Answers.Body: <p>DPI/PPI settings aren't used in the web and are based by pixel dimensions and several web images <code>.png</code>, <code>.jpg</code>, and <code>.gif</code> files sometimes do not include the settings in the internal data.  </p>
  
  <p>You also didnt mention how you are including the illustrations in the ebook.  Are these vector or scanned images?</p>
  
  <h2>If vector:</h2>
  
  <p>If you have built your illustration in either Illustrator or Inkscape I would use an <code>.svg</code> file format but that is a personal preference.  From my understanding, <code>.svg</code> format can be a less file size than exporting the illustration as <code>.jpg</code> or <code>.png</code>.</p>
  
  <h2>If images:</h2>
  
  <p>I would use <code>.png</code> files because they can be compressed and help reduce your file size.  A good compression tool is <a href="https://tinypng.com/">Tinypng</a>.  If you're wanting a command line compression tool there is <a href="http://pngquant.org/">pngquant</a> but I havent tested it yet.</p>
  
  <p>To request what type of method is most effective would depend on how you tend for the ebook to be viewed.  It is common for illustrators to use fixed layout to control how the illustration is viewed.  This is common with children's books.  </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-19T14:02:49.157Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-03-19T14:02:49.157Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: DᴀʀᴛʜVᴀᴅᴇʀ
Answers.Body: <p>There's plenty of information about this in section 3.6 of the <a href="http://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Kindle Publishing Guidelines</a>. To sum up:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>use .jpg for photos</li>
  <li>use .gif for line-art and text</li>
  <li>use HTML over images whenever possible. "If an image contains whole paragraphs of text, it should not be an image. Instead, it should be HTML."</li>
  <li>all images should be 300 dpi</li>
  <li>images should be color when possible and relevant</li>
  <li>you can also use .bmp, non-transparent .png, and .svg</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Personally, I avoid .png when possible, as they seem to end up substantially larger than .jpg files.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-20T09:25:59.313Z
Answers.Text: png and jpg are usually not interchangable. If you are inserting a photo, jpg is by far the best option; but if you have a diagram, or a drawing with few colors, png is better. (svg would be still better since it would be scalable)
Answers.UserDisplayName: mau
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-20T15:06:19.887Z
Answers.Text: Theoretically, I agree with you, but in practice we've done a bit of testing on various ebook readers and been unable to tell a difference between jpg and png
Answers.UserDisplayName: Tom
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-24T02:47:43.500Z
Answers.Text: That would depend on the jpeg quality of course. I wonder why they recommend GIF instead of PNG?
Answers.UserDisplayName: curiousdannii
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-19T17:49:59.177Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-03-19T17:49:59.177Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Tom
Answers.Body: <p>I just wanted to add that latest version of the "Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines" PDF (updated 1/2014) <a href="http://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf</a> can be downloaded for free from the Amazon site.  This last revision contains a lot of updated recommendations for images. </p>
  
  <p>With the recent guidelines Amazon has changed their philosophy a bit on images (and that is good). Kindlegen performs automatic image conversions, so the guidelines suggest that you can use images of up to 5mb for interior images. </p>
  
  <p>As it happens, I'm currently trying to convert my interior jpg images to svg for reasons of scalability. Amazon's support of SVG seems "adequate" now -- although SVGs are their own kind of beast. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-03-19T17:48:53.687Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: idiotprogrammer
Body: <p>What is the most effective method for including illustrations in a Kindle ebook? And what is the preferred DPI and file format?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2014-03-19T17:26:33.247Z
Comments.Text: You need to ask the question in another way: Do you want a fixed layout book or reflowable text (i.e., epub/kf8). Fixed layout is easier to make illustrations for.
Comments.UserDisplayName: idiotprogrammer
Tags: <kindle><publishing><mobi><kf8>
Title: How should you include illustrations in Kindle ebooks?
UserDisplayName: Viergacht
ThreadText: # How should you include illustrations in Kindle ebooks?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-03-19)
  
  What is the most effective method for including illustrations in a Kindle ebook? And what is the preferred DPI and file format?
  
  **Tags:** kindle, publishing, mobi, kf8
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: You need to ask the question in another way: Do you want a fixed layout book or reflowable text (i.e., epub/kf8). Fixed layout is easier to make illustrations for.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2014-03-19. Score: 7
  
  DPI/PPI settings aren't used in the web and are based by pixel dimensions and several web images `.png`, `.jpg`, and `.gif` files sometimes do not include the settings in the internal data.
  
  You also didnt mention how you are including the illustrations in the ebook. Are these vector or scanned images?
  
  ## If vector:
  
  If you have built your illustration in either Illustrator or Inkscape I would use an `.svg` file format but that is a personal preference. From my understanding, `.svg` format can be a less file size than exporting the illustration as `.jpg` or `.png`.
  
  ## If images:
  
  I would use `.png` files because they can be compressed and help reduce your file size. A good compression tool is [Tinypng](https://tinypng.com/). If you're wanting a command line compression tool there is [pngquant](http://pngquant.org/) but I havent tested it yet.
  
  To request what type of method is most effective would depend on how you tend for the ebook to be viewed. It is common for illustrators to use fixed layout to control how the illustration is viewed. This is common with children's books.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2014-03-19. Score: 5
  
  There's plenty of information about this in section 3.6 of the [Kindle Publishing Guidelines](http://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf). To sum up:
  
  * use .jpg for photos
  * use .gif for line-art and text
  * use HTML over images whenever possible. "If an image contains whole paragraphs of text, it should not be an image. Instead, it should be HTML."
  * all images should be 300 dpi
  * images should be color when possible and relevant
  * you can also use .bmp, non-transparent .png, and .svg
  
  Personally, I avoid .png when possible, as they seem to end up substantially larger than .jpg files.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: png and jpg are usually not interchangable. If you are inserting a photo, jpg is by far the best option; but if you have a diagram, or a drawing with few colors, png is better. (svg would be still better since it would be scalable)  
  > **username_3**: Theoretically, I agree with you, but in practice we've done a bit of testing on various ebook readers and been unable to tell a difference between jpg and png  
  > **username_5**: That would depend on the jpeg quality of course. I wonder why they recommend GIF instead of PNG?  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2014-03-19. Score: 2
  
  I just wanted to add that latest version of the "Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines" PDF (updated 1/2014) <http://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf> can be downloaded for free from the Amazon site. This last revision contains a lot of updated recommendations for images.
  
  With the recent guidelines Amazon has changed their philosophy a bit on images (and that is good). Kindlegen performs automatic image conversions, so the guidelines suggest that you can use images of up to 5mb for interior images.
  
  As it happens, I'm currently trying to convert my interior jpg images to svg for reasons of scalability. Amazon's support of SVG seems "adequate" now -- although SVGs are their own kind of beast.
  
  
  ---
  
  