Avatar file requirements

[Shane Adams]

Are bitmap files unacceptable? I've been trying to change my avatar and this old crappy computer will only let me save images as BMPs and not JPEGs. My dimensions are 98X100 and my file size is only 28.9K, yet I keep getting this "invalid file" screen when I go to save. I see nothing on the avatar upload page about file type, just size. Am I doing something wrong or do BMPs not work?

 

[Shane Adams]

Nevermind, I answered my own question: apparently it's 19.5KB max size, not 64. I could've sworn it said 64K a minute ago but I guess I was mistaken. For whatever reason (I assume because this computer is so old and slow), the only file options Paint is giving me to save in are bitmaps.

 

[Robert Dewey]

When you save, try typing filename.jpeg as a file name (you can replace "filename" with whatever you want)

That seems to force Paint to save it in JPEG format (at least for me), even when BMP is selected.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Just as an FYI for anyone not too pic-editing savvy (including me!), you can d/l free editing software from Google. It's called Picasa2, and I've been using it for at least a year:

http://picasaweb.google.com

I'm not sure that link is exactly what you want, because since I already have the software it doesn't give me the "Download" link. It shouldn't be difficult for anyone to scrounge that page up, though.

It's fairly simple to use, and there are quite a few things it will do, such as saturation, "brightness", and contrast adjustment, plus cropping, re-sizing, stitching, etc. After I use Paint for anything, I just open the resulting bitmap up in Picasa2, click "Export", and it will be converted to jpeg.

 

[Shane Adams]

When you save, try typing filename.jpeg as a file name (you can replace "filename" with whatever you want)

That seems to force Paint to save it in JPEG format (at least for me), even when BMP is selected.

This computer just can't handle anything, it's so old and crappy. When I name the files "whatever".jpeg, it sends up a warning box that saving to jpeg might cause some color loss, and when I save it turns the image into a "negative" type of image, completely unuseable. I think the remedy here is get a real computer.