Graphic Design File Format

Graphic Design - VECTOR FILE

If bitmapped files describe a picture in terms of the number of pixels, a vector file describes a picture in terms of geometry, that is, a line in here, a curve over there, this area being filled with all this color, and so on and so forth. Vector files can be magnified as much as you like without turning the image into giant building blocks of Lego, Vector files are much larger.

Graphic Design - In-depth File formats, Formats of Design Images

If you are having a hard time with the different file extensions being used for image files, then try to browse below, you’ll be able to learn more about them, so you won’t get confused.

Graphic Design – Image format

BMP - In Microsoft, Windows operating system, BMP is the file format used, it’s a fairly compact format for images having the size of up to 24bit, you can have the option of compressing the file, but most often compression option is turned on. It is a native bitmap format for those who are using the Windows environment.

EPS - EPS or Encapsulated Postscript gives excellent quality images, although the size can be much larger than tiffs, it can be imported into Quark. EPS is a flavor for Postcript which you can use with your other documents, if the software you are using supports such file type.

GIF - GIF or Graphics Interchange Format is a very popular picture of image file format yet very efficient. 87 and 89a are the two flavors of GIF files. 89a has additional features like being able to produce a background that is transparent, so that the background graphics can show through the GIF in places and also it allows animation. In web multi-media, GIF file animations are very popular since they are small and can be displayed on all current graphical browsers without the need or provision of special plug-ins or without taking up much of your CPU time. The problem is that, GIF files can only have a maximum of 256 colors, or 256 shades of gray. A fine photo quality for monochrome images is usually a GIF file having 256 shades of gray. Though 256 color pictures look alright for some picture, the constraint is that it cannot be used for professional imaging. GIF images also have the capacity of having interlaced, which is, you will be able to see a low resolution version of the image or picture before trying to completely download much of it. With GIF interlacing there are what we call four passes, which show one out of every eight lines, then another eight of the image, then another quarter and then lastly the remaining half. Like JFIF, GIF is a data-stream type format, so that you will be able to view partially downloaded images whether or not that particular image is interlaced, without the use of interlacing, a 25% downloaded picture or image will give you the first 25% of the lines starting at the top.

JPEG/JFIF - JPEG or Joint Photographic experts Group File Interchange Format has a suffix or file extension name of jpg can be the most efficient image storage method of all methods. JPEG uses the technique for lossy compression, which is as it compresses the picture or image, some of the data are being thrown away. You as the user, can configure how lossy you would want your image to be, in this case your JFIF image, well you can do that better if you are using Photoshop! If you have 100% quality, it gives you exactly bthe same as that of the original image or picture. But it also give you a huge uncompressible file. 10% you’ll reduce that to 10% quality it’ll take less space but the image will look dodgy. You have to use balance, a JFIF file can store up to 24 bit color, so that type of file will be very much suitable for your professional use, and that same file can also do interlaced display like what a GIF file can do, this is know as progressive JFIF., which with small size becomes the standard image file format for web graphics. With GIF and JFIF file format, you can view images before you’ve got all of the complete data because they are samples of files having a data stream format. Like GIF file format, JFIF also supports interlacing. CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black is a format also being supported by JFIF in a subtractive color model as against the additive RBG, red, blue and green which are more commonly used. This makes JFIF file format suitable for use in publishing application although CMYK support was added in a later version of the standard. But if you’ll be using CMYK JFIFs be sure that you are sending those images to a CMYK output device, which a monitor isn’t. In some case, CMYK once h=get through because someone has converted a CMYK image of some other format, like TIFF, without having to change the color model.

PCX - PCX is the Zsoft Paint format, having a suffix of .PCC, this is ancient but still it is widely used because everybody understands it. PCX has three 93) common versions, we have 0,2 and 5. 0 has two (2) color one , this is small but is not useful, 2 is also of little interest because it only does 16 colors, the 5 does 24 bit. All versions are large for what they do, but though they are large, they are fast to load on older computer. The PCX is the equivalent of IBM from Amiga IFF.

PICT - Pict is an Apple Quickdraw metaformat all-in-one. It is compatible or it can include either or both bitmapped or vector images, and with this, different methods or schemes for compression can be done.

PNG - PNG or Portable Network Graphics format, which is also pronounced as ping, was created as a replacement for GIF files. PNG’s LZW compression is owned by Unisys, this can’t be included in commercial software unless you pay license fee to the owners. PNG handles 1 to 48 bit images. PNG is a lossless, well-compressed format file type just like GIF. Though it carries some of the characteristics of GIF it isn’t as popular as the latter.

PS - PS or Adobe Systems’ PostScript is not an image file format, by itself; rather it is a page description language. This is made so that computers will be able to send very accurate page descriptions to high resolution laser printers. You’ll be ending up with a very large file but you will be able to save black and white or even colored pictures as postscripts.

PSD - PSD is Adobe Photoshop’s native format, or file extension. This stores all of its image’s layer and selection and other miscellaneous image data.

TIF – TIFF  - TIF – TIFF or Tag Image File Format is large file format having 24 bit until a new version, version 6 came out, which already supported file compression, making it a bit easier and less painful. TIFF is a very popular professional graphics format  that is accepted by Quark.

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