Image File Formats

Have you noticed that an image can end in .Jpg or .Gif? This tutorial will explain the differences between the various image formats. The image file formats are the standard means of organizing and storing images.

There are many types of image file, but I’m just going to talk about the three most common that I consider important, such as: JPEG (JPG), GIF and PNG.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a compression method, JPEG-compressed images are usually stored in the JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format). Almost all digital cameras can save images in JPEG / JFIF format. It supports 8 bits per color (red, green, blue) for a total of 24-bit and produces relatively small files. One problem with JPEG files is that image quality degrades when you repeatedly edited and saved.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is limited to a palette of 8 bits, or 256 colors. This factor makes it ideal for storing graphics with simple color schemes (eg, logos, graphics, pictures and cartoon style). It is compatible with the animation and is still widely used to provide animation effects of the image. It uses a lossless compression is more effective when large areas have only one color, but ineffective for detailed images.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file format is the successor of the GIF file format. The PNG file format supports true color (16 million colors). Perfect for the images that have large flat areas of color. PNG format is best suited for editing pictures.
Many older browsers do not support the PNG file format, however, with Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer 7, all modern browsers now support all common uses of the PNG format. Indexed color, grayscale, and truecolor images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. PNG is designed to work well in online viewing applications, and supports transparency.

I hope that after reading this tutorial, you can identify and use them properly.