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Four Basic File Formats
There are many graphic image file formats - more
than necessary to list here. The most frequently used ones are listed
below:
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Note:
The file formats listed below do not include the proprietary
file formats created by the graphics applications when you save
files.
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For Web Pages:
GIF - Graphics Interchange Format
- Images using a fixed color palette (limited to only 256 colors
- not the full spectrum of colors available to your monitor).
The GIF format uses compression for smaller files and faster downloads.
This format is best for images with solid colors or areas of uniform
color such as illustrations and logos.
JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group - Used
for photographic (continuous tone) images. Unlike GIF files the
JPEG format can take advantage of the full spectrum of colors available
to your monitor. The JPEG format also uses compression for smaller
files and faster downloads. However, unlike the compression method
used in GIF files, the JPEG compression is "lossy" which
means it discards data in the process. Once a file is saved in JPEG
format the data is permanently lost. If you want all the image data
available for future use, save the image using no compression or
"lossless" compression and make JPEG copies from it.
For Printed Documents:
TIFF - Tagged-Image File Format - Used for bitmaps only. The TIFF
format is supported by virtually all graphics applications.
EPS - Encapsulated PostScript® - A file format
used for both vector graphics and bitmaps. EPS files contain a PostScript
description of the graphic data within them. EPS files are unique
in that you can use them for vector graphics, bitmap images, type
or even entire pages.
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Images and text Copyright © 1998 by Mike Doughty, All
Rights Reserved. This tutorial reproduced here with permission.
For more tutorials and help, visit Mike's Sketchpad at http://www.sketchpad.net
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