Image Downsampling Settings for PDFs

Hello. I am experimenting with the PDF settings in Acrobat to try to find a good compromise between image quality and file size. I am trying to learn about bicubic downsampling for images and what would be good settings to use. One thing that I've noticed in the different default PDF settings provided by Adobe (High Quality Print, Press Quality, Standard, Smallest File Size, etc.) is that the pixels per inch threshold for downsampling images is always 1.5 times greater than the downsampled image. For example, the Standard setting downsamples images above 225 ppi to 150 ppi, and the High Quality Print setting downsamples images above 450 ppi to is 300 ppi. Could someone explain the reason for using this ratio? Also, why not just have one value for downsampling? For example, for the Standard setting, why not just downsample all images above 150 ppi to 150 ppi?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Mark,
To get the highest possible quality jpeg you need to export with the preset "Jpeg - original size" with its default settings. Check, how they are set:
Size to: This lets you specify the dimensions of your image files in various ways.
Original size, percent of original size, fit within all refer to the dimensions of the digital image measured in pixels, and that is directly related to the resolution of the the image. You will want to preserve as many pixels per row and column as the original image has, so set this to original size.
cm, inches refers to the width and height of the printed or displayed version of your image. It will only make sense, if you specify dpi as well. Then the pixel size of your exported images will be computed from the dpi (dots per inch) you set and the dimensions in inches. I prefer "Original size", unless I know I want to print an images with 4 by 6 inches e.g., then I use this setting and set the dpi to 300.
The image quality slider: Jpeg is a lossy format, as you probably know. A jpeg image is not represented by a grid of pixels but by a set of coefficients for a mathematical approximation function. The higher the quality value, the more coefficients will be stored and the more storage will be needed. A low value will result in a highly compressed image file with a small size, but horrible quality, because the approximation is not very accurate. The edges and fine details will be approximated poorly, and the image will show blocky artifacts. The quality sider set to 12 will ensure that the image will be represented perfectly with no artifacts, but the size of the image file will be a lot larger. A quality of 10 will be a good compromise in many cases, but you will have to experiment. This will largely depend on the type of image you are having.
I'll leave the answer to the last three points to the colour experts here.
-- Léonie

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