File formats

File Formats

File formats are used in computing, it is used so that a particular program can encode information depending on the type of file. There are many different types of file formats, each with their own specific use. Formats will decode things such as images, videos and text. Here are some examples of some image formats:

JPEG- this is the most common use of file format mostly used for printing and emailing, this is because it can give the smallest size. Moreover, this type of file can be used in all photos editing software. This image will however, degrade every time you save it meaning that image quality will become worse over time.

GIFs- GIFs are files which are a cross between an image and a video file. It is a number of images which are clumped together. This format has a limited amount of colours meaning that the file sizes of them are relatively small. This has a limit of 256 colours meaning that it is a much lower quality. This means that it is not taken seriously or regularly used in the photographic world.

BMPs- This is normally known as a Bitmap image file which can store digital images. It is usually small and compact, images can go up to 24 bit and is used to windows.

PNG-  This stands for portable network graphics. This is a lossless Bitmap version which is portable and allows more colour so that images seem better quality and aren’t dull and bland. PNG uses ZIP compression which is slightly more effective than LZW compression which are slightly smaller files. This format versitile because it is a newer version.

Tiff- Most programs for Tiff allow no compresion unless LZW compression. This format is lossless but is not as effective for 24 bit colour images. JPG and ZIP compression is provided by Adobe Photoshop also but this greatly reduces third party compitibility of the TIF files.