# Word for Mac: Getting pics back into JPEG files **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-mac-getting-pics-back-into-jpeg-files/294812 "2005-03-16T14:45:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-mac-getting-pics-back-into-jpeg-files/294812/21 "2005-03-18T04:20:55Z")
**Omphaloskeptic** ; > [@](#): > > Sorry, I wasn’t clear. It copies it as a BMP (Windows bitmap format), at screen resolution and 256 colors. (This is as opposed to copying it in internal JPEG format at 24-bit color depth.) My point was that the resampling happens at the time of the copy-to-clipboard operation; the Word .doc file still contains the raw JPEG information in recoverable form. Not on a Mac it doesn’t. “.bmp” format is not used on a Mac for anything, and the contents of the clipboard are never dithered to 256 colors. Copy a 32-bit image and past it elsewhere and you get a 32-bit image where you paste. The Mac clipboard uses: (MacOS 9, 8, 7, etc): PICT format or (MacOS X): PDF format as its/their native format, and it’s all a 32 bit world. Come to think of it, in this day and age I’d be astonished if Windows really dithers clipboard copies to 256 color bitmaps. That’s so windows-3.1ish. I’m not a Windows geek and will accept correction from Windows users, but it seems sufficiently unlikely that I have to ask: cite? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-mac-getting-pics-back-into-jpeg-files/294812/22 "2005-03-18T04:34:50Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s so windows-3.1ish. I’m not a Windows geek and will accept correction from Windows users, but it seems sufficiently unlikely that I have to ask: cite? Interestingly, Word does seem to do this. IE and most other Windows apps I’ve seen do not, but Word does… ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-mac-getting-pics-back-into-jpeg-files/294812/23 "2005-03-18T04:49:30Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > **Omphaloskeptic** ; > > Not on a Mac it doesn’t. “.bmp” format is not used on a Mac for anything, and the contents of the clipboard are never dithered to 256 colors. Copy a 32-bit image and past it elsewhere and you get a 32-bit image where you paste. The Mac clipboard uses: (MacOS 9, 8, 7, etc): PICT format or (MacOS X): PDF format as its/their native format, and it’s all a 32 bit world. Come to think of it, in this day and age I’d be astonished if Windows really dithers clipboard copies to 256 color bitmaps. That’s so windows-3.1ish. I’m not a Windows geek and will accept correction from Windows users, but it seems sufficiently unlikely that I have to ask: cite? As **Reply** says, it really does do this on Windows. You’re right about the Mac part though; I’d forgotten he was using a Mac. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-mac-getting-pics-back-into-jpeg-files/294812/24 "2005-03-18T12:51:40Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Come to think of it, in this day and age I’d be astonished if Windows really dithers clipboard copies to 256 color bitmaps. That’s so windows-3.1ish. I’m not a Windows geek and will accept correction from Windows users, but it seems sufficiently unlikely that I have to ask: cite? Consider yourself astonished, then. 🙂 On my Win 98, with Word 2000, copying a JPG image from a DOC file to the clipboard, then pasting into a new 24-bit color file in Corel PhotoPaint 7 creates a “palleted” 256-color file, which few other application programs do. It looks fugly. Cite? I just tried it again, and it did it again. I cannot vouch for other operating systems or Word versions. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-mac-getting-pics-back-into-jpeg-files/294812/25 "2005-03-18T15:51:14Z")
Microsoft Weird. I never did like that word processor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-for-mac-getting-pics-back-into-jpeg-files/294812.md?page=1)