718732 - Allow .bmp screenshot uploads

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(support.mozilla.org :: Questions, task, P5)

Description

[Verdi [:verdi] Best to slack me]

When a user tries to upload a .bmp file in a support question thread they get an invalid or nonexistent file error. We should allow .bmp files because it's the default image format for MS Paint on Windows XP.

Comment 1

[James Socol [:jsocol, :james]]

.bmps are huge. If we accept them, we need to convert to something smaller for use on the web.

Comment 2

[Verdi [:verdi] Best to slack me]

(In reply to James Socol [:jsocol, :james] from comment #1)
> .bmps are huge. If we accept them, we need to convert to something smaller
> for use on the web.

Yep, I assume we'd convert to png like we do for everything else. Right now if you are on Windows XP there is a pretty good chance you can't upload a screenshot.

Comment 3

[Tanay Gavankar [:tgavankar]]

There's currently a 1MB filesize limit on uploaded images, but our error message will say invalid image regardless of if it's an actually invalid filetype or if it's just over the filesize limit. I doubt any windows xp users who take a screenshot and save it as a bmp in paint will have a screenshot under 1mb. We can easily allow bmp files to be uploaded (as long as they're under the global uploaded filesize limit of 1mb), but how should we proceed in regards to large bmp files (i.e. screenshots), if at all?

Comment 4

[Verdi [:verdi] Best to slack me]

I thought that might be the case and tested it with a <1MB bmp (still didn't work). I think we need to up the limit. I took at 1920x1200 screenshot and it produced a 7MB bmp. Maybe set a 10MB limit?

Comment 5

[Kadir Topal [:atopal]]

We should allow people to upload bmps, warn them it might take long, and still allow them to continue if they choose so. They already had to jump through a number of hoops to create that screenshot, we shouldn't ask them to go back, or explain how to convert file formats.

Comment 6

[Tanay Gavankar [:tgavankar]]

So we want a specific exception for BMPs where the filesize limit is higher and we warn them that the upload will take longer, right?

Comment 7

[Verdi [:verdi] Best to slack me]

(In reply to Tanay Gavankar [:tgavankar] from comment #6)
> So we want a specific exception for BMPs where the filesize limit is higher
> and we warn them that the upload will take longer, right?

I'm pretty sure that was the conclusion in irc last night.

Comment 8

[Kadir Topal [:atopal]]

I'm not sure if we can already read the file size before uploading. If that is possible, we should warn for anything over 1MB. If that is not possible, we should just check for .bmp as the file extension and warn in any case.

Comment 9

[Bram Pitoyo [:bram]]

Attachment: Ask A Question - screenshot with BMP selected

On bug 718813, we will have an article that details why BMP is not a good idea to upload. However, if user selects a BMP extension anyway, we will display an “Important” yellow box underneath the upload form.

Note the article called “How do I make a BMP image smaller”. It will link to an anchor in the article that details how to convert BMP to JPG.

Comment 10

[Verdi [:verdi] Best to slack me]

Adding this to the backlog so we don't keep forgetting it.

Comment 11

[guigs [:guigs] PST (please needinfo me!)]

Attachment: bmpinxpers52.0.1.png

This is still reproducible, even with ESR 52.0.1 and the most up to date Windows XP 32 bit version. 

However with the percentage of XP users I am not seeing this as a big use case I am going to make it a p5