[SOLVED] Image Files and Storage Management Planning

I just had some questions as it related to content that user post that contain images or files and well as the profile and canvas images. I wanted to get sense of what sorts of storage implications exist for a site that with a growing/active user base.

I know there are various settings to control things like aspect ratios and maximum image file sizes in addition to CB resizing images based on these settings.

1) When CB resizes images, does it dispose of the original and does the resizing compress the file to make it smaller?
2) For the profile and canvas, gather it keeps the original to allow a user to go back into reposition. Once it does does it keep multiple copies of the image?
3) Are there any plans to allow for 3rd part storage solutions (CDN, or Amazon) to manage mitigate storage limits on host servers.

1) When CB resizes images, does it dispose of the original and does the resizing compress the file to make it smaller?

At this time, yes. The original image is discarded and only the resized remains.

2) For the profile and canvas, gather it keeps the original to allow a user to go back into reposition. Once it does does it keep multiple copies of the image?

It does not keep the original. The full size image and thumbnail image, which are both resized from the original, are all that are kept and this applies to all image storage behavior. The canvas repositioning behavior works due to the full size image being oversized on purpose and is larger than the canvas background area.

3) Are there any plans to allow for 3rd part storage solutions (CDN, or Amazon) to manage mitigate storage limits on host servers.

Yes, we eventually want to support external storage. We also want to eventually support storing the original image and allowing re-edits of it so users can control how an image is cropped or resized to fit within the limits set by the site.

Follow up questions:

1) What is the difference between "Auto" & "GD2" for the image software setting (Configuration>Edit>Image)?

2) Continuing my learning about how files are stored:

Users see this message when uploading (for example) a canvas image - "Your image file must be of gif, png, jpg, jpeg type. Your image file should not exceed 500 KBs. Images exceeding the maximum width of 1280 will be resized. Images exceeding the maximum height of 340 will be resized."

Can I safely assume I can increase the 500Kbs to something higher knowing that the original image is disposed of and the impact in this case is more a matter of bandwidth rather than actual long term storage requirements? If people are uploading from phones, most photos are higher in size so I'd rather not make it inconvenient to do this on mobile devices.

Again, in the case of canvas, the optimal aspect ratio is 1000x200. Does that mean the 1280x340 setting is just in case the repositioning if needed? Does this also mean the file actually stored on the server will be max 1280x340? Also, if the image is either not that aspect ratio what happens to the proportion, when set to default?

1) What is the difference between "Auto" & "GD2" for the image software setting (Configuration>Edit>Image)?

There is no difference if you don't have any other image software available.

Can I safely assume I can increase the 500Kbs to something higher knowing that the original image is disposed of and the impact in this case is more a matter of bandwidth rather than actual long term storage requirements?

Yes.

Does that mean the 1280x340 setting is just in case the repositioning if needed?

Yes.

Does this also mean the file actually stored on the server will be max 1280x340?

Yes.

Also, if the image is either not that aspect ratio what happens to the proportion, when set to default?

It will scale the image up on display due to the CSS.

Thank you for the previous replies. Continuing my testing I am seeing something that I had not seen before and not sure why.

I uploaded a canvas photo to a test user account that was 2732x2049 pixels. When I uploaded it the image was severely pixelated as seen in the image.

I then tried to reduce the original to 1280x960 and then once again just cropped it before upload to 1000x200. I still ended up with pixelation but not sure why. I have uploaded others with less pixel ratios that seem to have held up ok.

Any ideas what's happening?

The picture looks like it's a portrait image and you're trying to display it as a landscape image. It's going to zoom in quite a bit to make it fit landscape display. Canvas background is not meant for portrait images.