Illustrator exports 1 pixel more

Quick Fix: Why Illustrator Exports 1 Pixel More To Each Dimension

Quick Fix: Why Illustrator Exports 1 Pixel More To Each Dimension 1024 602 Nick Saporito

Today I’ll be addressing a rather frustrating glitch in Adobe Illustrator CC. For whatever reason, Illustrator exports 1 pixel more to each dimension of a PNG or JPG file. The fix is quite simple though.

Why Illustrator Adds That Extra Pixel

After doing a little digging around, I discovered (thanks to Pixel & Bracket on YouTube) that it’s because of the position of the artboard on the canvas as it relates to the X and Y axis.

Whenever the artboard is positioned in a location that includes a decimal value, Illustrator rounds up to the nearest pixel, meaning your exported document ends up being 1 pixel larger than the actual artboard on each dimension.

Changing the position of the artboard on the canvas

If you grab the artboard tool (shift + o) and select your artboard, you’ll see in the top toolbar where it’s positioned relative to the X and Y axis. The decimal values are highlighted in yellow. This is the culprit.

The Fix

The fix is quite easy. All you have to do is manually remove the decimal values from each axis and that should prevent Illustrator from exporting 1 pixel more.

Updated X and Y axis values

Once you’ve done so, be sure to re-center your design relative to the artboard. The position of it has now changed and will not export properly if you don’t, even if it’s just a slight decimal change.

Now try exporting your design again. It should export at the proper dimensions.

If any portion of these directions is unclear, be sure to watch the brief 2-minute video tutorial I put together at the top of the post.

Apparently this glitch has gone unaddressed by Adobe for a while because search queries for it date all the way back to 2013. I’m used to dealing with glitches like this when using Open Source software, but when it comes to industry-standard software that costs a lot of money, I expect better. Hopefully Adobe addresses this soon.

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Nick Saporito

Hi, I'm Nick— a Philadelphia-based graphic designer with over 10 years of experience. Each year millions of users learn how to use design software to express their creativity using my tutorials here and on YouTube.

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61 comments
  • Seth J Schaffner

    This worked for me. I had many small 100×100 graphics. I selected each artboard individually and removed the decimal points.

    I could have probably used the artboard auto alignment tool (in the 3 horizontal lines in Artboard panel), but that would have changed the order of my artboards.

  • Anonymous

    For so many years I dealt with this, thinking it was something I was always doing wrong. Today I decided to Google it, and found this. Not sure why I never tried Googling it before, but thanks.

  • Tess

    It worked for me – THANK YOU. I can’t believe it was just a simple adjustment to make that fix, this has been something I’ve literally struggled with for years, haha.

  • Magnifico

    Bro, I love you! And I love the internet. I had to create some assets for work today and felt like an idiot not knowing why after 10 years of designing I could not figure out why I had 1 extra pixel!!! Before finding this, I took my files into Photoshop and adjusted it there.

      • Edison

        Yes
        This will work on single artboard, but multi artboard it will not work this formula

        Answer:
        Step 1: Creat New Artboard
        Step 2: In top left there have option (Recent, Web, print, etc..)

        you have to choose correct one Web or Print
        after you can do multi Artboard in that then export the file it will work 100%

  • Anonymous

    This issue still exists, and sometimes, this isn’t the answer – hence why I’m here. There is no pixel rounding, and it’s still doing it.

    I have until the end of the day to solve a problem that shouldn’t even exist.

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