A few days back i remembered something I had read somewhere, but I wasn't sure of the specifics so I didn't post it. What I remembered was readoing
somewhere about .jpegs being a 'lossy' format.
I just did a quick google and found
this
Originally posted on www.acdsystems.com...
You didn't give me enough info to be certain, but I'm guessing that you had a JPEG image and saved it a few times while you were working on it. As
JPEG is a "lossy" format, the image deteriorated slightly each time you saved it. To avoid this, save your image as a TIFF file before you start
editing it and save your ongoing changes in TIFF format. When you are happy with the final result, you can then save it back to a JPEG file to keep
the file size small. The TIFF format is "lossless," so you won't lose quality with multiple saves.
The reason I didn't post about this information is that I am unsure about how much it would be relavent here.
I still am, the images weren't saved repeatedly, only an initial save from where they were posted. So I don't know if any deterioration would be
enough to distort any 'numbers' we would have been expected to find.
I was thinking if this was known about (which I should imagine it was) then the images could have been posted secretly and tested by those running the
game and so ensured the correct numbers after an initial save.
If you get my meaning, sorry for being so long winded.
Jack