Poor quality artwork when downloading/syncing albums with 'large' folder.jpg to iOS

[BatonJokeSnake]

Hello everyone,

I use Asset UPnP regularly and I'm a big fan – streaming performance is flawless on my home network.

I've hit a snag with artwork when syncing/downloading folders from my Asset instances – it appears that 'large' (either in file size or resolution) 'folder.jpg' album covers are imported at very poor quality. Artwork looks fine when the same content is streamed on the same device. The images below should help illustrate the problem. These screenshots are from foobar2000 but the same behaviour can be observed with VLC.

Stream:


Sync:


I'd love to know the maximum file size and resolution limits baked into Asset so that I can compress or resize my files to avoid this behaviour. For reference this particular folder.jpg is 3000 x 3000 pixels at 96 dpi and has a file size of 11.8 MB.

[Spoon]

Re: Poor quality artwork when downloading/syncing albums with 'large' folder.jpg to i

Check on the advanced page on Asset that 'size album art' is set to '(no resize)'

[BatonJokeSnake]

Re: Poor quality artwork when downloading/syncing albums with 'large' folder.jpg to i

I am already using the 'no resize' option, which I believe is set by default. Does Asset ignore this setting and resize any artwork deemed too big? Setting a resize option (eg. 700 x 700) also results in identical low-quality artwork with high resolution input.

For reference, I am using a premium-registered version of Asset release 7 on Windows 10.

[BatonJokeSnake]

Re: Poor quality artwork when downloading/syncing albums with 'large' folder.jpg to i

Hello all,

I have done a little more research and found that Asset does not serve the original quality 'folder.jpg' when a download/sync is carried out - it serves a tiny 24kb file. At the time I didn't use embedded artwork in my files so my various control points were falling back to this low quality image. This explains why my downloaded/synced artwork looked so awful - it was awfully small and awfully compressed and there was no embed to display instead.

As a workaround, I am now using embedded artwork. Performance is fine although my files are slightly bigger. Even with embedded artwork I can still see a low quality 'folder.jpg' for every album I have synced in my iOS Files app.

Mystery solved.

[garym]

Re: Poor quality artwork when downloading/syncing albums with 'large' folder.jpg to i

Hello all,

I have done a little more research and found that Asset does not serve the original quality 'folder.jpg' when a download/sync is carried out - it serves a tiny 24kb file. At the time I didn't use embedded artwork in my files so my various control points were falling back to this low quality image. This explains why my downloaded/synced artwork looked so awful - it was awfully small and awfully compressed and there was no embed to display instead.

As a workaround, I am now using embedded artwork. Performance is fine although my files are slightly bigger. Even with embedded artwork I can still see a low quality 'folder.jpg' for every album I have synced in my iOS Files app.

Mystery solved.

Are you sure you haven't let WMP (Windows Media Player) touch these files in the past. Without turning off some things that are ON by default, WMP can wreak havoc on artwork in album folders by modifying the folder.jpg file.

[BatonJokeSnake]

Re: Poor quality artwork when downloading/syncing albums with 'large' folder.jpg to i

Are you sure you haven't let WMP (Windows Media Player) touch these files in the past. Without turning off some things that are ON by default, WMP can wreak havoc on artwork in album folders by modifying the folder.jpg file.

My artwork source files were fine and remain fine. Asset only offers a low quality 250x250 pixel 'folder.jpg' when files are synced to a control point. Streaming is fine even without embedded artwork. Other than Asset, the only app that has accessed and indexed my music drive is Roon which makes a big deal about leaving your files alone so there's no way that my files are to blame in this situation.

[garym]

Re: Poor quality artwork when downloading/syncing albums with 'large' folder.jpg to i

My artwork source files were fine and remain fine. Asset only offers a low quality 250x250 pixel 'folder.jpg' when files are synced to a control point. Streaming is fine even without embedded artwork. Other than Asset, the only app that has accessed and indexed my music drive is Roon which makes a big deal about leaving your files alone so there's no way that my files are to blame in this situation.

OK. Just a thought. I'm just another user like you.