Can I get a copy of my original image?

If you've lost access to an original image file and need it, just reach out to us at support@ponga.com or use the chat window at left. We'll be happy to get it for you. Depending on other activities underway at the time it can take a day or two to retrieve from our archives. The easiest way to be specific about the image is to send us a link for the image.

By way of background, a picture as viewed in Ponga isn't a .jpg, .png, or .tif image file. It's a web page. When you upload your pictures to Ponga, we make a working copy of your originals to process them for inclusion in Ponga. We then preserve your original image files in our long-term archives. That means that the entire file with all metadata and image file names are preserved, unchanged.

We use a similar approach with respect to the documents, media, recordings, and other material you might associate in selections in a Ponga picture. When you add them to a Ponga picture, you're not creating some proprietary file format. Instead, Ponga creates associations between standards-based files that carry your content like .pdf, png, .mp4, .ogg, .wav, and other media files and select areas in a background Ponga picture. Since all of these pieces remain in their original format, you can also rely on external sources libraries or permanent.org to ensure control of your originals.

When you "right-click" or otherwise attempt to download a picture from the Ponga browser window, the file isn't there. It's a web page. We do this because it allows us to deliver very high-resolution images across low-bandwidth networks by tiling the image into little squares. This is a lot like the way you use Google maps to zoom around any part of the world. You're not looking at a giant map, but only the part of the map you need to see at a time. Ponga currently supports images of up to 85MB. More about image file types here.

You'll have noticed little tiles refreshing when you zoom quickly in or out of a very large image. Your viewers can take screenshots, but they don't get the original image. Only the owner can request the original file. Learn more about getting your stuff back and about how Ponga accounts work.

Reach out if you have any questions.