The Best File Format for images

JPEG, GIF etc

[domoftheuk]

it seems that 50% of the websites on the net use JPEG and the other 50% use GIFS which ones the best and is there a even better file format for the web and other uses e.g. photography

[Robino]

Use .jpg for photos and .gif for graphics/logos.

If you search 'jpg vs gif', you should find a lot of info on this.

[tbear]

Generally speaking, JPG images are best for photo type images needing colour/tonal gradients and GIF are better for solid colour (graphic) images without gradients. GIF can also offer transparency, by choosing one of the colours to be rendered as transparent (to match the background on your page, for example).
PNG is another (newer) format which I understand is slowly entering into use.

Some interesting info can be found by searching for 'jpg vs gif' at your favourite search engine.

[domoftheuk]

thanks Robino

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anyone no about the best file format for saveing and the printing out photos

[domoftheuk]

thanks tbear

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what about TIFFS whats so special about them

[Rossv1]

Is anyone using png? I use jps and gifs (for photos and graphics, as mentioned by Robino....)

[Robino]

I think tiff's are good for printing but they are in CMYK format. And the web needs images in RGB. I could be wrong but I don't think most browsers support the tiff format without special plug-ins.

[domoftheuk]

Thanks everyone you have all been a great help.

Been fiddling around and I can see the difference in quality.

[uncle_bob]

I always use whichever format gives the smallest file for the picture quality I want. Sometimes gif beats jpeg for pictures, sometimes jpeg beats gif for graphics. Just pick the smallest.

[tombola]

Sometimes gif beats jpeg for pictures, sometimes jpeg beats gif for graphics.

Due to compression techniques .gif beats .jpg ALWAYS when an image has less than 256 colors.

[Jon_King]

My experience dictates generally gif for flat colors and type; jpeg for complex pictures or a wide color spectrum like vignettes.

[pageoneresults]

Is anyone using PNG?

GIF or PNG? [w3.org]

I've done some fairly intense testing in this area as I am doing my best to adhere to the W3C recommended guidelines as closely as possible. Unfortunately when it comes to the GIF vs. PNG issue, I've had to succumb to utilizing the tried and true GIF format.

I built two include files for a sliced navigation header. One used GIF, the other used PNG. Unfortunately the one that used PNG was twice as large (file size) than the GIF version. I compressed the PNG version using a combination of PNG 8 and PNG 24 compression levels. I compressed the GIF version using a combination of Exact, 8, 16 and 32 colors.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) was developed around 1995, became a W3C recommendation in 1996, and has been widely implemented in most Web browsers as soon as 1998.

I'm not too certain that the web is ready for an all PNG developed site. Support is supposedly widespread but if you are targeting an audience who is technically challenged and using older browser versions then GIF is probably your safest route.

The link below will take you to a page that shows current issues with using PNG. Based on the information presented there, it looks like PNG is the recommended replacement for GIF in the very near future.

Current Status of PNG [libpng.org]

Compared to the other choices (especially PNG) GIF is not technically superior, but during the first years of the Web, when support for PNG was starting and growing, it was indeed a safer choice, and probably still is a safer choice at the time.

P.S. We also have SVG [w3.org] (Scalable Vector Graphics) to consider.

I always use whichever format gives the smallest file for the picture quality I want.

I'm with uncle_bob on this one. My goal is to utilize whatever is going to give me the smallest file size while still maintaining image quality. Most advanced graphic editing programs are going to give you the ability to do selective optimization of images. You can actually go in and select specific areas of the image and compress further than other areas of the image.

[pageoneresults]

Anyone know about the best file format for saving and the printing out photos?

Since my main forte is traditional graphics, there are two formats that are the best for print quality...

• .tif (Tagged Image Format - Raster Based)
  
• .eps (Encapsulated Postscript - Vector and Raster Based)

Both of these formats will normally invoke the Save As dialog when clicking a link from the web.

For print quality, you'll want those images in CMYK (Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black) format.