I'm using mainly Paint Shop Pro 9 but have the same problem with any other image editing software I use. Except Photoshop, which I don't have.

The problem is that reducing some, but by no means all, images downloaded from on-line libraries (Clipart; Dreamstime; Istockphoto; etc) results in degraded images (e.g. very fuzzy straight lines or edges) to the extent that they're not useable even for the low standard required for small images on websites. The problem can occur even on fairly small reductions, like from 350 to 280 pixels (20% reduction) wide or high. Other images can be reduced from 800 to 100 pixels with no problems.

Anyone got any ideas on how to scale images down without loss of quality?

Hi doggy,

Whenever yo resize a bitmap you will get 'some' degradation. If you have fireworks ensure that interpolation (use ctrl-u to get to prefernces) is set to bicubic. Maybe other people here can help you with the other apps?

You may want to check out the resample option in AutoImager (www.autoimager.com). It is high quality.

Corel draw is very good for changing the size, i would recommend that

I often use Fireworks to compress images with few problems. Click export preview, instead of export.

You can then use the sliders to see quality vs space - try out FW; it's worth it!

Problem solved.

As everything else had failed, I tried reading the instructions for PSP9.

Resampling had "Pixel resize" selected, which apparently is best for hard edge images and simple graphics. Selecting "Smart size" leaves it to PSP9 to work out the best way of doing it.

Works fine now.

Irfanview works fine if I select "Use resample function" in advanced options for batch conversion.

Must be some difference between the images I've downloaded from the internet libraries and the ones I take on my digital camera as the camera images have always resized fine on Irfanview without the resample function.

use unsharp mask (or just plain sharpening if unsharp is unavailable) after resizing - the maount will vary from one image to another and depend on how much you have resized it.