Create thumbnail image

Red Swan picture Red Swan · May 11, 2010 · Viewed 110.5k times · Source

I want to display thumbnail image in a gridview from file location. How to generate that of .jpeg file? I am using C# language with asp.net.

Answer

Russell Troywest picture Russell Troywest · May 11, 2010

You have to use GetThumbnailImage method in the Image class:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8t23aykb%28v=vs.110%29.aspx

Here's a rough example that takes an image file and makes a thumbnail image from it, then saves it back to disk.

Image image = Image.FromFile(fileName);
Image thumb = image.GetThumbnailImage(120, 120, ()=>false, IntPtr.Zero);
thumb.Save(Path.ChangeExtension(fileName, "thumb"));

It is in the System.Drawing namespace (in System.Drawing.dll).

Behavior:

If the Image contains an embedded thumbnail image, this method retrieves the embedded thumbnail and scales it to the requested size. If the Image does not contain an embedded thumbnail image, this method creates a thumbnail image by scaling the main image.


Important: the remarks section of the Microsoft link above warns of certain potential problems:

The GetThumbnailImage method works well when the requested thumbnail image has a size of about 120 x 120 pixels. If you request a large thumbnail image (for example, 300 x 300) from an Image that has an embedded thumbnail, there could be a noticeable loss of quality in the thumbnail image.

It might be better to scale the main image (instead of scaling the embedded thumbnail) by calling the DrawImage method.