The Best Quality Image Formate!
Image File Formats
The standard definition of image file formate is the organization and storage of digital images. An image file format can store data in either an uncompressed, compressed, or vector format. Image files are made up of digital data stored in one of these formats, which can then be rasterized for use on a computer display or printer.
There are numerous image file formats. Images on the Internet are displayed using formats such as PNG, JPEG, and GIF, among others. Some of these graphic formats are listed and briefly described below, divided into two graphic families:
- Raster formats
- Vector Formats
Raster vs. Vector
Raster Image Files
Raster images are made up of pixels, or individual blocks, that are connected together to form an image. Raster image formats include JPEG, GIF, and PNG. Every photo you see on the internet or in print is a raster image.
Raster images cannot be resized without compromising their resolution in order to retain pixel quality. As a result, remember to save raster files at the exact dimensions required by the application.
Vector Image Files
Vector graphics are far more adaptable. They are built with proportional formulas rather than pixels. EPS, AI, and PDF are ideal for creating graphics that must be resized frequently. The true beauty of vectors is their ability to be as small as a postage stamp or as large as a large image!
In this tutorial, I will only talk about the rater image formate because most of the image formate used are raster formats. Here are the best 7 image formate described below_
1. PEG (or JPG) – Joint Photographic Experts Group
2. PNG – Portable Network Graphics
3. PSD – Photoshop Document
4. TIFF – Tagged Image File
5. GIF – Graphics Interchange Format
6. PDF – Portable Document Format
7. RAW – Raw Image Formats
- PEG (or JPG) – Joint Photographic Experts Group
JPEGs are possibly the most common file type found on the internet. JPEGs are known for their “lossy” compression, which means that the image quality degrades as the file size decreases. JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format) files are commonly used to store JPEG-compressed images. JPG or JPEG is the JPEG/JFIF filename extension. Almost every digital camera supports the JPEG/JFIF image format, which supports eight-bit grayscale and 24-bit color images.
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created this standard for this type of image formatting. JPEG files are images that have been compressed to store a lot of information in a small-size file. JPEG files are usually used for photographs on the web because they create a small file that is easily loaded on a web page and also looks good. JPEG files are bad for line drawings or logos or graphics, as the compression makes them look “bit mapped”
- PNG – Portable Network Graphics
PNG stands for “Portable Graphics Format”. It is the most common uncompressed raster image format used on the internet. The Graphics Interchange Format was replaced by this lossless data compression format (GIF). PNG is an open format with no copyright restrictions. PNG images, like GIF images, can have transparent backgrounds. PNGs are great for interactive documents like web pages, but they are not suitable for printing. PNGs are “lossless,” which means they can be edited without losing quality, but they are still low resolution.
The reason PNGs are used in most web projects is that you can save your image with more colors on a transparent background. This makes for a much sharper, web-quality image. The PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file format was created as free.
PNG is a patent-free replacement for GIF (though GIF is now patent-free as well), and it can also replace many common TIFF uses. Images in indexed color, grayscale, and true color are supported, as well as an optional alpha channel. It is almost always used for web images and never for print images. PNG is not as good as JPEG for photographs because it produces a larger file. However, it is preferable for images with text or line art. When you take a screenshot on your Mac, the resulting image is a PNG, which is likely due to the fact that most screenshots contain both images and text.
- PSD – Photoshop Document
PSD file is a layered image file used in Adobe PhotoShop. PSD, which stands for Photoshop Document. When an image is complete, Photoshop allows the user to flatten the layers and convert the flat image into a.JPG, GIF,TIFF or another file format so it can be shared. This is the default format that Photoshop uses for saving data. Once a PSD image has been flattened by conversion, however, it cannot be converted back to PSD.
PSD files are created and saved in Adobe Photoshop, the world’s most popular graphics editing software. This file format includes “layers,” which make modifying the image much easier. That is why this format is so popular among editors. Because the layer is saved in the PSD file, the next editor can quickly begin his editing process.
The largest disadvantage of PSDs is that Photoshop works with raster images as opposed to vector images. Compared to JPEG and PNG files PSD file size is quite bigger. The more layer you use in photoshop the more file size will increase. So that may make you difficulties transferring, storing, or sharing a large image.
- TIFF – Tagged Image File
TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. TIFF images create very large file sizes. TIFF images are uncompressed and thus contain a lot of detailed image data. TIFF is best for any bitmap images that you intend to edit. TIFF files don’t compress to make for smaller files, because they are meant to preserve quality. This file type is known for using “lossless compression,” meaning the original image data is maintained regardless of how often you might copy, re-save, or compress the original file. TIFF files are large and of very high quality.
Four types of baseline TIFF images are available: bi-level (black and white), grayscale, palette, and RGB. RGB images may store up to 16.7 million colors. Palette and gray-scale images are limited to 256 colors or shades. A common extension of TIFF also allows for CMYK images.
The TIFF format is a flexible format that normally saves eight bits or sixteen bits per color (red, green, blue) for 24-bit and 48-bit totals. TIFF is the most common file type used in photo software such as Photoshop because a TIFF contains a lot of image data. TIFF image format is not widely supported by web browsers. TIFF remains widely accepted as a photograph file standard in the printing business.
- GIF – Graphics Interchange Format
The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format developed by a team led by an American computer scientist at the online services provider CompuServe. Because of its broad support and portability across many applications and operating systems, it has since become widely used on the World Wide Web.
The format allows for up to 8 bits per pixel for each image, allowing a single image to refer to its own palette of up to 256 different colors selected from the 24-bit RGB color space. Animations are also supported.
To reduce file size without sacrificing visual quality, GIF images are compressed using the Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) lossless data compression technique. This compression method was first patented in 1985.
This is a common file type for web projects where an image needs to load very quickly, as opposed to one that needs to retain a higher level of quality. GIFs also have an extremely limited color range suitable for the web but not for printing. This format is never used for photography, because of the limited number of colors. GIFs can also be used for animations.
- PDF – Portable Document Format
Adobe created the Portable Document Format (PDF) in the 1990s to present documents with text formatting and images. Aside from flat text and graphics, PDF files can now contain logical structuring elements, interactive elements such as annotations and form-fields, layers, rich media (including video content), and three-dimensional objects using U3D or PRC, as well as various other data formats.
If your vector logo is saved in PDF format, you can view it without any design editing software (as long as you have downloaded the free Acrobat Reader software), and they can use this file to make further changes. By far the best universal tool for graphic sharing. Adobe created PDFs with the intention of capturing and reviewing rich information from any application, on any computer, with anyone, and anywhere.
- RAW – Raw Image Formats
A RAW image is the least-processed image type on this list; it is frequently the first format a photograph inherits when it is created. When you take a picture with your camera, it is immediately saved in raw format. Only when you transfer your media to a new device and edit it with image software is it saved with one of the image extensions described above.
RAW images are valuable because they capture every element of a photo without processing and losing small visual details.
Data from a digital camera is contained in raw image files (usually). The files are referred to as raw because they have not been processed and thus cannot be edited or printed. There are numerous raw formats to choose from! Raw files typically contain a large amount of uncompressed data. As a result, the size of a raw file is extremely large. They are usually converted to TIFF before being edited and color-corrected.