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I have a vector artwork (fantasy map). It has several shapes and colors but nothing drastic like gradients, masks, etc. I need to export it to a large PNG file (45k x 45k pixels) but still maintain a minimally small file size (around 5mb or less).

I'm using the color hex codes to be imported into a terrain generator so the overall color count is minimal (~30). No matter what I do when I export, the PNG file is enormous (several gigs). I have been trying to export as PNG, use various lossy optimizers, re-saving as a lower resolution (since this is not for print I don't need a high res), etc. but nothing seems to work.

Can I limit the colors in my vector program (Illustrator) so when the PNG is exported it is a lower file size? Any other options/ideas to get this file smaller?

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    Tried opening the file in Photoshop and then exporting? And 45kx45k pixels is "high res" for a PNG. That's roughly a 62"x62" image at 72ppi or a 15x15" image at 300ppi.
    – Scott
    Sep 30, 2019 at 19:06
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    Lets crunch the numbers, a raw image is about 6 gigabytes in size, you are requiring a compression factor of 1:1000 which seems a bit much. Without knowing more i would say its not feasible.
    – joojaa
    Oct 1, 2019 at 4:50
  • @Scott Yes and I even have a PNG-crusher plugin but now my issue is that everything I export over 32000 pixels seems to be "empty". And the thing with the map is that it doesn't need to be "high res", it can literally be about 10-20ppi as long as it's not antialiased. I can't seem to change the export options to a lower ppi without making the overall height/width smaller, or resulting in an "empty" PNG.
    – RodeoRamsey
    Oct 1, 2019 at 22:06
  • @joojaa I have been trialing and testing things for the past 24+ hours and I have managed to use AI to save as an SVG, import into Inkscape, and save as a PNG. The 25k x 25k images are about 8-9mb so that's not terrible. The issue now is that I can't seem to export anything over 32k without the resulting PNG being "empty". Not sure if there is a Windows limit or ??
    – RodeoRamsey
    Oct 1, 2019 at 22:08
  • PPI is does not affect the high resolutioness of an image
    – joojaa
    Oct 2, 2019 at 4:20

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I don't see how anyone could come up with a solution to this. Even if you export in black and white, this may still be a huge file, as PNG is not a practical format at this file size. I'd look at ways to break up the artwork into numbered tiles. Every game, every brochure, every product catalogue, every magazine, etc in the world is made up of pieces which are then linked together via different techniques. Eg. I have seen maps broken into thousands of tiles.

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  • That's unfortunate. This map isn't the final result. It is used by a terrain generator for a gaming program so unfortunately it can't be tiled. And unfortunately for me there is a bug in the program currently that doesn't allow the "scale" option that is built in to work. Otherwise my 25k map would be perfect.
    – RodeoRamsey
    Oct 1, 2019 at 22:11

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