As outlined in the DynaFile subscription agreement, the storage estimate is based on an approximate page count, calculated using the following industry-standard assumption of “20,000 scanned images, with 20% coverage, at 300 DPI, in black and white format, typically consume 1 GB of storage”. This equates to an average of 50 KB per page, which forms the basis of the page count listed in your agreement.
Factors Impacting Storage Estimates
Actual storage usage will ultimately depend on the types of documents you upload. A wide range of factors can influence this, including:
- Rasterized scanned pages vs. vector- or text-based PDFs
- Use of color or grayscale instead of black and white
- Uploading photos (e.g., JPEGs), email messages, Word documents, Excel files, and other non-scanned content
Guidelines for Optimal Storage Efficiency
For optimal storage efficiency, we recommend following the scanning guidelines detailed in your DynaFile subscription agreement and reiterated during onboarding:
- Most documents should be scanned in black and white at 300 DPI, with compression enabled (CCITT Group 4)
- Please note that grayscale is not the same as black and white, and it’s important to ensure this setting is correctly configured on your scanner or copier
- If certain documents must be scanned in color, this should be done selectively and at a reduced resolution of 150 DPI, again with compression enabled
- Some copiers support an Optimized PDF setting (please verify your device terminology as some manufacturers use the terms of “Compact PDF”, “High Compression PDF”, “Mixed Raster Content (MRC)” or “Optimize Text/Picture”), which breaks pages into color and black-and-white sections. This often results in acceptable file sizes and can be an effective way to balance quality and storage use
As a general guideline, most documents (excluding photographs, such as passport images) should range from 50 KB to 200 KB per page. Keeping this in mind can help you monitor and manage storage usage more effectively.