| File Type |
Description |
| JPEG |
- Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group
- File extension: .jpeg or .jpg
- "Lossy" compression format. Source file is compressed to make small file size with effect on the image quality.
- The compression is generally not noticeable.
- Can also choose the level of compression in Photoshop etc...
- File size is small.
Best for:
- Web images, emails, ppts etc as small in size and loads faster.
- Most cameras store in JPEG format more images can be stored on card.
Bad for:
- Line drawings or logos or as compression make them look jagged.
- If there are images with text don't go for jpeg.
|
| TIFF |
- Stands for Tagged Image File Format
- File extension: .tiff or .tif
- These are uncompressed and thus contain lot of detailed image data.
- File size is large.
Best for:
- High quality prints, professional publications, complex imagery.
- Can store layer info, adjustments etc.. used for further editing in photoshop.
Bad for:
- web images as size is large takes time to load.
- Most web browsers don't support tiff.
|
| GIF |
- Stands for Graphics Interchange Format
- File extensions: .gif
- "Loseless" compression format. Compression is done without effecting the image quality.
- Small in size and portable and it is limited to only 256 colors so widely used for web graphics.
- Can be animated.
Best for:
- Web graphics and simple animations.
- Mostly used on web for simple animations.
Bad for:
- Photography as gif has limited colors.
- Bad for printing.
|
| PNG |
- Stands for Portable Network Graphics
- File extension: .png
- "Loseless" compression format. Open format created to replace GIF.
- It allows full range of 16 million colors unlike the 256 by gif.
- File size is large.
Best for:
- Web images with text, line art etc...
- Screen shots mostly stored as png because it may contain both text and image.
Bad for:
- Storage of pics on camera because of its large file size.
- Also does not support animations.
|
| BMP |
- Stands for BitMap Picture
- File extension: .bmp
- No compression.
- Developed by Microsoft.
- High image quality.
- Large file sizes.
Best for:
- High quality pixel based images, desktop wallpaper, prints.
- No compression is done and image quality is not disturbed.
Bad for:
- Not mostly used format to save images.
- Being a proprietary format it is not used mostly.
|
| RAW |
- File extensions are .raw, .cr2, .nef, .orf, .sr2 etc....
- Unprocessed images created by camera or scanner. So are called raw.
- Large file size and holds lot of digital info.
- They are camera dependent.
- Usually converted to tiff before editing.
- Best for shooting and photo editing.
- Not directly ready to view.
|
| PSD |
- Stands for Photoshop Document
- File extension: .psd
- No compression.
- Proprietary layered image file format and original files created by photoshop.
- Large file size and holds lot of digital info
- Best for editing purposes in photoshop.
- Cant open with simple editors and view them
|
| Vector |
- File extensions .ai, .eps, .svg, .pdf etc..
- These are native file types and depends on vector editors.
- Common vector file formats.
- Largely scalable. As it contains paths but not pixels.
- Best for vector art work, illustrations etc..
- Bad for raster images.
|
