Take the 2-minute tour ×

I know when downscaling images we can just use the scale option. But as far as I know, this doesn't change the size of the overall output (let's say the PDF file).

\includegraphics[trim=1cm 6.1cm 6cm 14.0cm, clip=true, scale=0.3]{figs3.pdf}
\caption{The averaging blocks with $W=2$.}
  1. Is there anyway to compress the figure when we downscale using scale option?
  2. When we trim the figure, and clip=true, does it through away the extra parts? In other words, does it decrease the size of the figure?
  3. Is there anyway to compress images inside Latex ?

The original problem is that I am using zoombox to include magnified subfigures of a BIG image, but I want to put a figure with smaller size instead of the full high-quality figure. (because of size limitation) At the same time, I want the magnified figures to be from the high-quality figure. Any ideas how to do this?

share|improve this question
I suppose that technically you could use \DeclareGraphicsRule to do this if, say, you had a bunch of .gif files which were twice the size you needed. You could set up your conversion command to not only convert the images to a format latex could use but also to reduce their size to 50%. This would be a pretty unusual kind of situation, though, and it would be far easier and far more transparent to just handle it as part of your pre-processing than to try running it as part of your tex code. –  cfr Jan 5 at 0:07
Can you give me a pointer to a sample code? –  Daniel Jan 5 at 0:11
It was really just a wild idea. I don't know of anybody who has done it. I wouldn't recommend it either. However, if you want I can probably post something if that would really be useful. At least, something which would work on GNU/Linux or OS X. I don't know if conversion is done in the same way on Windows so it would likely need to be adapted in that case. –  cfr Jan 5 at 0:14
Also, for some reason I can't figure out how to adapt DeclareGraphicsRule to GNU/Linux although it seems to me it should work just the same as on OS X! –  cfr Jan 5 at 1:03
add comment

1 Answer

Inclusion of images in a LaTeX document does not alter them at all, whether clipping or not. As such, if you want smaller output files you'll either need to pre-process the images or post-process the PDF file. It's important to note that as clipping is purely an effect on the appearance of the PDF, you should not use it to 'hide' anything you don't want people to see. Anyone interested enough will be able to find it inside the PDF.

share|improve this answer
Nice warning; It reminds me of the time the US military sent out a blanked out PDF with about 95% of the document censored. Then a reported noticed that copy+paste stilled worked. Bet you there was much faceplaming that day. –  Canageek Jan 5 at 5:06
add comment

Your Answer


