tedster - 4:37 am on Mar 23, 2001 (gmt 0)

Yes, that's the process. But only the BLUR steps are helping to create a smaller file size. I just threw in the L channel sharpening as an extra bit of info -- it's not part of helping the jpg compression along.

So yes, if you sharpen in the L channel, you will be adding some file size. Only do that if you feel the image needs sharpening (increased contrast in the L channel may also bring out detail without adding as much extra file size).

If the image does need sharpening, it would have needed sharpening even without this L-a-b technique, so comparing before and after file size is not really comparing apples to apples.