The quality setting in Image API affects the compression level of the JPEGs that it creats. It's passed as a parameter to GD lib or ImageMagick, depending on what library you are using. I could be wrong, but I do not believe the original upload is discarded.

One thing that GD lib will do is set a default resolution (PPI) of 72ppi on all JPEG images that pass through it. I am working on a post-processing filter for ImageCache that will allow you to configure the PPI once all other GD/ImageMagick libs are finished with it. However, this is only necessary where you want to distribute print quality images, since 72ppi is relatively optimal for screen output.

Nyk Cowham Ashlin Interactive Strategy

I'm using Filefield.

I'm confused about the setting at:

admin/settings/imageapi/config

where it asks you to set a jpg % for photo manipulations.

Here is my question... if I've got my file uploads set to no maximum, both for file size and pixel count, will the image be copied as is or will it be compressed at the jpg setting? Will Drupal save the original without changing it.