About size of PDF files

[bastion]

Hello all,

I have noticed that when upload a .doc file for my book and let LULU convert that into .pdf the result is a file about 50 MB. However, if I convert the same .doc file into .pdf myself on my computer I get a 155MB large .pdf.

I suppose LULU destiler uses a higher compression, different settings or something, and therefore the smaller size in her .pdf files. So, I guess I should use my own large .pdf file instead, right? 

What do you guys think

[kevinlomas]

If the doc works, then just use that.

[bastion]

Hello,

Yes, the .doc file works of course.

I was just trying to explain the difference between uploading the .doc file and let LULU do the conversion into .pdf, and do the conversion myself in my computer and directly uploading the .pdf.

Both ways work, the difference is the size of the final .pdf. The size of the .pdf created by LULU is smaller (50MB) and the one created by myself is about 155MB. I have compared both .pdf files and the quality seems to be about the same.

regards

[Peter May]

Have they both got embedded fonts?

If you upload via a Word doc Lulu will only use a certain range of supported fonts to create the PDF. But if you upload a PDF you have to embed all the fonts.

Maybe the Lulu created PDF doesn't have embedded fonts if the printers all have the Lulu supported fonts. (I don't know, just guessing a reason for size disparity. You could download the Lulu created PDF and check if fonts are embedded.)

[bastion]

Hello Peter,

Yes, both .pdfs have embedded fonts. I think the different is size between both files is because of conversion settings. I must use a higher quality dpi, less compression, or something. However both files look about the same to my eyes even when doing zoom at the pages, text and photos.

It happened the same with my cover. When I uploaded my one-piece full cover in .png format and let LULU convert that into PDF, the size was about 1 MB. But when I uploaded the .pdf cover myself the size was much larger. In this case I did notice a big difference in quality. My .pdf version looked much better than the one done by LULU. So in this case I am using mine.