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.
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.
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.
|
Become A Master of Adobe Illustrator!Want to learn more about how Adobe Illustrator works? Check out my Illustrator Explainer Series - a comprehensive collection of over 100 videos where I go over every tool, feature and function and explain what it is, how it works, and why it's useful. |
Logos By Nick LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read affiliate disclosure here.
I can only imagine the amount of dollars you’d have if you had one every time someone had to search for this fix even ten years later. It’s poor that Adobe haven’t fixed it yet. Thanks for taking the life saver.
It’s insane that this is still an issue
Tell me about it, I wrote this article years ago.
THANK YOU! I was pulling my hair out trying to resolve this issue.
I removed decimal points in artboard size but still illustrator adding 1 pixel in width..
what to do now?
Remove the decimals in the artboard x and y POSITION, not the size
This article was EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you so much!
MERCI !
Thanks. Super helpful 🙏
It does’n work for me 🙁 still adding 1 pixel
In my case, I also had to remove any artboard in the file that I was not exporting. Try that and good luck.
Thank you for saving my life!!!!
Holy moly!! This was doing my head in… you are a legend!
Thank you so much!!! You are a life saver.
Glad to help!
Thanks!!
You saved me, thank you!
well, that was super helpful!! thank you for your time and efforts!