Downloading Patreon images seems to yield a smaller file size than if I download it myself

[colbert2677]

These are from the same post; the top one is when I save the image myself directly from Patreon and the below is if I download it via gallery-dl. The resolution and file type are the same but gallery-dl seems to grab a file with reduced file size, so I'm not confident that I'm getting the exact same file from gallery-dl as if I were saving it manually from Patreon.

Are there configurations or otherwise that I'm missing out on here? Could not seem to find a relevant issue or discussion to this.

[mikf]

The extractor.patreon.files option might be relevant here.

[colbert2677]

I've tried every single option and mix of options in that list. I'm still seeing file size loss compared to if I save the image directly from Patreon myself; in another case, I got 4.36MB when saved myself vs 2.92MB when downloaded via gallery-dl.

[mikf]

I did a bit of investigating and found that Patreon image URLs contain a segment that has base64-encoded "quality" options.

For the big image files labeled by the API as "original" under "image_urls", it is
{"q":100,"webp":0} (/eyJxIjoxMDAsIndlYnAiOjB9/)

https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/12497641/3d99f5f5b635428ca237fedf0f223f1a/eyJxIjoxMDAsIndlYnAiOjB9/1.JPG?token-time=1734307200&token-hash=lEeSOpQzapNPL_1Iy0CQnUo1nRGmVigb62yyWxX898U%3D

For the smaller files downloaded by gallery-dl labeled "download_url", it is
{"a":1,"p":1} (/eyJhIjoxLCJwIjoxfQ%3D%3D/)

https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/12497641/3d99f5f5b635428ca237fedf0f223f1a/eyJhIjoxLCJwIjoxfQ%3D%3D/1.JPG?token-time=1733184000&token-hash=sC3NXeqoyGDwVO7JdT_o6bc8NGiIOPmwBK1NbJQ4Cd8%3D

The pixel value information of both versions is identical for PNG files, but there is a difference for JPEGs. I am not sure if the "q":100 versions are actually of higher quality or if they are just re-encoded with a JPEG quality level of 100. Lots of the extra file size is also used up by additional(?) image file metadata.

Changing these "quality" options is not possible, as that invalidates the token-hash value.

[colbert2677]

Hm... that's interesting. Appreciate you taking the time to dive deep here. It seems like a difference I'll have to live with if I'm trying to acquire a large amount of posts off Patreon via gallery-dl as far as I care about the actual files, but in terms of just viewing them, it should be good enough already that the resolution is retained. Besides Patreon, things like Pixiv yield the files I expect as though I downloaded them myself, so really solid tool here. Cheers.

[mikf]

Having gallery-dl download original images instead of the download_url version would be quite easy. I'm probably going to add an option for this.

I'd like someone with better vision than me (mine is terrible) to compare the two examples from #6569 (comment) in terms of quality, if that's possible.

[mikf]

a526a3d

[FriedGenera]

a526a3d

Is the original the one displayed on the website? I find that it's usually smaller than download_url version in my case.

[roachcord3]

I know this is a closed thread, but I wanted to comment here specifically because I didn't want to have context spread out. If this is a faux pas on my part, then please forgive me.

tl;dr I believe original is what is displayed on the website when it comes to images you can click on (when it comes to attachments, download_url and original are the same.) However, I believe download_url is "better" in terms of preserving metadata, though there are various impediments to me being able to conclude that.

---

Some quick context: until very recently, I was downloading from Patreon using their old V1 API (via the Hydrus parser, which I was helping to maintain.) Recently, though, their V1 API has started to sometimes return "user_case_view": false for posts that the user can definitely view, so I (and others) have switched to gallery-dl (via hydownloader, which uses original instead of gallery-dl defaults, which led me to investigate the difference.)

The first thing I noticed is that original was not getting me the same files I had before. In some cases, they were pixel-for-pixel duplicates (PNGs tended to be like this) with different filesizes and missing/altered metadata. The size difference would not be explained by the amount of change in metadata, and the filesize difference was not of a consistent ratio or even in a consistent direction.

Here is an example of pixel-perfect duplicate PNGs with a substantial-enough filesize difference and strange metadata differences. It seems that the V1 API had properly formatted XMP metadata and a few other fields properly set but does not have optimal PNG compression, while the original download from gallery-dl has at least some (or all?) of that XMP metadata in a metadata text field called XML:com.adobe.xmp, It's probably easier to just straight up show you the metadata differences (extracted using ImageMagick's identify -unique -verbose command):

*** identify-17871177_01_original.txt	Sun Mar 15 16:33:23 2026
--- identify-17871177_01_v1_api.txt	Sun Mar 15 16:39:44 2026
***************
*** 1,12 ****
  Image:
!   Filename: 17871177_01_original.png
    Permissions: rw-r--r--
    Format: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
    Mime type: image/png
    Class: DirectClass
    Geometry: 1200x815+0+0
!   Resolution: 28.35x28.35
!   Print size: 42.328x28.7478
    Units: PixelsPerCentimeter
    Colorspace: sRGB
    Type: TrueColorAlpha
--- 1,12 ----
  Image:
!   Filename: 17871177_01_v1_api.png
    Permissions: rw-r--r--
    Format: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
    Mime type: image/png
    Class: DirectClass
    Geometry: 1200x815+0+0
!   Resolution: 118.11x118.11
!   Print size: 10.16x6.90035
    Units: PixelsPerCentimeter
    Colorspace: sRGB
    Type: TrueColorAlpha
***************
*** 85,123 ****
    Dispose: Undefined
    Iterations: 0
    Compression: Zip
!   Orientation: Undefined
    Properties:
!     date:create: 2026-03-15T23:27:44+00:00
!     date:modify: 2026-03-15T23:27:44+00:00
!     date:timestamp: 2026-03-15T23:33:23+00:00
      png:IHDR.bit-depth-orig: 8
      png:IHDR.bit_depth: 8
      png:IHDR.color-type-orig: 6
      png:IHDR.color_type: 6 (RGBA)
      png:IHDR.interlace_method: 0 (Not interlaced)
      png:IHDR.width,height: 1200, 815
!     png:pHYs: x_res=2835, y_res=2835, units=1
!     png:text: 1 tEXt/zTXt/iTXt chunks were found
      signature: 2a1b51dc6e2861fae3817df6194a11f73c3e02244742ef177dd2f135aa3abce2
!     XML:com.adobe.xmp: <x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="XMP Core 5.4.0">
!    <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
!       <rdf:Description rdf:about=""
!             xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/"
!             xmlns:tiff="http://ns.adobe.com/tiff/1.0/">
!          <xmp:CreatorTool>Celsys Studio Tool</xmp:CreatorTool>
!          <tiff:Orientation>1</tiff:Orientation>
!       </rdf:Description>
!    </rdf:RDF>
! </x:xmpmeta>
! 
    Artifacts:
      identify:unique-colors: true
      verbose: true
    Tainted: False
!   Filesize: 687716B
    Number pixels: 978000
    Pixel cache type: Memory
!   Pixels per second: 24.4749MP
!   User time: 0.030u
!   Elapsed time: 0:01.039
    Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org
--- 85,115 ----
    Dispose: Undefined
    Iterations: 0
    Compression: Zip
!   Orientation: TopLeft
!   Profiles:
!     Profile-xmp: 439 bytes
    Properties:
!     date:create: 2026-03-15T23:39:27+00:00
!     date:modify: 2026-03-15T23:36:47+00:00
!     date:timestamp: 2026-03-15T23:39:43+00:00
      png:IHDR.bit-depth-orig: 8
      png:IHDR.bit_depth: 8
      png:IHDR.color-type-orig: 6
      png:IHDR.color_type: 6 (RGBA)
      png:IHDR.interlace_method: 0 (Not interlaced)
      png:IHDR.width,height: 1200, 815
!     png:pHYs: x_res=11811, y_res=11811, units=1
!     png:sRGB: intent=0 (Perceptual Intent)
      signature: 2a1b51dc6e2861fae3817df6194a11f73c3e02244742ef177dd2f135aa3abce2
!     xmp:CreatorTool: Celsys Studio Tool
    Artifacts:
      identify:unique-colors: true
      verbose: true
    Tainted: False
!   Filesize: 796808B
    Number pixels: 978000
    Pixel cache type: Memory
!   Pixels per second: 21.8999MP
!   User time: 0.050u
!   Elapsed time: 0:01.044
    Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org

A --side-by-side diff instead, if that's more readable:

Image:																						Image:
  Filename: 17871177_01_original.png													 |	  Filename: 17871177_01_v1_api.png
  Permissions: rw-r--r--																	  Permissions: rw-r--r--
  Format: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)													  Format: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
  Mime type: image/png																		  Mime type: image/png
  Class: DirectClass																		  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 1200x815+0+0																	  Geometry: 1200x815+0+0
  Resolution: 28.35x28.35																 |	  Resolution: 118.11x118.11
  Print size: 42.328x28.7478															 |	  Print size: 10.16x6.90035
  Units: PixelsPerCentimeter																  Units: PixelsPerCentimeter
  Colorspace: sRGB																			  Colorspace: sRGB
  Type: TrueColorAlpha																		  Type: TrueColorAlpha
  Endianness: Undefined																		  Endianness: Undefined
  Depth: 8-bit																				  Depth: 8-bit
  Channels: 4.0																				  Channels: 4.0
  Channel depth:																			  Channel depth:
    Red: 8-bit																				    Red: 8-bit
    Green: 8-bit																			    Green: 8-bit
    Blue: 8-bit																				    Blue: 8-bit
    Alpha: 1-bit																			    Alpha: 1-bit
  Channel statistics:																		  Channel statistics:
    Pixels: 978000																			    Pixels: 978000
    Red:																					    Red:
      min: 19  (0.0745098)																	      min: 19  (0.0745098)
      max: 248 (0.972549)																	      max: 248 (0.972549)
      mean: 205.348 (0.805285)																      mean: 205.348 (0.805285)
      median: 238 (0.933333)																      median: 238 (0.933333)
      standard deviation: 66.0347 (0.25896)													      standard deviation: 66.0347 (0.25896)
      kurtosis: 1.83359																		      kurtosis: 1.83359
      skewness: -1.76683																	      skewness: -1.76683
      entropy: 0.500909																		      entropy: 0.500909
    Green:																					    Green:
      min: 6  (0.0235294)																	      min: 6  (0.0235294)
      max: 246 (0.964706)																	      max: 246 (0.964706)
      mean: 155.766 (0.610846)																      mean: 155.766 (0.610846)
      median: 134 (0.52549)																	      median: 134 (0.52549)
      standard deviation: 69.3712 (0.272044)												      standard deviation: 69.3712 (0.272044)
      kurtosis: -1.07259																	      kurtosis: -1.07259
      skewness: -0.0695667																	      skewness: -0.0695667
      entropy: 0.608485																		      entropy: 0.608485
    Blue:																					    Blue:
      min: 45  (0.176471)																	      min: 45  (0.176471)
      max: 246 (0.964706)																	      max: 246 (0.964706)
      mean: 164.209 (0.643958)																      mean: 164.209 (0.643958)
      median: 158 (0.619608)																      median: 158 (0.619608)
      standard deviation: 66.816 (0.262024)													      standard deviation: 66.816 (0.262024)
      kurtosis: -1.57381																	      kurtosis: -1.57381
      skewness: -0.04233																	      skewness: -0.04233
      entropy: 0.618683																		      entropy: 0.618683
    Alpha:																					    Alpha:
      min: 255  (1)																			      min: 255  (1)
      max: 255 (1)																			      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 255 (1)																			      mean: 255 (1)
      median: 255 (1)																		      median: 255 (1)
      standard deviation: 0 (0)																      standard deviation: 0 (0)
      kurtosis: 0																			      kurtosis: 0
      skewness: 0																			      skewness: 0
      entropy: 0																			      entropy: 0
  Image statistics:																			  Image statistics:
    Overall:																				    Overall:
      min: 6  (0.0235294)																	      min: 6  (0.0235294)
      max: 255 (1)																			      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 195.081 (0.765022)																      mean: 195.081 (0.765022)
      median: 196.25 (0.769608)																      median: 196.25 (0.769608)
      standard deviation: 50.5555 (0.198257)												      standard deviation: 50.5555 (0.198257)
      kurtosis: -0.203202																	      kurtosis: -0.203202
      skewness: -0.469683																	      skewness: -0.469683
      entropy: 0.432019																		      entropy: 0.432019
  Colors: 12493																				  Colors: 12493
  Rendering intent: Perceptual																  Rendering intent: Perceptual
  Gamma: 0.454545																			  Gamma: 0.454545
  Chromaticity:																				  Chromaticity:
    red primary: (0.64,0.33,0.03)															    red primary: (0.64,0.33,0.03)
    green primary: (0.3,0.6,0.1)															    green primary: (0.3,0.6,0.1)
    blue primary: (0.15,0.06,0.79)															    blue primary: (0.15,0.06,0.79)
    white point: (0.3127,0.329,0.3583)														    white point: (0.3127,0.329,0.3583)
  Matte color: grey74																		  Matte color: grey74
  Background color: white																	  Background color: white
  Border color: srgb(223,223,223)															  Border color: srgb(223,223,223)
  Transparent color: black																	  Transparent color: black
  Interlace: None																			  Interlace: None
  Intensity: Undefined																		  Intensity: Undefined
  Compose: Over																				  Compose: Over
  Page geometry: 1200x815+0+0																  Page geometry: 1200x815+0+0
  Dispose: Undefined																		  Dispose: Undefined
  Iterations: 0																				  Iterations: 0
  Compression: Zip																			  Compression: Zip
  Orientation: Undefined																 |	  Orientation: TopLeft
																						 >	  Profiles:
																						 >	    Profile-xmp: 439 bytes
  Properties:																				  Properties:
    date:create: 2026-03-15T23:27:44+00:00												 |	    date:create: 2026-03-15T23:39:27+00:00
    date:modify: 2026-03-15T23:27:44+00:00												 |	    date:modify: 2026-03-15T23:36:47+00:00
    date:timestamp: 2026-03-15T23:33:23+00:00											 |	    date:timestamp: 2026-03-15T23:39:43+00:00
    png:IHDR.bit-depth-orig: 8																    png:IHDR.bit-depth-orig: 8
    png:IHDR.bit_depth: 8																	    png:IHDR.bit_depth: 8
    png:IHDR.color-type-orig: 6																    png:IHDR.color-type-orig: 6
    png:IHDR.color_type: 6 (RGBA)															    png:IHDR.color_type: 6 (RGBA)
    png:IHDR.interlace_method: 0 (Not interlaced)											    png:IHDR.interlace_method: 0 (Not interlaced)
    png:IHDR.width,height: 1200, 815														    png:IHDR.width,height: 1200, 815
    png:pHYs: x_res=2835, y_res=2835, units=1											 |	    png:pHYs: x_res=11811, y_res=11811, units=1
    png:text: 1 tEXt/zTXt/iTXt chunks were found										 |	    png:sRGB: intent=0 (Perceptual Intent)
    signature: 2a1b51dc6e2861fae3817df6194a11f73c3e02244742ef177dd2f135aa3abce2				    signature: 2a1b51dc6e2861fae3817df6194a11f73c3e02244742ef177dd2f135aa3abce2
    XML:com.adobe.xmp: <x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="XMP Core 5.4.0">	 |	    xmp:CreatorTool: Celsys Studio Tool
   <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">					 <	
      <rdf:Description rdf:about=""														 <	
            xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/"									 <	
            xmlns:tiff="http://ns.adobe.com/tiff/1.0/">									 <	
         <xmp:CreatorTool>Celsys Studio Tool</xmp:CreatorTool>							 <	
         <tiff:Orientation>1</tiff:Orientation>											 <	
      </rdf:Description>																 <	
   </rdf:RDF>																			 <	
</x:xmpmeta>																			 <	
																						 <	
  Artifacts:																				  Artifacts:
    identify:unique-colors: true															    identify:unique-colors: true
    verbose: true																			    verbose: true
  Tainted: False																			  Tainted: False
  Filesize: 687716B																		 |	  Filesize: 796808B
  Number pixels: 978000																		  Number pixels: 978000
  Pixel cache type: Memory																	  Pixel cache type: Memory
  Pixels per second: 24.4749MP															 |	  Pixels per second: 21.8999MP
  User time: 0.030u																		 |	  User time: 0.050u
  Elapsed time: 0:01.039																 |	  Elapsed time: 0:01.044
  Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org				  Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org

When I downloaded the same image using my browser to access the website, I found that the original files downloaded from gallery-dl were byte-for-byte the same. So, original is getting what you'd see on the website, which is apparently not a good thing: with download_url I got the same file as from the V1 API, byte-for-byte. At least, so far, that's what I've found in my testing with PNGs. This is not the case for JPEGs, and it's possible that I just haven't compared enough samples to find PNGs that break this trend.

As for JPEGs, when I compare the downloads between original, download_url, and what I already had in my collection that had been downloaded months to years ago via the V1 API, I've noticed that the old JPEG images I had are either of higher quality, or are pixel-perfect duplicates with some metadata differences. When the old images are higher quality, you can tell pretty clearly by the JPEG artifacts, especially with a tool like the Hydrus deduplication comparator. It's not just that their JPEG quality setting is lower (95 vs 100, in cases I've seen) but that they really are more compressed.

However, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that in the case of at least one creator I follow, their posts were getting redownloaded through Hydrus' parser over the past half-year or more, and the new downloads were all similarly of lower quality.
It seems that in many cases, Patreon has replaced the files on their CDN. So, it's probably impossible for me to say for sure that neither original nor download_url are good defaults, since it's likely that there's no setting one can go with now to get the actual high quality images I had saved years ago.

Now, when I compare original vs download_url for JPEGs, I find that the difference seems to just be stuff like the resolution and dimensions. The file sizes are even the same, and they're pixel-perfect duplicates.

*** identify-71263295_original.txt	Sun Mar 15 17:10:07 2026
--- identify-71263295_download_url.txt	Sun Mar 15 17:09:48 2026
***************
*** 1,12 ****
  Image:
!   Filename: 71263295_original.jpg
    Permissions: rw-r--r--
    Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format)
    Mime type: image/jpeg
    Class: DirectClass
    Geometry: 3138x4157+0+0
!   Resolution: 72x72
!   Print size: 43.5833x57.7361
    Units: PixelsPerInch
    Colorspace: sRGB
    Type: TrueColor
--- 1,12 ----
  Image:
!   Filename: 71263295_download_url.jpg
    Permissions: rw-r--r--
    Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format)
    Mime type: image/jpeg
    Class: DirectClass
    Geometry: 3138x4157+0+0
!   Resolution: 350x350
!   Print size: 8.96571x11.8771
    Units: PixelsPerInch
    Colorspace: sRGB
    Type: TrueColor
***************
*** 83,90 ****
      Profile-exif: 186 bytes
    Properties:
      date:create: 2026-03-16T00:09:24+00:00
!     date:modify: 2026-03-16T00:06:10+00:00
!     date:timestamp: 2026-03-16T00:10:00+00:00
      exif:ColorSpace: 65535
      exif:ComponentsConfiguration: ...
      exif:ExifOffset: 102
--- 83,90 ----
      Profile-exif: 186 bytes
    Properties:
      date:create: 2026-03-16T00:09:24+00:00
!     date:modify: 2026-03-16T00:06:55+00:00
!     date:timestamp: 2026-03-16T00:09:41+00:00
      exif:ColorSpace: 65535
      exif:ComponentsConfiguration: ...
      exif:ExifOffset: 102
***************
*** 103,109 ****
    Filesize: 1.84866MiB
    Number pixels: 13.0447M
    Pixel cache type: Memory
!   Pixels per second: 70.6208MP
!   User time: 0.180u
!   Elapsed time: 0:01.184
    Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org
--- 103,109 ----
    Filesize: 1.84866MiB
    Number pixels: 13.0447M
    Pixel cache type: Memory
!   Pixels per second: 70.2897MP
!   User time: 0.190u
!   Elapsed time: 0:01.185
    Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org

But when I compare them to the old files from the V1 API, well, the differences are obviously quite a lot since they're re-encodes. Note that this example I'm using is something I can't re-pull from the V1 API because of this issue, so I can't tell for sure if gallery-dl is doing something "wrong" or if Patreon has just forever sealed the higher quality file:

*** identify-71263295_original.txt	Sun Mar 15 17:10:07 2026
--- identify-71263295_v1_api.txt	Sun Mar 15 17:09:33 2026
***************
*** 1,12 ****
  Image:
!   Filename: 71263295_original.jpg
    Permissions: rw-r--r--
    Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format)
    Mime type: image/jpeg
    Class: DirectClass
    Geometry: 3138x4157+0+0
!   Resolution: 72x72
!   Print size: 43.5833x57.7361
    Units: PixelsPerInch
    Colorspace: sRGB
    Type: TrueColor
--- 1,12 ----
  Image:
!   Filename: 71263295_v1_api.jpg
    Permissions: rw-r--r--
    Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format)
    Mime type: image/jpeg
    Class: DirectClass
    Geometry: 3138x4157+0+0
!   Resolution: 350x350
!   Print size: 8.96571x11.8771
    Units: PixelsPerInch
    Colorspace: sRGB
    Type: TrueColor
***************
*** 23,63 ****
      Red:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 178.839 (0.701329)
        median: 189 (0.741176)
!       standard deviation: 56.3126 (0.220834)
!       kurtosis: 0.45023
!       skewness: -0.952203
!       entropy: 0.909775
      Green:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 138.617 (0.543596)
        median: 133 (0.521569)
!       standard deviation: 58.0918 (0.227811)
!       kurtosis: -0.574304
!       skewness: 0.167401
!       entropy: 0.950194
      Blue:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 130.452 (0.511576)
        median: 122 (0.478431)
!       standard deviation: 57.124 (0.224016)
!       kurtosis: -0.390942
!       skewness: 0.411318
!       entropy: 0.943115
    Image statistics:
      Overall:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 149.303 (0.5855)
        median: 148 (0.580392)
!       standard deviation: 57.1761 (0.22422)
!       kurtosis: -0.171672
!       skewness: -0.124495
!       entropy: 0.934361
!   Colors: 141887
    Rendering intent: Perceptual
    Gamma: 0.454545
    Chromaticity:
--- 23,63 ----
      Red:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 178.83 (0.701295)
        median: 189 (0.741176)
!       standard deviation: 56.3142 (0.22084)
!       kurtosis: 0.449847
!       skewness: -0.951899
!       entropy: 0.906157
      Green:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 138.621 (0.543613)
        median: 133 (0.521569)
!       standard deviation: 58.0861 (0.227788)
!       kurtosis: -0.57436
!       skewness: 0.167739
!       entropy: 0.947065
      Blue:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 130.457 (0.511596)
        median: 122 (0.478431)
!       standard deviation: 57.1167 (0.223987)
!       kurtosis: -0.390858
!       skewness: 0.411851
!       entropy: 0.941951
    Image statistics:
      Overall:
        min: 0  (0)
        max: 255 (1)
!       mean: 149.303 (0.585501)
        median: 148 (0.580392)
!       standard deviation: 57.1723 (0.224205)
!       kurtosis: -0.17179
!       skewness: -0.124103
!       entropy: 0.931724
!   Colors: 125382
    Rendering intent: Perceptual
    Gamma: 0.454545
    Chromaticity:
***************
*** 76,109 ****
    Dispose: Undefined
    Iterations: 0
    Compression: JPEG
!   Quality: 95
!   Orientation: TopLeft
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!   User time: 0.180u
!   Elapsed time: 0:01.184
    Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org
--- 76,100 ----
    Dispose: Undefined
    Iterations: 0
    Compression: JPEG
!   Quality: 100
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!     date:modify: 2026-03-16T00:06:31+00:00
!     date:timestamp: 2026-03-16T00:09:26+00:00
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    Pixel cache type: Memory
!   Pixels per second: 60.8508MP
!   User time: 0.220u
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    Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org

Image:																						Image:
  Filename: 71263295_original.jpg														 |	  Filename: 71263295_v1_api.jpg
  Permissions: rw-r--r--																	  Permissions: rw-r--r--
  Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format)								  Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format)
  Mime type: image/jpeg																		  Mime type: image/jpeg
  Class: DirectClass																		  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 3138x4157+0+0																	  Geometry: 3138x4157+0+0
  Resolution: 72x72																		 |	  Resolution: 350x350
  Print size: 43.5833x57.7361															 |	  Print size: 8.96571x11.8771
  Units: PixelsPerInch																		  Units: PixelsPerInch
  Colorspace: sRGB																			  Colorspace: sRGB
  Type: TrueColor																			  Type: TrueColor
  Base type: Undefined																		  Base type: Undefined
  Endianness: Undefined																		  Endianness: Undefined
  Depth: 8-bit																				  Depth: 8-bit
  Channels: 3.0																				  Channels: 3.0
  Channel depth:																			  Channel depth:
    Red: 8-bit																				    Red: 8-bit
    Green: 8-bit																			    Green: 8-bit
    Blue: 8-bit																				    Blue: 8-bit
  Channel statistics:																		  Channel statistics:
    Pixels: 13044666																		    Pixels: 13044666
    Red:																					    Red:
      min: 0  (0)																			      min: 0  (0)
      max: 255 (1)																			      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 178.839 (0.701329)															 |	      mean: 178.83 (0.701295)
      median: 189 (0.741176)																      median: 189 (0.741176)
      standard deviation: 56.3126 (0.220834)											 |	      standard deviation: 56.3142 (0.22084)
      kurtosis: 0.45023																	 |	      kurtosis: 0.449847
      skewness: -0.952203																 |	      skewness: -0.951899
      entropy: 0.909775																	 |	      entropy: 0.906157
    Green:																					    Green:
      min: 0  (0)																			      min: 0  (0)
      max: 255 (1)																			      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 138.617 (0.543596)															 |	      mean: 138.621 (0.543613)
      median: 133 (0.521569)																      median: 133 (0.521569)
      standard deviation: 58.0918 (0.227811)											 |	      standard deviation: 58.0861 (0.227788)
      kurtosis: -0.574304																 |	      kurtosis: -0.57436
      skewness: 0.167401																 |	      skewness: 0.167739
      entropy: 0.950194																	 |	      entropy: 0.947065
    Blue:																					    Blue:
      min: 0  (0)																			      min: 0  (0)
      max: 255 (1)																			      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 130.452 (0.511576)															 |	      mean: 130.457 (0.511596)
      median: 122 (0.478431)																      median: 122 (0.478431)
      standard deviation: 57.124 (0.224016)												 |	      standard deviation: 57.1167 (0.223987)
      kurtosis: -0.390942																 |	      kurtosis: -0.390858
      skewness: 0.411318																 |	      skewness: 0.411851
      entropy: 0.943115																	 |	      entropy: 0.941951
  Image statistics:																			  Image statistics:
    Overall:																				    Overall:
      min: 0  (0)																			      min: 0  (0)
      max: 255 (1)																			      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 149.303 (0.5855)															 |	      mean: 149.303 (0.585501)
      median: 148 (0.580392)																      median: 148 (0.580392)
      standard deviation: 57.1761 (0.22422)												 |	      standard deviation: 57.1723 (0.224205)
      kurtosis: -0.171672																 |	      kurtosis: -0.17179
      skewness: -0.124495																 |	      skewness: -0.124103
      entropy: 0.934361																	 |	      entropy: 0.931724
  Colors: 141887																		 |	  Colors: 125382
  Rendering intent: Perceptual																  Rendering intent: Perceptual
  Gamma: 0.454545																			  Gamma: 0.454545
  Chromaticity:																				  Chromaticity:
    red primary: (0.64,0.33,0.03)															    red primary: (0.64,0.33,0.03)
    green primary: (0.3,0.6,0.1)															    green primary: (0.3,0.6,0.1)
    blue primary: (0.15,0.06,0.79)															    blue primary: (0.15,0.06,0.79)
    white point: (0.3127,0.329,0.3583)														    white point: (0.3127,0.329,0.3583)
  Matte color: grey74																		  Matte color: grey74
  Background color: white																	  Background color: white
  Border color: srgb(223,223,223)															  Border color: srgb(223,223,223)
  Transparent color: black																	  Transparent color: black
  Interlace: None																			  Interlace: None
  Intensity: Undefined																		  Intensity: Undefined
  Compose: Over																				  Compose: Over
  Page geometry: 3138x4157+0+0																  Page geometry: 3138x4157+0+0
  Dispose: Undefined																		  Dispose: Undefined
  Iterations: 0																				  Iterations: 0
  Compression: JPEG																			  Compression: JPEG
  Quality: 95																			 |	  Quality: 100
  Orientation: TopLeft																	 |	  Orientation: Undefined
  Profiles:																					  Profiles:
    Profile-8bim: 28 bytes																	    Profile-8bim: 28 bytes
    Profile-exif: 186 bytes																 <	
  Properties:																				  Properties:
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    date:modify: 2026-03-16T00:06:10+00:00												 |	    date:modify: 2026-03-16T00:06:31+00:00
    date:timestamp: 2026-03-16T00:10:00+00:00											 |	    date:timestamp: 2026-03-16T00:09:26+00:00
    exif:ColorSpace: 65535																 <	
    exif:ComponentsConfiguration: ...													 <	
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    exif:PixelYDimension: 4157															 <	
    exif:YCbCrPositioning: 1															 <	
    jpeg:colorspace: 2																		    jpeg:colorspace: 2
    jpeg:sampling-factor: 1x1,1x1,1x1														    jpeg:sampling-factor: 1x1,1x1,1x1
    signature: 3fea5cf100244c85f8d9ea502cd1945067af4e46f4c6e264385e3a8d9c7c499e			 |	    signature: 98c8d92f5f795f0a2ce114066b4ea77182349324575b2c1d945be769be546e68
  Artifacts:																				  Artifacts:
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    verbose: true																			    verbose: true
  Tainted: False																			  Tainted: False
  Filesize: 1.84866MiB																	 |	  Filesize: 5.13244MiB
  Number pixels: 13.0447M																	  Number pixels: 13.0447M
  Pixel cache type: Memory																	  Pixel cache type: Memory
  Pixels per second: 70.6208MP															 |	  Pixels per second: 60.8508MP
  User time: 0.180u																		 |	  User time: 0.220u
  Elapsed time: 0:01.184																 |	  Elapsed time: 0:01.214
  Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org				  Version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-13 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23522 https://imagemagick.org

So far, while I can't say anything definitively... I do believe that download_url is better since the image quality seems to end up being the same as original and it seems to either preserve the actual metadata of the originally uploaded image. Or rather, it's formatted like the older files I got from the V1 API years ago back when file quality was better, which is a correlation that makes me prefer it.

If I ever find any evidence to show that original and download_url will sometimes have different quality differences, and that the quality difference is not always in one or the other's favor, then I will come back and correct my conclusion.