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

• November 12, 2018
• Nick Saporito
• 65 comments

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.

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