The Simplest Strategy to Understand Image Formats

Posted by Thomas Shaw on January 17th, 2021

The 5 most common image formats used are JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, and TIFF. I'll try and clarify in simplest terms, their most noticeable differences and purposes they serve.

PNG

Supported by all modern browsers, PNG starts to get recognition. It utilizes 'lossless' compression algorithm means your image will not have any quality loss like JPG. However the file size is larger than JPG when compressing pictures mainly because PNG is greatest for pictures with mostly strong colors. Use PNG in the event you do not care about file size and wanted unquestionable finest excellent. Get more information and facts about free png

One more function of PNG is transparent colour support, means that if a website includes a black background one example is, the transparent part from the image will appear in black. GIF supports transparent colour as well, however it has been replaced by PNG within this field.

BMP

1st of all, BMP is the most standard image format in Windows environment. It opens up very quickly, however the primary drawback is it cannot be compressed and hence the huge file size. As a result we seldom use it on the web, in no way ever e-mail your friends/colleagues BMP photos!

GIF

Once well known on the web, but people are starting to replace it with PNG. It supports only 256 colors that is bad for images. The sturdy point of GIF is the fact that it supports animation. So only use it if you are generating an animated image.

JPG/JPEG

One of the most widespread image format used around the web. It uses compression algorithm which greatly lessen the file size (from 5mb BMP file to 150kb JPG file with minor high-quality loss). It really is very best used to compress pictures with out distinct lines/edges. Before sending any photographs for your good friends, convert them to JPG initial.

For graphs with distinct lines and edges, it's far better to work with PNG format as an alternative.

TIFF

TIFF strengths and weaknesses will be the most distinct. It truly is probably the most flexible format used by numerous image processing software, across all platforms (Windows, Mac, Unix). At the very same time, it is a lossless image format just like PNG. The downside is it can't be used in web browsers, and getting file size bigger than PNG and on par with BMP.

Conclusion:

For every day photos/sharing/posting in Facebook: JPG

For images consists of some main/solid colors, with sharp edges and distinct lines: PNG

For animated photos: GIF

For sharing across several platforms: TIFF

For storing in Windows, when you don't care about file size: BMP