Digital Image File Formats
BMP:
Bmp stands for Bitmap. Every picture on a computer appear to be a
BMP. In Windows XP the Paint program save its images automatically
in bitmap format, however in Windows Vista images are saved now into
JPEG format. Bitmap is the basis platform for many other file types.
Benefits: High quality image, Easy to change and edit, No loss in image
through process
Downfalls: Difficulty while displayable on internet and large in file size.
JPG, JPEG:
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group .Jpeg format is
mainly used for color photographs. It is not good with sharp edges and it
tends to blur the image a bit. This format became trendy with the
innovation of the digital camera. Digital cameras mostly download
photos to our computer as a Jpeg format. Digital camera manufacturers
obviously see the value in high quality images that eventually take up
less space.
Benefits: Small size image, easily viewable from internet, Use millions
of colors, and perfect for many type of images
Downfalls: High compression loses quality of image, every time a JPG
image is saved, it loses more and more quality of the picture.
GIF:
GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. This format is best suited
for text, drawing line screen shots, animations and cartoons. Gif format
is limited to total number of 256 colors or it can be less. It is mostly used
for loading the fast web pages. It also help to makes great banner and
logo for different webpage. Different type of animated pictures are saved
in GIF format. For example, the flashing banner would be saved as a Gif
file format.
Benefits: It is supported mostly by all web browsers, it is very small file
size, Easy to load, Benefit for Transparencies, and animations and Image
maps
Downfalls: We can used only basic colors, Complex pictures look
horrible, No details of images are allowed.
PNG:
PNG stands for Portable Networks Graphic. This is one of the best
image format, still it was not always well-suited with all web browsers
and image software. This is the best image format to use for the website.
It is also used for logo’s and screen shots.
TIFF:
TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. This format has not been
restructured since 1992 and is now owned by Adobe. It can store an
image and data (tag) in the one file. This file is commonly used for
scanning the data, faxing, word processing etc. It is no common file
format that can be use with our digital photos.
Benefits: The image is perfect, Never loss any image.
Downfalls: Due to massive file size there is difficulty in transferring of
the file, not able to view on the internet, only some specialized
program can view it.
