Answers.Body: <p>There are many versions of MNIST digits now, and some of them are <a href="https://knowyourdata-tfds.withgoogle.com/#tab=STATS&amp;dataset=mnist_corrupted" rel="nofollow noreferrer">corrupted</a>, <a href="https://knowyourdata-tfds.withgoogle.com/#tab=STATS&amp;dataset=binarized_mnist" rel="nofollow noreferrer">binarized</a>, or otherwise altered (see <a href="https://knowyourdata-tfds.withgoogle.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TensorFlow datasets</a>) intentionally; but I don't think the <a href="https://keras.io/api/datasets/mnist/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">keras MNIST digits</a> has these &quot;artifacts&quot; intentionally added.  These are real handwritten digits, so some of the &quot;artifacts&quot; are probably &quot;people&quot; mistakes.  Some may be due to the fact that we are &quot;zooming in&quot; on low resolution images (consistent with your observation of images being &quot;blurry&quot;).  I think the &quot;stuff&quot; around the digits that looks like a border may be adjacent text that was cropped out, but I really don't know.</p>
  <p>Yes, I also get the same images as you do, so your download is not corrupt.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/TpDaU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/TpDaU.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/KUEJF.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/KUEJF.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/UpiKo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/UpiKo.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-11-18T00:51:21.293Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2022-11-18T11:56:25.230Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2022-11-18T11:56:25.230Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Snehal Patel
Body: <p>I'm having fun with a ludicrously well known and used dataset: mnist.
  I am doing it with a huge and well known tool: keras.</p>
  <p>Please excuse the red dots, something else I was doing.  I have otherwise not modified the image at all except via the process of plotting it to a file.  All images below are plotted in R.</p>
  <hr />
  <p><strong>Image #48, a &quot;5&quot; digit:</strong>    There is a perfect vertical slice through the upper segment.  For all the letters, they look blurred.  This slice is perfectly vertical and does not have blurring.
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/0iIXo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/0iIXo.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <hr />
  <p><strong>Image #54, a &quot;4&quot; digit:</strong>    This has artifacts to the left and above the image.  It looks like part of a border around the number.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/FeefV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/FeefV.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <hr />
  <p><strong>Image #68, a &quot;1&quot; digit:</strong>    This has artifacts to the left and above the image.  It looks like part of a border around the number.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RcvWy.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RcvWy.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <hr />
  <p>Maybe something is odd with my download or version, so perhaps someone else can verify this.</p>
  <p>Are there the artifacts as shown in the images above, in the canonical dataset as presented by the well known tool?</p>
  
Tags: <datasets><keras><image-processing><mnist>
Title: Are the "artifacts" in select Keras MNIST training images really there or is my download corrupt?
UserDisplayName: EngrStudent
ThreadText: # Are the "artifacts" in select Keras MNIST training images really there or is my download corrupt?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2022-11-17)
  
  I'm having fun with a ludicrously well known and used dataset: mnist.
  I am doing it with a huge and well known tool: keras.
  
  Please excuse the red dots, something else I was doing. I have otherwise not modified the image at all except via the process of plotting it to a file. All images below are plotted in R.
  
  ---
  
  **Image #48, a "5" digit:** There is a perfect vertical slice through the upper segment. For all the letters, they look blurred. This slice is perfectly vertical and does not have blurring.
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/0iIXo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/0iIXo.png)
  
  ---
  
  **Image #54, a "4" digit:** This has artifacts to the left and above the image. It looks like part of a border around the number.
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/FeefV.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/FeefV.png)
  
  ---
  
  **Image #68, a "1" digit:** This has artifacts to the left and above the image. It looks like part of a border around the number.
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/RcvWy.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/RcvWy.png)
  
  ---
  
  Maybe something is odd with my download or version, so perhaps someone else can verify this.
  
  Are there the artifacts as shown in the images above, in the canonical dataset as presented by the well known tool?
  
  **Tags:** datasets, keras, image-processing, mnist
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2022-11-18. Score: 1 | Accepted answer
  
  There are many versions of MNIST digits now, and some of them are [corrupted](https://knowyourdata-tfds.withgoogle.com/#tab=STATS&dataset=mnist_corrupted), [binarized](https://knowyourdata-tfds.withgoogle.com/#tab=STATS&dataset=binarized_mnist), or otherwise altered (see [TensorFlow datasets](https://knowyourdata-tfds.withgoogle.com/)) intentionally; but I don't think the [keras MNIST digits](https://keras.io/api/datasets/mnist/) has these "artifacts" intentionally added. These are real handwritten digits, so some of the "artifacts" are probably "people" mistakes. Some may be due to the fact that we are "zooming in" on low resolution images (consistent with your observation of images being "blurry"). I think the "stuff" around the digits that looks like a border may be adjacent text that was cropped out, but I really don't know.
  
  Yes, I also get the same images as you do, so your download is not corrupt.
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/TpDaU.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/TpDaU.png)
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/KUEJF.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/KUEJF.png)
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/UpiKo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/UpiKo.png)
  
  
  ---
  
  