Understanding Image File Types 16-Dec-08

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Understanding Image File Types

This document describes a variety of file types for images and discusses the implications for use. In
the first two sections, the two standard formats used for Web images are discussed. In Section III,
the archival standard is discussed. In Section IV, three other formats are discussed.

Learn About
Section I: JPEG
Section II: GIF
Normal
Interlaced
Animated GIF
Section III: TIFF
Uncompressed
LZW Compressed
Group IV Compression
JPEG Compressed
Section IV: Other File Types
MrSID®
PNG
JPEG2000

Section 1: JPEG
JPEG (Joint Pictures Expert Group) is designed for compressing either full-color or gray-scale
images of natural, real-world scenes. It works well on photographs, naturalistic artwork, and
similar material. It may not be the best format to use for lettering, simple cartoons, or line
drawings. Web browsers support this format natively. Along with GIF, JPEG is the standard format
for Web images.

JPEG stores full color information: it stores 24 bits/pixel, which means it can store up to 16 million
colors. JPEG images display very well on monitors that support more than 256 colors.

The JPEG algorithm rearranges the image information into color and detail information,
compressing color more than detail because our eyes are more sensitive to detail than to color,
making the compression less visible to the naked eye. It sorts the detail information into fine and
coarse detail and discards the fine detail first because our eyes are more sensitive to coarse detail
than to fine detail.

JPEG is a standard lossy image compression algorithm. Lossy compression means that only a part
of the original information is still there when the file is uncompressed, although the user may not
notice any change.

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The degree of lossiness can be can be varied by adjusting compression parameters. This means
you can trade off file size against output image quality. Below are two sample JPEG images created
with Adobe Photoshop®. Figure 1 is a high-quality image with a size of 35kb, while Figure 2 is a
low-quality image with a size of 4.7kb.

Figure 1. High Quality JPEG with File Size of 35kb Figure 2. Lower Quality JPEG with File Size of 4.7kb

Notice the boxing effect in the low quality image in Figure 2. This is a characteristic of a JPEG
compression algorithm for high compression ratios. The low-quality representation is still very
faithful to the original photograph despite being compressed by an additional factor of four.

Section II: GIF

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) works best for images with only a few distinct colors, such as
line drawings and simple cartoons. GIF is useful for cartoon images that have less then 256-(28)
colors, grayscale images, and black and white text.

GIF, like JPEG, is a standard format for Web images. The primary limitation of a GIF is that it only
works on images with 8 bits per pixel or less, which means 256 or fewer colors. Most color images
are 24 bits per pixel. To store these in GIF format you must first convert the image from 24 bits to
8 bits. The conversion will result in a loss of data and a considerable degradation in quality.
Computer monitors that display only 256 colors or less display GIFs well.

GIF is a lossless image file format. With lossless compression, all of the data that was originally in
the file remains after the file is uncompressed. GIF compresses images using LZW compression.
LZW compression is named for the individuals who invented it, Limpel-Zev, Welch. It was originally
invented to compress text for transmission over telephone lines. This form of compression is a
lossless compression form with ratios varying depending on the color complexity of an image. The
compression rate decreases as the amount of information (number of bits) increases.

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Understanding Image File Types 16-Dec-08

There are three primary types of GIF images.

Normal

The GIF image data is stored sequentially. Notice in Figure 3 that the full color palette is not used.
The image was created in PhotoShop using the default palette of the 216 colors used by all Web
browsers. You can achieve much better results using GIF with a custom or adaptive palette similar
to the one used in Figure 4.

Figure 3. GIF With A Web Safe Palette Figure 4. GIF with an Adaptive Palette

Interlaced

With interlaced GIFs, the lines of the image are not stored sequentially, but are interlaced. For
example, instead of storing lines 1 through 10 in order, it stores line 1 and then lines
3,5,7,9,2,4,6,8,10. This allows applications to display part of the image first and then fill in the
missing lines to complete the image.

Animated GIF

This allows you to store multiple GIF images in the same image file. Usually the images are
displayed sequentially over time, creating a small animation.

Section III: TIFF

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) has emerged as the standard archiving image file format for
library use. Its strengths are that the format is extensible -- new image types can be introduced
without invalidating older types—and portable -- it is independent of hardware and operating
system types.

There are many types of TIFF files; the most common ones are described below.

Uncompressed

Uncompressed TIFF images are stored in an uncompressed raw format. This is the basic format for
archival images because the data is left unchanged.

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LZW Compressed

This lossless format works the same as GIF; however, LZW compression in TIFF supports more
than 8 bits per pixel. This is a good choice for archival images because it offers compression
without any loss of data. Each bit is identical to the uncompressed version.

Group IV Compression

Group IV Compression is used to compress black and white images. It is commonly used to
compress documents for applications such as fax machines.

JPEG Compressed

This type uses JPEG compression and stores it in a TIFF file.

Section IV: Other File Types

Other electronic file types are used within Web pages and in archiving environments.

MrSID®

MrSID (Multi-resolution Seamless Image Database) is used in photography, mapping/GIS,

document management, medical imaging, and games. It is an image type that uses a lossy,
wavelet-based compression algorithm. It supports large files, tiling, and scalability in quality and
resolution. It works by putting together hundreds of small image tiles into one large seamless
image that can be compressed and decompressed with little or no degradation. For more
information, read the description on the Lizard Tech Web site, www.lizardtech.com.

PNG

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a file format for image compression. It was developed as a
patent free replacement for GIF (Unisys owns the GIF format). It provides a number of
improvements over the GIF format.

Like a GIF, a PNG file uses lossless compression. It allows you to make a trade-off between file size
and image quality when the image is compressed. Typically, an image in a PNG file can be 10 to
30% more compressed than in a GIF format. Like GIFs, you can make one color transparent, but
you can control the degree of transparency (this is also called "opacity"). Interlacing is supported
and is faster in developing than in the GIF format. Images can be saved using true color as well as
in the palette and gray-scale formats.

JPEG2000

JPEG2000 format is emerging as a standard for image compression. It provides much better image
quality at smaller file sizes than JPEG does. Based on wavelet compression, JPEG2000 offers both
lossless and lossy compression. JPEG2000 formats provide good image quality, even at very high
compression ratios such as 80:1. JPEG2000 creates scalable image files, which means that no
decompression is needed for reformatting.

Other new functionalities include region of interest coding, improved error resilience, resolution
scalability, random access or spatial scalability, and quality scalability. For more information, visit
www.jpeg2000info.com.

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