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What Impact Does File Format, Compression Techniques, Image Resolution and Colour Depth Have On File Size and Image Quality?

File format, compression, resolution, and colour depth impact file size and image quality. Lossy compression reduces file size most but lowers quality through lost information. Lossless compression maintains quality while moderately reducing size. Higher resolutions and colour depths provide better quality but larger file sizes due to storing more pixel information. The tradeoff is between smaller, lower quality files versus larger, higher quality files.

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163 views6 pages

What Impact Does File Format, Compression Techniques, Image Resolution and Colour Depth Have On File Size and Image Quality?

File format, compression, resolution, and colour depth impact file size and image quality. Lossy compression reduces file size most but lowers quality through lost information. Lossless compression maintains quality while moderately reducing size. Higher resolutions and colour depths provide better quality but larger file sizes due to storing more pixel information. The tradeoff is between smaller, lower quality files versus larger, higher quality files.

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What impact does file format,

compression techniques, image


resolution and colour depth have
on file size and image quality?
Contents
File Formats........................................................................................................... 2
BMP.................................................................................................................... 2
PSD..................................................................................................................... 2
GIF...................................................................................................................... 2
TIF....................................................................................................................... 2
JPEG.................................................................................................................... 2
File Size.................................................................................................................. 3
Different Compression Techniques.........................................................................3
Lossy.................................................................................................................. 3
Lossless.............................................................................................................. 3
Different Image Resolutions................................................................................... 4
Different Colour Depths......................................................................................... 4
Conclusion............................................................................................................. 6

File Formats
BMP
A bitmap graphic is composed of many tiny parts called pixels, which are often
many different colours. It is possible to edit each individual pixel. Since the
computer has to store information about every single picture in the image, the
file size of a bitmap graphic is often quite large. When you resize a bitmap
graphic it tends to lose quality as each individual pixel becomes more visible.

PSD
PSD files correspond with the programme Adobe Photoshop, PNG is the default
file type for the software. Unless the image is exported, it will be saved as a PSD.
These files tend to be large as they have to contain all the instructions about
how the image was created and developed using the software. Also, the file
format is limited for use on just Photoshop and cannot be used with any other
software.

GIF
GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. A gif is a bitmap image format that
was introduces by CompuServe in 1987 and has no come into widespread usage
on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability. The format
supports up to 8 bits per pixel for each image, allowing a single image to
reference its own palette of up to 256 colours for each frame. The palette
limitations make the GIF format less suitable for reproducing colour photographs
and other images with continuous colour, but it is well-suited for simpler images
such as graphic s or logos with solid areas of colour.

TIF
TIFF stands for Tag Image File Format. TIFF is a computer file format for storing
raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry,
and photographers. The TIFF format is widely supported by image-manipulation
applications, by publishing and page layout options. And by scanning, faxing,
word processing, optical character recognition and other applications.

JPEG
JPEG is a file extension for a lossy graphics file. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic
Experts Group. JPEG files have 2 sub-formats, JPG/Exif (often used in digital
cameras and photographic equipments), and JPG/JFIF (often used on the World
Wide Web). The JPEG standard specifies the codec, which defines how an image
is compressed back into an image, but not the file format used to contain that
stream. The Exif and JFIF standards define the commonly used formats for
interchange of JPEG-compressed images. A JPG file consists of a sequence of
segments, each beginning with a marker, each of which begins with a 0xFF byte
followed by a byte indicating what kind of marker it is. Some markers consist of
just those two byes; others are followed by two bytes indicating the length of
marker-specific payload data that follows.

File Size

The file format has a dramatic effect on the file size of the image. This is
demonstrated above. The PNG-24 file format has a size of 306.1K, 56 sec @ 56.6
Kbps. The JPEG file format has a size of 38.49K, 8 sec @ 56.6 Kbps. The GIF file
format has a size of 72.11K, 14 sec @ 56.6 Kbps.

Different Compression Techniques


Lossy
Lossy compression techniques eliminate certain information that is deemed as
unnecessary, this means that a small part of the original information is no longer
there after compression. This type of compression is mostly used for video and
sound files, where a small about of information missing will not be detected by
the user. Using lossy compression of an image may result in jagged edges and
pixelated areas, common in JPEG files. However, lossy compression can reduce
the file size by up to 80%, as the file has lost some information, however this is
usually unnoticeable.

Lossless
Lossless is the opposite of lossy. It compresses the file without eliminating any
information from the file and reducing the quality. Lossless compression rewrites
3

the original information of the file in a more efficient way, only reducing the file
size slightly. For example, a file compressed using lossy compression may be one
tenth the size of the original, while lossless compression is unlikely to produce a
file smaller than half of the original size. Lossless compression is mostly used
when the file will be used online, as it maintains its quality while reducing the file
size, even if it is just slightly.

Different Image Resolutions


Image resolution refers to the number of pixels an image contains. It is a general
rule of thumb that the higher the image quality, the larger the file size will be,
this explains why some file formats that provide higher quality images have
larger file sizes. Image resolution has to be good, especially if the image is used
professionally. If an image with a low resolution is printed onto a large poster, the
image may appear pixelated and slightly blurry.

Different Colour Depths


Colour depth refers to the number of bits per pixel on a computer monitor that
represents a specific colour. The higher the colour depth the higher the colour
variety and quality of the monitor.
16-bit colour this format uses just 2 bytes to store the information, one for
colour, one for shade. This supports a total of 65,536 colours.
24-bit colour this format stores the red, green and blue for each individual
pixel, giving a total of 16,777,216 colours.
32-bit colour this format is also referred to as True Colour, it stores the red,
green and blue for each pixel but also stores the transparency information. This
gives the pixels the ability to range from fully opaque to fully transparent. This
format gives a total of 4,294,967,296 colours.

Format
2-bit

Original

Adapted

4-bit

8-bit

16-bit

32-bit

64-bit

128-bit

256-bit

Conclusion
To conclude, file format, compression techniques, image resolution and colour
depth have a great impact on the file size and resolution of an image, I have
shown this through numerous screenshots evidencing that the file size and
resolution is dependent on these. Each different file format has a range of
advantages and disadvantages, however when wanting a high resolution, this is
usually paired with a large file size. The different compression techniques have
an impact on the image resolution. The lossy technique tends to produce images
that have a low quality but a small file size, whereas lossless produces high
quality images but a large file size. The different colour depths also have an
impact on resolution and file size. The higher bit formats have a larger range of
colours, making the image resolution higher, but because of the large amount of
information stored for each pixel, the file size increases also.

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