AOL Graphics Problems

The default setting in AOL's browser uses a proprietary compression software which converts web graphics and images into files of a smaller size. This allows AOL users to download web pages more quickly. However, the compression process can severely degrade the appearance of high quality images and graphics files.

The banner at the tops of the pages on this site should appear as a wide blue stripe at the top and a narrow grey stripe directly beneath, and should smoothly transform from a light shade to a darker shade across the page. AOL's graphics compression causes the banner to appear as several distinct blocks of varying shades. The background used on this site should have the texture of course white paper. AOL's compression causes it to display as a polished white granite texture. The gold sidebar on the left should display as a smooth gradient from light at the top to dark gold at the bottom. Compression causes it to be displayed in three distinct blocks.

A large number of website developers and AOL users have noted this problem, including images not being displayed, graphics with dark bands across them, murky colors, etc. To turn off Graphics compression in AOL version 6.0, follow the instructions below.

  1. At the top/middle of your AOL screen click on 'Settings'
  2. Click on PREFERENCES
  3. A window should now appear containing a bunch of blue text links
  4. Click on Internet Properties(WWW):
  5. Some options should now appear, and you should find some tabs
  6. Click on the 'General' tab, and toward the center, you should see 'Temporary Internet Files'
  7. Click on the DELETE FILES button (this will clear out all of the old images out of the 'cache' file which is stored on your hard drive)
  8. One of the tabs should be labeled WEB GRAPHICS
  9. Click on that tab
  10. Select the 'Never compress graphics' option.

For older versions of AOL, the "Compressed  Graphics" setting can be found under "My AOL".
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