Cool pic!
Wanna save it as a jpeg?
Or a jpg?
What’s raw?
That’s supposed to be better right?
Or hey lets get things moving and make it a gif!
“JIF!”
Whatever!
This is DIY in 5!!
Hey everyone!
My name is Trisha Hershberger and you are watching DIY in 5, The show where we make
tech simple enough that you can do it yourself.
Today we’re going to go over the various types of image file formats used, and
what their differences are and why you might choose one over another.
What I will not dictate to you is how to pronounce the g-i-f file format - tomato, tomahto - that’s up to you.
Before we dive in, one quick request.
If you find the content in today’s video useful, please click that thumbs up to like
this video and subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss out on any future tech tips.
There are two primary types of image files: raster images, also known as bitmap, are pixel-based graphics
that exist at one resolution, and vector images, which are geometry-based graphics
where the resolution can be more fluid.
Raster images may distort or degrade in quality when you alter them from their original resolution
and for this reason are typically found when talking about photos, digital art and web graphics.
On the other hand, vector images are usually used for logos, icons and fonts because they
are not resolution dependent.
For the purposes of today’s video, we’ll focus on raster images, since those are the
file formats, you're most likely to come across.
Raster images can be either lossy or lossless.
As you can probably guess from the name, lossless files lose none of the original data from the image.
These files tend to be rather large in size to accommodate.
Lossy files are typically smaller and will use clever tricks to pare down the image,
making it easier to load where say internet speed might be an issue.
Now that we’ve got that squared away, a JPEG is probably the most common image file
type and chances are good you’ve heard of it before.
It is a lossy, raster format that’s ideal for low resolution, medium quality images
- think websites, social media, and sharing.
Most digital cameras and smartphones save images as JPEG and most applications support this file type.
Fun fact, JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the tech team that developed it,
and if you see JPG instead of JPEG, not to worry,
the two are, for all intents and purposes, one in the same.
JPEGs are great for a wide variety of situations since they are the most flexible type of
file format when it comes to editing and compression.
They are not good for graphics that require transparency, or if you need a layered editable image.
If you do need transparency in your image, the PNG is where it’s at.
PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics and is lossless with higher color depths.
PNG is great for static images, logos and print with transparent backgrounds,
and can even offer varying degrees of transparency, not just on or off.
Plus, PNG files can shrink incredibly small, especially if they use simple colors and shapes.
You probably don’t want to use a PNG if you have a very complex image,
because the lossless nature of PNG could lead to a very large file size
or if you are printing since PNG is really optimized for the screen.
Similar to PNG is TIFF or Tagged Image File Format - another lossless raster format.
TIFF files are one of the highest quality graphic formats available and are commonly
used by professionals in publishing, graphics and the print industry.
High quality scans are normally saved as TIFF files as well.
The downside of TIFF files is that they require more storage space,
not so great for browser images where download speed will be an issue,
but if you are looking to print or publish commercial or professional work, TIFF is what you are looking for.
Rhyming but not at all the same, the gif or “jif” is a lossless raster format
that stands for Graphics Interchange Format.
On the pronunciation thing, while graphics starts with “guh” the person who created the file format says jif.
However you decide to pronounce it, GIFs are a very commonly used web image format usually
showing some type of animation - think animated banners or memes.
Even though they are lossless, they can still be exported in relatively small file sizes
making them ideal for web use.
Plus they have the ability, like a PNG, to have transparency.
They do not however, have a wide range of color options, so very colorful images will
look flatter if converted to a GIF and I wouldn’t recommend them for printing for the same reason.
Finally, the RAW image file type is often used by photographers because it includes
all the unprocessed data captured by a digital camera.
There are many types of RAW formats with Canon and Nikon and Adobe each having their own
for example - CRW, NEF and DNG respectively.
This is the highest quality image possible for editing and understandably comes with
a hefty file size as a result.
While ideal for photographers and photo editors, you wouldn’t want to use RAW image files
for websites or printing since most printers won’t accept that file format anyway.
To break it down and oversimplify a bit, JPEGs are great for general image sharing,
TIFF is great for printing or commercial applications, PNG is best for transparency,
GIF is good for animations and RAW is best for photographers and photo editors.
Huzzah!
If you have any questions on this overview or would like to know about other image file formats
not listed in this video, feel free to comment below and someone from the
Kingston community will do their best to get you an answer.
Or maybe you’ll see a future DIY in 5 made just for your question?
Who knows?
Take care everyone and I’ll see you soon.
Happy image sharing!