How to Save an Adobe Illustrator File as JPEG

Need to save your finished artwork on Adobe Illustrator as a high-resolution jpeg? It will only take you less than a minute! 

I’m a graphic designer with more than 10 years of experience working with Adobe software, and Adobe Illustrator (known as AI) is the one I use the most for daily work. 

In this article, I’m going to show you how to quickly save an Adobe Illustrator file as a JPEG.

If you are an Illustrator beginner, you probably have tried to save a jpeg from the Save As option. The default formats for AI are ai, pdf, svg, etc. However, JPEG is NOT one of them. 

So, how do you save the file in JPEG format? The trick is – instead of saving the file, you’ll be exporting the file you’ll have to export them following these steps below.

Let’s get started.

Note: this tutorial is for Adobe Illustrator CC (Mac users) only. If you are on a Windows PC, screenshots will look different but the steps should be similar. 

Step 1: Go to the overhead menu File > Export > Export As.

Step 2: Type in your file name in the Save As box and choose the Format JPEG (jpg).  

Step 3: Check Use Artboards (You can select All or Range) and click the Export button to continue.

Sometimes you may only need to export a specific artboard, in this case in the Range box, type in the number of the Artboard you want to export. If you need to export multiple Artboards, for example, from Artboards 2-3, then you can type in the Range box: 2-3 and click Export

Note: before moving on to the next step, let’s take a look at the Artboards. How do you know which Artboard Range you want to export? Find the Artboards panel in your AI file, the Range should be the numbers (1,2,3)  in the first column (marked in red). 

Step 4: Choose the Color Model depending on the artwork. In most cases, choose CMYK color settings for print and RGB color settings for screen

Tip: you can learn the differences between RGB and CMYK here.

Step 5: Choose your image quality (resolution)

  • If you are using the image for screen or web, 72 ppi should be ok. 
  • For printing, you probably want a high-resolution (300 ppi) image. 
  • You can also choose 150 ppi when your printing image is large and simple, but 300 ppi is preferred. 

Step 6: Click OK and you’re all set.

YAY! You have saved your AI file as JPEG!  

Additional Tips 

Besides exporting an Adobe Illustrator file into JPEG, you can also save the file in other formats such as PNG, BMP, CSS, Photoshop (psd), TIFF (tif), SVG (svg), etc. 

FAQs

Here are more questions about saving Adobe Illustrator files as a jpeg.

How to save a JPEG with bleed in Adobe Illustrator?

You won’t see the bleed settings when you export the file, so if you need to save a JPEG file with bleed, when you create the document, you should have the bleed set up. Otherwise, you can also go to File > Document Setup to add bleed, and then export your file in JPEG format.

How to save an Illustrator file as a jpeg with a transparent background?

You can’t really save an image as a JPEG with a transparent background. However, you can save the image as a png file, choose transparent as the background color, and then convert the png to a jpeg.

Why can’t I save my Illustrator file as JPEG?

It’s very rare that you can’t save your file as a jpeg in Illustrator. Make sure that your color mode is set to CMYK or RGB, and you click “Use Artboard” when you export.

Final Words

See? Saving an Adobe Illustrator file as a jpeg is super easy and quick. Hope this article has helped solve your image-saving problem. Leave a comment below if you have any issues in the process, or if you find another great solution.

Either way, I’d love to hear about them. 

About June Escalada
Graduated from Creative Advertising major, worked more than eight years as a graphic designer focusing in branding and Illustration. Yes, Adobe Illustrator is my best friend and I’m passionate about art and design.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Ali Rai

    It is very useful for those who don’t know how to save image as jpeg from Adobe illustrator

    Reply