Image file formats

JPEG images

• Well known file format
• Common format for storing and transmitting images on the internet

GIF images

• supports animation
• popular on the web as they are supported by a majority of web browsers
• sharp edges in gif images are retained when compressed
• suitable for images that don’t use many colours (logos or text)
• useful for simple, small and repeated animation not movies or videos
• not suitable for colour images or photographs with continuous colour as GIFs have a limited colour palette

Bitmap

• working with bitmap images you are able to refine small details, make drastic changes and intensify changes
• made up of pixels
• bitmaps don’t scale very well
• Bitmap images allow you to set the colour of every individual pixel image which is good as users can display photorealistic pictures easily.

Tiff

• Commercial and professional image standard
• Universal and widely supported image format across a number of platforms such as Mac, Windows and Unix
• No  quality loss when compressing images

 

Vector Images

• Vector images contain geometric description which can be rendered smoothly
• They store lines, colour and shapes that make up an image s mathematical formulae
• Scalable without any quality loss suitable for logos, banners, signs etc
• Vector imaging software – Adobe Illustrator, Corel draw and Macromedia Freehand