Quality of Image after resize very low -- Java

Scaling an image down over a large range is inherently dangerous (from the point of view of quality), especially using a single step.

The recommended method is to use a divide and conquer method. Basically, you scale the image down in steps of 50% until you reach your desired size.

So, I took the original image of 650x748 and scaled it down to fit within a 60x60 region (52x60).

Divide and conquer compared to one step...

public class TestImageResize {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new TestImageResize();
    }

    public TestImageResize() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
                } catch (Exception ex) {
                }

                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
                frame.add(new ScalePane());
                frame.pack();
                frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                frame.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

    public class ScalePane extends JPanel {

        private BufferedImage original;
        private BufferedImage scaled;

        public ScalePane() {
            try {
                original = ImageIO.read(new File("path/to/master.jpg"));
                scaled = getScaledInstanceToFit(original, new Dimension(60, 60));
                ImageIO.write(scaled, "jpg", new File("scaled.jpg"));

                BufferedImage image = new BufferedImage(52, 60, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
                Graphics2D g2d = image.createGraphics();
                g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_INTERPOLATION, RenderingHints.VALUE_INTERPOLATION_BILINEAR);
                g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_RENDERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_RENDER_QUALITY);
                g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
                g2d.drawImage(original, 0, 0, 52, 60, this);
                g2d.dispose();

                ImageIO.write(image, "jpg", new File("test.jpg"));

            } catch (IOException ex) {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public Dimension getPreferredSize() {

            Dimension size = super.getPreferredSize();
            if (original != null) {
                if (scaled != null) {
                    size.width = original.getWidth() + scaled.getWidth();
                    size.height = original.getHeight();
                } else {
                    size.width = original.getWidth();
                    size.height = original.getHeight();
                }
            }

            return size;
        }

        @Override
        protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
            super.paintComponent(g);
            Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_INTERPOLATION, RenderingHints.VALUE_INTERPOLATION_BILINEAR);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_RENDERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_RENDER_QUALITY);
            g2d.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);

            if (original != null) {
                int x = 0;
                int y = (getHeight() - original.getHeight()) / 2;;
                if (scaled != null) {
                    x = (getWidth() - (original.getWidth() + scaled.getWidth())) / 2;
                } else {
                    x = (getWidth() - original.getWidth()) / 2;
                }
                g2d.drawImage(original, x, y, this);

                if (scaled != null) {
                    x += original.getWidth();
                    y = (getHeight() - scaled.getHeight()) / 2;
                    g2d.drawImage(scaled, x, y, this);
                }
            }
            g2d.dispose();
        }

        public BufferedImage getScaledInstanceToFit(BufferedImage img, Dimension size) {
            float scaleFactor = getScaleFactorToFit(img, size);
            return getScaledInstance(img, scaleFactor);
        }

        public float getScaleFactorToFit(BufferedImage img, Dimension size) {
            float scale = 1f;
            if (img != null) {
                int imageWidth = img.getWidth();
                int imageHeight = img.getHeight();
                scale = getScaleFactorToFit(new Dimension(imageWidth, imageHeight), size);
            }
            return scale;
        }

        public float getScaleFactorToFit(Dimension original, Dimension toFit) {
            float scale = 1f;
            if (original != null && toFit != null) {
                float dScaleWidth = getScaleFactor(original.width, toFit.width);
                float dScaleHeight = getScaleFactor(original.height, toFit.height);
                scale = Math.min(dScaleHeight, dScaleWidth);
            }
            return scale;
        }

        public float getScaleFactor(int iMasterSize, int iTargetSize) {
            float scale = 1;
            if (iMasterSize > iTargetSize) {
                scale = (float) iTargetSize / (float) iMasterSize;
            } else {
                scale = (float) iTargetSize / (float) iMasterSize;
            }
            return scale;
        }

        public BufferedImage getScaledInstance(BufferedImage img, double dScaleFactor) {
            BufferedImage imgBuffer = null;
            imgBuffer = getScaledInstance(img, dScaleFactor, RenderingHints.VALUE_INTERPOLATION_BILINEAR, true);
            return imgBuffer;
        }

        protected BufferedImage getScaledInstance(BufferedImage img, double dScaleFactor, Object hint, boolean higherQuality) {

            int targetWidth = (int) Math.round(img.getWidth() * dScaleFactor);
            int targetHeight = (int) Math.round(img.getHeight() * dScaleFactor);

            int type = (img.getTransparency() == Transparency.OPAQUE)
                            ? BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB : BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB;

            BufferedImage ret = (BufferedImage) img;

            if (targetHeight > 0 || targetWidth > 0) {
                int w, h;
                if (higherQuality) {
                    w = img.getWidth();
                    h = img.getHeight();
                } else {
                    w = targetWidth;
                    h = targetHeight;
                }

                do {
                    if (higherQuality && w > targetWidth) {
                        w /= 2;
                        if (w < targetWidth) {
                            w = targetWidth;
                        }
                    }

                    if (higherQuality && h > targetHeight) {
                        h /= 2;
                        if (h < targetHeight) {
                            h = targetHeight;
                        }
                    }

                    BufferedImage tmp = new BufferedImage(Math.max(w, 1), Math.max(h, 1), type);
                    Graphics2D g2 = tmp.createGraphics();
                    g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_INTERPOLATION, hint);
                    g2.drawImage(ret, 0, 0, w, h, null);
                    g2.dispose();

                    ret = tmp;
                } while (w != targetWidth || h != targetHeight);
            } else {
                ret = new BufferedImage(1, 1, type);
            }
            return ret;
        }
    }
}

You may, also, find The Perils of Image.getScaledInstance() of interest.

The issue you are seeing is actually related to the resampling filter used for downscaling. Obviously, the one used by your library is a bad one for the situation. Nearest neighbor, bilinear and bicubic are typical bad examples to be used when downscaling. I don't know the exact resampling filter Photoshop uses, but I used 3-lobed lanczos and got the following result:

So, to solve your problem, you need to use a smarter resampling filter.