Hi Everyone, I’m Dheeraj Sudan and my wife Meenu Hinduja, run a business. I’m trying to get better at preparing my designs for different outputs.
How do you usually export files for web versus print? Any tips or best practices?
Regards
Dheeraj Sudan and Meenu Hinduja
For print, the only answer is to contact the printer doing the work. Different types of print have very different specs.
As for web, if you don’t know the answer, I hope you have a web developer.
It sounds a little mean, but it’s also true. 
Generally, one could say that one probably is better off with CMYK and 120 pixels per cm on the final printout, and RGB and 72–144 pixels per inch for displays.
And Welcome Dheeraj 
I sure as heck don’t want 120 pixels per cm on a 40’ billboard. Or even a 10’ vinyl banner.
I’ll take it if you can get it there, but likely won’t rip it all. Overkill.
That’s almost like saying, “include 3mm bleed.”
For a 10’ banner I want a minimum of 2.5 CENTIMETERS on all 4 sides. For a frame wrap, like a billboard or a wall flat, that can be up to 15cm all 4 sides.
I might even want your imagery in RGB to give my print machines more color info to work with – as long as the images are native RGB. Converting to RGB from CMYK does not serve any useful purpose. Once made CMYK and saved, the color info is gone.
In print, it’s all about the size, the process and the finishing.
I know.
On the other hand, if we tell everyone to either ask a professional or get a graphics design education, we might as well close this forum to non-professionals. Am I wrong? 
Do we have a section for laypeople?
One thing that often gets overlooked in these discussions is colour management, which can matter just as much as colour mode or resolution.
It’s not just CMYK vs RGB, it’s which CMYK or RGB. Embedding the correct ICC colour profiles and knowing where the file is going makes a big difference. For web, working in sRGB is usually safest because most displays are unmanaged. For print, it’s worth asking the printer which profile they want and soft-proofing against it, rather than assuming a generic CMYK will behave the same everywhere.
Another helpful distinction is vector vs raster. Logos, text and flat graphics should stay vector as long as possible, which avoids resolution issues entirely and keeps things sharp for both print and screen. Photos and effects can stay raster and be exported per use case.
A good general workflow is to keep one clean master file, then export different versions depending on where it’s going, web, digital, large-format print, etc. That way you’re not redesigning each time or baking in compromises too early.
For web specifically, it’s also worth thinking beyond “72 vs 144 ppi” and looking at responsive sizes, compression, and formats (JPG vs PNG vs WebP). Often perceived quality and contrast matter more on screens than absolute colour accuracy.
In print, size, process and finishing always win, but soft-proofing and correct profiles at least let you see what compromises are coming before the file ever leaves your desk.
Hi Dheeraj, welcome to the forum!
This question that trips up many designers early on.
Website and print use fundamentally different technologies to display images, which affects how you should prepare your files.
In addition, vector artwork (non-rasterized typography and various kinds of graphics) is fundamentally different from raster imagery (such as photographs). Vector artwork is scalable without loss of resolution. Raster artwork can be downsized but not enlarged without loss of quality. Vector artwork is created in vector software, such as Adobe Illustrator.
Raster artwork is created or manipulated in raster software, such as Adobe Photoshop. Adobe InDesign is primarily vector software, but can import raster art, such as photos.
It’s probably worth your time to do a Google search to explain the differences between raster and vector data and the main uses of the software (and similar software) I mentioned — there are always nuances and exceptions.
For Web/Digital:
Resolution: If you’re exporting from Photoshop, use the Export to Web feature and compress the file to the size that looks best. File size matters: optimize/compress your images. Photoshop can dramatically reduce file size while maintaining visual quality. Aim for the smallest file size that still looks good.
File formats:
JPEG for photographs and complex images with many colors
PNG for graphics needing transparency or crisp edges (logos, icons, illustrations)
SVG for simple vector graphics that need to scale perfectly at any size
WebP is increasingly popular for its excellent compression
Dimensions: Export at the actual pixel dimensions needed. For responsive web design, you might need multiple sizes of the same image.
For Print:
Resolution: Minimum 250–300 PPI at the size it will print for materials to be read at arm’s length. However, large-format printing (posters, banners, billboards) can use much lower resolution — typically 20-150 PPI, depending on viewing distance. A billboard meant to be seen from across the street might only need 20-30 PPI, while a wall-sized display viewed from a few feet away might use approximately120 PPI.
For traditional color printing: CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) in TIFF or PSD format. For digital printing, it’s usually best to leave the artwork in RGB to take advantage of the additional inks often available on digital printers.
PDF (with fonts embedded and images at proper resolution) is often preferred by printers.
Native files (AI, INDD) with collected fonts and links are sometimes best, depending on the print company’s preferences. For large-format, native files are usually preferred, rather than PDF
Bleed and trim: Add bleed (typically 3mm or 1/8") beyond the trim edge for anything that prints to the edge of the page on brochures, flyers, catalogs, and similar-size products. Include crop marks if required. Larger printed materials often require larger bleeds. Again, it’s best to ask the printer what size bleeds they need.
Font handling: Convert text to outlines/curves if there’s any chance of font substitution issues, though keeping live text (with embedded fonts) is preferable when possible.
I’ve probably forgotten a few things because I wrote this quickly. There are exceptions to almost all these general guidelines, which can be specific to the situation at hand. If you want to know more, please be specific about what you don’t understand, and I or someone else here will explain in more detail. It’s often best to coordinate specifics with the printing company.
I’m still maintaining that for print, you must contact the printer before even starting the design. The “exporting” part is the last step and by that time it may be too late. I also don’t want “exports.” We take native files with links packaged and fonts outlined unless prior arrangements are made with fonts. I’ll take PDFs all day, but you get what falls out of the other end of the printer. There are so many ways to mess up “exports” in print.
After writing nine or ten paragraphs complaining about how most freelance designers rarely get to work directly with printers anymore, I decided to scrap it because it was getting too long and heading off into a tangent about a pet peeve.
Instead, I’ll just say that most printers today don’t cater to designers; they cater mainly to those who send in the files, and those people aren’t typically designers. In my experience, it’s an exercise in frustration to get detailed print specifications from most printers today, because they’re either cheap online printers or printers trying to cut costs to compete with them.
However, the original poster who asked the original question isn’t a designer. If they call up a printer for specs, they’re likely to get a bit of a runaround, and it’s reasonable to assume they won’t understand the printer’s quick, jargon-filled instructions anyway. Instead, they’ll likely get a response saying, just send us a PDF and the original files, and we’ll deal with it. The printer likely won’t have time to educate this person, even if they’re lucky enough to reach the person who knows the answers.
So yes, calling the printer is a good idea. However, getting hold of a service-oriented printer, like your shop, seems to be the exception these days unless one already knows enough about printing to locate one.
For do-it-yourselfers like the OP, my best recommendation is to become fluent in the basics, which we’ve tried to cover here. If that do-it-yourselfer understands the basics and is lucky enough to be working with a printer willing to spend a bit of time, specific instructions from that printer will make a lot more sense. In addition, some printers list easy-to-understand instructions on their websites for do-it-yourselfers, but it’s sort of hit-and-miss.
I am soooo glad I’m >< this close to retirement.