What does it mean to rasterize a file?

Rasterizing converts vector shapes or live effects into a fixed grid of pixels. It locks the appearance in place, which is useful for complex effects, but it also ties the image to one resolution, so the timing and settings matter.

• Rasterize at the final print size, not larger and then shrunk down.
• Use a high resolution, typically 300 DPI, so the flattened result stays sharp.
• Once rasterized, text and shapes can no longer be edited as clean vector paths.
• Keep an editable master copy before you rasterize, in case you need changes later.

Rasterizing is common for gradients, glows, and transparency effects that some presses handle more reliably as flattened pixels.