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I have a PSD file with one layer. When I try to save as JPEG it doesn't show JPEG and other formats as an option. It only displays a limited set of formats (5) including Photoshop.

When I manually create another PSD file I am able to save it in any format I like. I think it's something with palette or layers.

What can be wrong with the PSD file that I can't save in normal formats and what I can do to save it to these formats in Photoshop?

UPDATE

I have the following MODE: RGB, 32 Bit/Channel.

When I switch to 8 Bit/Channel it works now - I have all standard formats as option - JPEG, PNG, etc. But the problem now is that my image doesn't look good with 8 Bit color. Is it possible to do something to save it without losing the original picture?

UPDATE 2

I have 32 bit JPEG photos on my computer + most icons I work with are 32 bit PNG images. Why doesn't Photoshop allow 32 bit JPEG ? What am I doing wrong?

UPDATE 3

Is 8 bit/channel actually 32 bit color?

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6
  • I don't think you can SAVE as a JPG. You have to EXPORT as a JPG.
    – DA01
    Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 23:07
  • That's a separate question, but it's probably an incorrect file extension. It could be a TIFF file using JPEG-XR (HD Photo/Windows Meda Photo) compression, which supports 32-bit color depth.
    – Lèse majesté
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 20:27
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    What monitor and graphics card are you using that displays more than 8 bits per channel? As far as I know, 32 bits per channel is generally going to be simulated (?)
    – horatio
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 20:33
  • @horatio: Yea, I've personally found that Photoshop bands more heavily in 32-bit mode than in 8-bit, probably because the quantization needed to simulate 32-bit color on 8-bit displays.
    – Lèse majesté
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 22:01
  • I have the same problem here. I can't save as my file even I'm on 8 bit mode on RGB. I can save it if I will close the project and the pop-up comes, it will only save as PSB, PSD, TIFF, DCM, and PDF. Please help me on it.
    – user10431
    Commented Mar 4, 2013 at 8:53

7 Answers 7

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Any time a format isn't available in the Save As dialog, it means that format is invalid for the document in the state it's in. There's no such thing (as Lese and cwedge point out), as a 32-bit (or 16-bit) jpeg, nor a duotone, Lab or 1-bit bitmap jpeg.

Photoshop versions prior to CS5 would simply not show jpeg as an available option for 16-bit images, which drove enough people slightly crazy that the Photoshop team incorporated an automatic conversion into CS5.

A valid jpeg is an 8-bit image in RGB or CMYK.

To answer your three updates, you are not going to get the same quality from 8 bits/channel as from 32 bits/channel, but jpeg is 8 bits/channel so you don't have a choice if you need jpeg output. By working carefully in Photoshop, you can achieve the best compromise for a particular purpose.

Bit depth is specified differently depending on context. For an image, "8 bit" means 8 bits per channel. A CMYK jpeg has 8 bits x 4 channels -- 32 bits per pixel -- but is still referred to as "8 bit". A "16 bit tiff" is an tiff with 16 bits per channel.

Displays are specified in bits per pixel, so a "24 bit display" allows 8 bits per RGB channel. The newest monitors are 30 bit -- 10 bits per RGB channel -- but require special support from both the OS and the GPU.

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  • and cmyk jpegs often are not recognized by old people's email programs :)
    – horatio
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 20:35
  • That's da trufe, bro! And it's not just email programs. Happily, I deal mostly with not-old people... :)
    – Alan Gilbertson
    Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 21:59
  • Hi @AlanGilbertson your answer is most complete, thank you. Could you help with my last question - in Update 3
    – Vladimir
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 9:04
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    32 bit color means several things, depending on who is talking and what they are talking about. The wikipedia entry about it is probably most complete. For computer OS use, 32 bit usually means 24-bit RGB + 8 bit alpha. Where 8 bits per channel x 3 channels + 8 bit alpha = 32 bits. In Photoshop, 32-bits is 32 bits per channel which, in the same terms as the desktop terminology is more like 128-bit ((3RGB + 1 Alpha) x 32 bpc). 32-bit per channel is often used for HDR photosgraphy etc. because there are more potentially unique numeric values for describing colors. 8 bits = 2^8 = 256 possible.
    – horatio
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 15:28
  • Most consumer hardware just supports plain old 8bits per channel, but 16bpc and 32pbc supporting hardware does exist as far as I know (high end graphic workstations). Similarly to audio hardware, the pros tend to work in higher bit depths and then downsample for consumer, but this can introduce dithering effects. Note that I am going off of old experience here, and things change quite a bit in a short amount of time. I could be wrong or wrongish.
    – horatio
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 15:31
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You probably have the color mode set to 32-bit per channel, but it's hard to tell without knowing what the 5 displayed formats are.

If that is the case: first rasterize the layers, then change Image|Mode from 32 bits per channel to 16 bits per channel. Save As then includes JPEG but with a warning that you can ignore; just save it.

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3

Quick and easy workaround is to Save a Copy. Hold down Option/Alt when you choose Save As. If there's something about the image specifically preventing a format choice, the save as copy will remove that aspect of the image.

Although.... There are very few times when you actually want to save as a jpg and not use Save for Web. Be aware, jpg is a lossy format and every time you save a jpg as a jpg you degrade the image quality. Every single time.

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2

Your Color Mode (Image > Mode ) could be set to something like Lab or Duo-tone, both of which won't save as JPG.

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0

The best way is to Save for web and devices and change the preset to JPEG HIGH

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0

It could be that you are cropping the image and have not unchecked the Delete Cropped Pixels box. It would only save in a limited number of formats when i had that unchecked.

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-1

As an alternative, you can try opening the file in Illustrator, and export as JPEG.

  1. File > Export...
  2. Change the format to JPEG (jpg)
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