SOLVED:
After 29 years with the same Network Soultions service we moved my websites to Hostinger servers to enjoy the use of no extra charge SSL encryption.
We did this about 1 month ago.
Today I learned that Hostinger webhosting plans have two image optimization features that are set to operate by default.
One operation automatically down scales the pixel dimensions of the image files that it serves.
One operation converts your image file from the format you uploaded to a .webp with an aggressively reduced file size. Despite the fact that the format is automatically changed to .webp, the img tag in your HTMl and or browser address bar will retain the format labeling that matches your upload.
In other words, in the example I experienced, I uploaded and linked to a 9000x6000 pixel 20MB JPEG, and Hostinger served a 1600 x 1067 pixel 400KB WEBP file even though the HTML and the web browser address bar continued to refer to the image as the full-size JPEG.
Both operations are somewhat responsive to the viewport size of the web browser being used, so the degradation is not as noticeable if your images are served to a large-format PC display, while images served to a tiny mobile display are shrunk and stripped of detail to a much greater degree.
In the best of circumstances, no one notices unless they forcibly zoom, as my friends and I were doing.
So, my apologies to Safari. In my defense, there appears to be a 10-year legacy of people observing that Safari for mobile iOS reduces file size to enable mobile downloads, which validated my incorrect diagnosis.
In any case, I have resolved my issue. I went to the Hostinger webhost interface and turned off the image optimization features. I hope the info may help others.
Thank you.
Hi,
I made a casual group portrait photo of some hiking friends a few days ago with a DSLR and sent them HTML links to large-format JPEG files in small, medium, and large sizes.
Yesterday, while visiting with them, we all seemed to have had the same experience of using our iPhones and touch zooming on the photograph to enjoy the details. We were all disappointed to find a crude blocky mosaic had been hiding in the small displays of our iPhones.
I searched Google and found discussion threads recounting that it is a common realization. Some people explained that Safari for mobile has file size triggers where it will reconstitute the jpegs to small sizes just for mobile display.
Is there any way to share a full-res photo via a general-purpose HTML web page that an iPhone user can zoom to the original file's 1:1 res?
The experience undermined my presumption that you can share the best of your photography by passing around an iPhone or iPad.
What gives?
