How many formats are there for image

At a basic level, understanding image formats helps you to maintain image quality. Furthermore, some files support certain features that allow them to be displayed correctly, or edited at a later date, while others may not. Another important reason concerns efficiency. Understanding file formats means understanding files sizes, which helps you to send and store images efficiently.

The JPEG is the most widely used image file format online, and the default file type for images from most smartphones and dedicated cameras. File sizes are usually small enough for such images to be shared and posted online without any issues with speed and performance.

But t o get these efficient file sizes, JPEGs have to be compressed. With lossy compression, some information is discarded when the image is created in an attempt to get the file size down to a more reasonable level. Read more: How secure is watermarking? It can lead to unsightly artefacts, such as defined blocks where there should be smooth transitions between different areas. These are particularly obvious when an image has large flat areas with little detail, such as with blue skies.

One thing JPEGs do not support is layers explained below. Alpha channels, which will be discussed a little later, are also not supported by JPEGs. Good for: Real-world photographs and other images that contain natural elements Not so good for: Graphics and images that contain graphics, as well as images with large areas of flat detail which can also give rise to compression artefacts.

It is, however, supported sufficiently for it to be used in emails, on social media sites and so on. Indeed, it was conceived with the internet very much in mind. While both formats use lossless compression, PNG uses an alternative method that results in greater level of compression. It also supports a far broader range of bit depths, which means that it can describe a significantly wider range of colours than GIF files.

One of the main advantages of the PNG format over others here is support for alpha channels. These allow pixels to be transparent to the degree of your choosing, so that when an image is saved this way, it can be placed over, and blend into, a differently coloured background. If saved as a JPEG, such an image would, by default, have these transparent pixels filled by solid a white. Read more: What is image resolution? Everything you need to know. Compression is lossless, which is great from the perspective of image quality.

Support is also provided for images with a bit depth of up to 16 bits per color channel, as opposed to the maximum 8-bit support provided by JPEGs.

Good for: Online graphics, particularly when transparency layers are required. But when it comes to maintaining image quality, it pays to understand their advantages. Arguably the main advantage concerns compression. You can choose to leave files uncompressed or compress them losslessly, which preserves image quality although lossy compression is also an option. By contrast, JPEGs are always compressed using lossy compression, which discards information and can lead to artefacts appearing in images.

Because of this, TIFF files are a great choice for many applications. Photographers will typically save their edits as TIFF files, particularly as they can be saved with editable layers. Good for: High-quality prints, scientific applications and for images otherwise likely to be affected by lossy compression artefacts. You can even preview PSD files in Google Drive, although many files are likely to be too large to be opened here.

Each layer can have separate adjustments made to it, so that when you open the file back up you can add and discard individual layers, and edit existing layers, without affecting the rest of the image.

Read more: Google reverse image search: Everything you need to know. These layers can also have special properties. They might be alpha layers, for example, which can have their transparency determined, as well as text layers and editing masks among other things.

PSD files are best thought of as works in progress, or files that you may want to revisit and re-edit, rather than finished works. Not so good for: Immediate use online due to size and lack of support for PSD format. Indeed, you may have not even heard of it — although millions of people are currently using it.

So what is HEIC? While rarely the format of choice for static images, GIF has made a comeback as the 1 choice for sharing animations. Raw image formats are the highest quality but have unreasonably large file sizes of up to hundreds of megabytes. PNG files offer lossless compression, but that means the file sizes will be exceedingly large and slow to load. However, if you take advantage of some tactics like lazy loading available in core since WordPress 5.

On the other hand, the popular JPEG image format does not support transparency. This basically means that PNG uses compression techniques without sacrificing the original quality or detail of the image. As you can see from this funny picture above, PNG, which is depicted on the left, is much better at clearly displaying text and simple shapes when compared to JPEG, the one on the right.

For regular blog posts or header images, JPEG offers more than good enough quality with significantly lower file size. Hopefully, this article has helped you understand which image file types and formats to use in which context for the best results. Raster formats are best used for images and pictures, while vectors are a great substitute for logos, icons, and digital graphics. Using the right image file types for the right task can not only help improve your page loading speeds but also lower bandwidth and server loads.

As a subsequent positive effect, your overall user experience will also improve big time. Not bad, uh? All of that and much more, in one plan with no long-term contracts, assisted migrations, and a day-money-back-guarantee. By submitting this form: You agree to the processing of the submitted personal data in accordance with Kinsta's Privacy Policy , including the transfer of data to the United States.

You also agree to receive information from Kinsta related to our services, events, and promotions. You may unsubscribe at any time by following the instructions in the communications received. Your current host could be costing you time and money — get them back with Kinsta. Learn more. Kinsta Blog. Choosing the right image file types might seem like a trivial decision. But human beings are visual creatures, and images are an integral part of the online experience.

Example of a gif image. WebP image example. TIFFC icon. Bitmap vs gif. SVG logo. EPS icon. Sign Up For the Newsletter. So when photo editors make an attempt to edit these images, the pixels get stretched and this can lead to blurry images. These images are commonly used in the form of photographs, digital graphics and web media graphics such as social media graphics, banner graphics, and graphics used in email.

With Adobe Photoshop , it is easy to generate, design and refine raster images and to incorporate effects, textures, and shadows in designs. CMYK is a printing process consisting of four colors namely, magenta, cyan, black, and yellow. These shades denote the four colors that get combined during printing.

Files having this format need to be optimized before being used in the print media. RGB includes the shades red, blue, and green. These three colors are the primary shades of light, which generate other colors through combinations. Files having this format are used for web-based platforms, films, mobile phones, and videos. So these are basically web image formats. This is a modern image format that facilitates efficient lossy as well as lossless image compression online.

The use of WebP allows web developers to create high-quality yet small-sized images, which in turn boosts website speed. Lossless images in this format take just an additional 22 percent bytes in order to support transparency. The lossy compression is performed through the use of predictive coding whereas the lossless compression process makes use of existing image remains to build new pixels.

It comes with tools to view, mix, and animate WebP images. Lossy vs Lossless image formats Lossless image files are those that get reproduced while retaining the quality of the original files.

Such files have a high-resolution. When lossless files get decompressed, they get converted into exact replicas of downloaded digital images. The raw format is a lossless format as it retains the data of the original file. These are a few lossy and lossless formats that we come across with commonly:. It is a good idea to convert lossy files into lossless image formats to generate big-sized files that will retain all data.

However, it is not a good idea to convert one lossy file format into another lossy file format that will have lesser data. This is similar to generating a photocopy from another photocopy and getting outcomes of inferior quality. The problem with most of the amateurs is that they start editing without knowing the features of each of these formats. Even if they study a few formats and go through various photo editing tips for them online, the knowledge remains insufficient to support them in their career.

However, professional photographers and image retouching experts determine the formats to be used after assessing their needs. When you work with images, you may need to address several complex requirements at times. Image editing is not an easy task, but continuous learning and practice would make things perfect. We hope that this article has provided you with important information about the standard image file formats, which may help you to decide which file-type is most relevant for your ongoing on an upcoming project.

File formats for digital photos. Read on to know the differences among different image file formats used in photos. These are images of superior quality as they are primarily based on the TIFF format. Images of these formats can be edited extensively without having to change the file-type only if you use a Nikon Photoshop plug-in or a Nikon device to edit the files.

WebP This is a modern image format that facilitates efficient lossy as well as lossless image compression online. To conclude about image file formats The problem with most of the amateurs is that they start editing without knowing the features of each of these formats.

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