression.  From the quality I've seen in jpg's (which are compressed), I'm not sure why anyone would want to go with uncompressed files, unless their salary is somehow tied to the disk space being used.  Out of curiosity, did the requester provide any insight into their reason?

[Nasir_McKnight]

Sometimes there is a business requirement from the state (for government agencies) that may impact what formats you are allowed to have.  Some require lossless compression types or only allow certain file types depending on retention (for example greater than X years must be in a specific format).  Of note JPEG can be lossy compression.

I would double check on if JPEG is the format in question for the photos.   Also are these physical photos being scanned or just digital pictures from a camera.  A scanner may have an impact on the compression.  As well as options available to you.  Some options are available only with TWAIN scan formats.

[David_Juhlin]

The government regulation says that once the images are captured, then they need to be saved in the same format.  Since the original images are made using a digital camera, we are committed to the file format/compression used by the camera.  We would use a Sweep or Import process to bring them in to OnBase, but I need to make sure OnBase won't compress or otherwise manipulate the files.  That way, when requested, we can copy the files out of OnBase to a secure disk, etc. and know that what we provide is an 'exact copy' of the original.