A format of a graphical file reflects the way of recording the exact file. Each element you see on any website or mobile application has its format. The file extension affects the size and quality of an image. In this article, we’ll tell you what types of graphic files there are, and for what purposes you can use them. And in case you need to change the format of a file, you can always use an online converter.
The main criteria for selecting a format are compatibility with programs and compactness of recording.There are many formats for storing images. They can be divided into three categories: those that store images in raster form (BMP, TIFF, PCX, PSD, JPEG), those that store images in vector form (WMF), and those that can combine both representations (EPS, PICT, CDR, AI, FH7, etc.).
Before describing the individual formats of the raster, and vector graphic files, let’s understandthe difference between the two terms.
So, bitmap images are pictures that consist of numerous pixels. Formats such as JPG, PNG, and GIF are the most common raster file types of graphics formats. Almost any image you see online belongs to bitmap graphics. The quality and size of the image directly depend on the number of pixels.
As for the vector graphics, these are images that are built using proportional formulas. The main advantage of vector graphics is that you can both compress and enlarge the image without loss of quality.
Most graphics editors allow you to view and process both native-format files and images presented in universal formats.Universal bitmap (raster) formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF.Universal vector formats: EPS, Windows Metafile, DXF, SVG, HP-GL.
Now that we have some basic theoretical knowledge, we can proceed to the description of each particular graphical format.
PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics. This format was created specifically for putting graphic files on websites. PNG extension allows you to compress the file with minimal loss of quality, while not being limited to the 256-color palette, which means it combines the main advantages of both the JPEG format and the GIF format.
PNG format is the favorite format among web designers. After all, it is just perfect for creating websites, because it allows you to save files with a transparent background, and can be processed in any graphics editor without loss of quality.
The only thing the PNG format is not suitable for is printing.
JPG is one of the most popular and widespread image file formats. This format is widely used in photography and to transmit images to the Internet, as files with the extension.JPG is easily compressed, and, accordingly, weighs little.
But this flexibility in compression has some problems with image quality becausethe compression loses quality, so It’s recommended to use this format for technical drawings or text graphics.
However, for the usual image files JPG – is a great solution, because it weighs little, and accordingly takes up little space on disk and accelerates the transfer of data, and reduced image quality is not always noticeable.
PDF, or Portable Document Format, is also one of the most popular file formats. It was created by Adobe as a platform-independent format for creating electronic documentation, and presentations, and transferring layouts and graphics over networks.
The format is hardware-independent, so it is possible to display images on any device, from a monitor screen to a photographic exposure device. Moreover, PDF is an internal graphics format in Mac OS X.
The PDF format allows you to embed line-by-line text, vector and raster images, forms, and multimedia inserts. It is also important to note that almost any file can be converted to PDF. One of the main advantages of this format is its powerful compression algorithm.
WEBP is a fairly new graphics format that was developed by Google in 2010. WEBP is based on the keyframe compression algorithm from Google’s VP8 video codec, which makes the WEBP format suitable for storing both single static images and sets of frames that make up a full animation.
The WEBP extension allows you to compress the graphics with or without losses. But the size of the resulting file with a minimum of visual distortion may havesize three times smaller than a similar picture in the JPG and up to ten times smaller than the same PNG file.
Also, the flag format supports semi-transparency and is distinguished by the absence of noise and soft gradients when the image quality is reduced. These are the qualities that make the WEBP format an ideal choice for web design.
SVG, or Scalable Vector Graphics, is a vector graphics format created by the W3C and is intended to describe vector and mixed (vector-raster) 2D graphics.
One of the main advantages of this format is that SVG is easily modifiable, so you can easily change various properties of the image, including shape, fill proportions, color, and others.SVG files are also fast to load, which is a very important characteristic.
Moreover, SVG can be interactive, which means that there can be various links inside the image, scripts, interactive parts can respond to hovering and other user actions, and animation can be added.
HEIC stands for High-Efficiency Image Coding and is used as a media storage format. HEIC is used by Apple to store files on their devices and is an updated version of HEIF, a High-Efficiency Image Format.
The format is ideal for storing images on mobile devices, since files in this extension are considerably lighter in weight than JPG or JPEG, without losing quality.
Another advantage of the HEIC format is that you can store images, audio files, and other multimedia elements in the same container, as well as both compressed and non-compressed data.
The files in this format support transparency, which makes them much easier to use for a variety of purposes.
JPEG, or Joint Photographic Experts Group, is one of the most popular bitmap formats. The format owes its popularity to a strong compression rate of the original image, based on a loss-of-quality compression algorithm that allows files in this extension to be transferred quickly and used for websites.
The JPEG format was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group standards committee in 1987 to store photorealistic images – photographs. Based on the characteristics of human vision, this format uses lossy compression algorithms and provides a significant reduction in file size. JPEG compression is called lossy – image data is lost when the file is compressed, which causes deterioration of image quality.
GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, was developed by CompuServe Corporation in 1987 to store bitmap graphics. This format supports saving multiple images in a single file and therefore creates animated graphics. The format also supports transparency. GIF files are very widely used in web design.
Other features of the format include the fact that GIF allows you to arbitrarily set the palette size used in the image (other formats tend to have only standard options for color depth). The disadvantages of the format usually include a limited number of possible colors.
The format allows you to store a large number of images – frames, so you can consider GIF as an animation format.
BMP stands for Microsoft Windows Bitmap. This format is supported by all graphics editors running on the Windows operating system. BMP is used to store bitmap images intended for use in Windows and is essentially useless for anything else, so it is most often necessary to convert it.This format originally used the simplest encoding, which is also the most uneconomical.
In the BMP format, images can be saved with a color depth (the number of bits describing a single image pixel) of 1, 4, 8, and 24 bits, which corresponds to the maximum number of colors used of 2, 16, 256, and 16,777,216. The file can contain a palette that defines colors other than those adopted by the system.
TIF, or Tagged Image Format, is a flexible and easily extensible file format capable of saving files with great color depth. These files have transparent backgrounds. Files in this format are ideal for company logos. In addition to logos, this format is widely used in the publishing industry.The format is designed to store high-quality raster images.
TIF – a format that is hardware-independent, which means it supports almost all programs, and Windows and Apple, in one way or another related to the graphics. TIF is also the best choice for importing raster graphics into vector programs and publishing systems. TIF can save layers, clipping paths, alpha channels, and other additional data.
TIFF, or Tag Image File Format, is a universal bitmap storage format developed by Aldus and Microsoft in 1986. There are quite a few varieties of this format, which is due to the different algorithms for compressing the file.
TIFF is the standard file format supported by the majority of graphic design and image processing programs, as well as by typesetting software packages. The format supports data up to 32 b/p.
This format is widely used in publishing since TIFF has become a common format for image input systems from scanners. The format is portable between platforms and easily imported into all typesetting programs, making it indispensable for preparing documents for printing.
ARW is a fairly rare format that is an image file from a Sony digital camera. You can view and process a bitmap image in ARW format using the following programs: File Viewer Lite, Microsoft Windows Photos, Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery, Adobe Photoshop CC.
In essence, ARW is a monochrome black and white digital photo based on the TIFF format. The ARW extension is specifically designed to record bitmap graphic images with little or no additional processing, obtained from the high-sensitivity matrix of a Sony camera. In simple terms, ARW is an analog of RAW.
Despite its low quality, this resolution supports the process of non-destructive editing and allows the maximum amount of image data to be saved.