Image Filetypes

 

Image Filetypes

This is a guide to commonly used image file types.

There are 4 main image file formats used most, and they are:

• JPEG
• GIF
• PNG
• BMP

Each has their own good and bad features.

• • JPEG is used mostly in photos, but it can have lower quality than others because of it's compression type, lossy. Lossy and Lossless are compression algorithms that tell the photo whether it should keep the high quality or lose it to keep the file size low. Lossy picture compression decreases the quality of the photo, but not too evidently. It can lower the file size. Lossless picture compression is used for whenever you care more about the quality than the file size.
• • GIF is used for simple graphics since it can only use 256 colors, but it can be used for animations which are widely used on the internet. (Example animated GIF on the left, I found it on 4chan.... lol)
• • PNG can use 16 million colors and are great for high definition/quality pictures and photos. I try to save most of my pictures in this format because it's so reliable and the quality is great.
• • BMP is a very simple file type that is typically uncompressed, and is usually used in Microsoft's Paint application. (Example BMP pixel art created by me below)
  

The file types mentioned about are known as raster images, because they are made of thousands of colored pixels. The SVG file type is a vector image that doesn't use pixels, but shapes.

• SVG stands for scaleable vector graphics. Vector graphics are, as apposed to raster (examples are mentioned above), made by rendering, or creating, shapes that can be sized and won't lose quality, no matter how big you zoom in on it. Raster images are made by thousands of pixels of colors that can lose quality when zoomed in. (Example at right, vector is on the left and raster is on the right)