B.F.A.Final Year Students. Notes: by Prof.

Vijay Kherde ( Rachana Sansad )

As we keep building on old image technology, types of file formats keep piling up, each with their own nuances and uses. JPG, PNG, and GIF have become the most common, but what sets them apart from each other? These formats have become the most popular because of their compatibility with modern browsers, broadband speeds, and the needs of average users. Join us as we take a detailed look at each format, and cover the strengths and weaknesses of each. JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) JPG was a filetype developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) to be a standard for professional photographers. Like the method ZIP files use to find redundancies in files to compress data, JPGs compress image data by reducing sections of images to blocks of pixels or tiles. JPG compression has the unfortunate side effect of being permanent, however, as the technology for the file was created for storing large photographic image files in surprisingly small spaces, and not for photo editing. PGs have become the de facto standard image of the internet because they can be compressed so much. A typical JPG can be compressed at a ratio of anywhere from 2:1 to as high as 100:1, depending on your settings. Particularly back in the days of dial-up internet, JPGs were the only viable way to send image information. However, because of the lossy nature of JPG, it is not an ideal way to store art files. Even the highest quality setting for JPG is compressed, and will change the look of your image, if only slightly. JPG is also not an ideal medium for typography, crisp lines, or even photographs with sharp edges, as they are often blurred or smeared out by anti-aliasing. What is potentially worse, is that this loss can accumulatesaving multiple versions of artwork can cause degradation with every save. Even so, it is common to see these things saved as JPG, simply because the filetype is so ubiquitous. The Joint Photographic Experts Group developed lossless JPG technology to combat this serious problem of quality degradation. However, because of dial-up speeds and general lack of interest in high quality non-degrading files, the JPG-LS standard never caught on. JPGs support 24-bit RGB and CMYK, as well as 8-bit Grayscale. I personally do not recommend using CMYK color spaces in JPGs. Its also important to note that Grayscale JPGs do not compress nearly as much as color ones do. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) GIF, like JPG, is an older filetype, and one generally associated with the internet as opposed to photography. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format and employs the same lossless LZW compression that TIFF images use. This technology was once controversial (for patent enforcement issues) but has become an accepted format since all patents have expired. IF is by nature an 8-bit color file, meaning they are limited to a palette of 256 colors, which can be picked from the RGB color model and saved to a Color Look Up Table (CLUT), or simply Color Table. There are, however, standard color palettes, like the Web Safe palette. An important note is that Grayscale images are by nature an 8-bit palette, so saving them as GIF is fairly ideal. Apart from support for transparency, GIF also is supports animations, limiting every frame to 256 preselected colors.

While GIF is not lossy like JPG, conversion to 8-bit color distorts many images, using dither filters to optically blend, or diffuse, colors, similar to halftone dots. This can radically alter an image for the worse, or, in some cases, be used to create an interesting effect. Because of this non-lossy format, GIF can be used to keep tight lines on typography and geometric shapes, although these things are better suited to vector graphic files like SVG or the Adobe Illustrator native format, AI. GIF is not ideal for modern photography, nor image storage. At small sizes with very limited color tables, GIF images can be smaller than JPG files. But at most ordinary sizes, JPG compression will create a smaller image. They are largely useful only to create dancing babies or to sometimes create rough transparencies. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics (or, depending on whom you ask, the recursive PNG-Not-GIF). It was developed as an open alternative to GIF, which used the proprietary LZW compression algorithm discussed earlier. PNG is an excellent filetype for internet graphics, as it supports transparency in browsers with an elegance that GIF does not possess. PNG supports 8-bit color like GIF, but also supports 24-bit color RGB, like JPG does. They are also non-lossy files, compressing photographic images without degrading image quality. PNG tends to be the biggest of the three filetypes and isnt supported by some (usually older) browsers. In addition to being an excellent format for transparency, the non-lossy nature of 24-bit PNG is ideal for screenshot software, allowing pixel for pixel reproduction of your desktop environment. 24-bit JPG Compressed, 8-bit GIF, 8-bit PNG, Full Quality 24-bit JPG, and 24-bit PNG. Note that the file sizes increase in this same direction.PNG is the largest image type for bigger images, often containing information you may or may not find useful, depending on your needs. 8-bit PNG is an option, but GIF is smaller. Neither are optimal options for photography, as JPG is much smaller than lossless PNG with only minimal loss of quality. And for storage of high resolution files, JPG compresses to tiny proportions, with quality loss only visible on close inspection. In short: PNG is good option for transparency and non-lossy, smaller files. Larger files, not so much, unless you demand non-lossy images. GIF is largely a novelty and only useful for animation, but can produce small 8-bit images. JPG is still the king for photographs and photo-like images on the internet, but be careful, as your file can degrade with every save. Vector graphics: is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics. Vector graphics formats are complementary to raster graphics, which is the representation of images as an array of pixels, as is typically used for the representation of photographic images.[1] There are instances when working with vector tools and formats is the best practice, and instances when working with raster tools and formats is the best practice. There are times when both formats come together. An understanding of the advantages and limitations of each technology and the relationship between them is most likely to result in efficient and effective use of tools. SWF: Macromedia Shockwave Flash Movie. SWF pronounced swif is a file format for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript in the Adobe Flash environment.[2] Originating with FutureWave Software, then transferred to Macromedia, and then coming under the control of Adobe, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function.

Currently, SWF functions as the dominant format for displaying "animated" vector graphics on the Web. It may also be used for programs, commonly browser games, using ActionScript. SWF files can be generated from within several Adobe products: Flash, Flash Builder (an IDE) and After Effects, as well as through MXMLC, a command line application compiler which is part of the freely available Flex SDK. Other than Adobe products, SWFs can be built with open source Motion-Twin ActionScript 2 Compiler (MTASC), the open source Ming library, the free software suite SWFTools, the proprietary SWiSH Max2. There are also various third party programs that can produce files in this format AVI: video clip type- Audio/Video Interleaved movie clip open with your media player, IE, or Firefox. Audio Video Interleave (also Audio Video Interleaved), known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback. Like the DVD video format, AVI files support multiple streaming audio and video, although these features are seldom used. Most AVI files also use the file format extensions developed by the Matrox OpenDML group in February 1996. These files are supported by Microsoft, and are unofficially called "AVI 2.0". BMP: Microsoft bitmap open in MS Paint or graphics program. The BMP File Format, also known as Bitmap Image File or Device Independent Bitmap (DIB) file format or simply a Bitmap, is a Raster graphics image file format used to store bitmap digital images, independently of the display device (such as a graphics adapter), especially on Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems.The BMP File Format is capable of storing 2D digital images of arbitrary width, height, and resolution, both monochrome and color, in various color depths, and optionally with data compression, alpha channels, and color profiles TIFF: Tagged Image File format graphic file editable in graphics program Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated TIFF) is a file format for storing images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry,[1] and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems. Originally created by the company Aldus[2] for use with what was then called "desktop publishing", the TIFF format is widely supported by image-manipulation applications, by publishing and page layout applications, by scanning, faxing, word processing, optical character recognition and other applications.[3] Adobe Systems, which acquired Aldus, now holds the copyright to the TIFF specification. TIFF has not had a major update since 1992, though several Aldus/Adobe technical notes have been published with minor extensions to the format, WAV: Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or more commonly known as WAV due to its filename extension), (also, but rarely, named, Audio for Windows Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is an application of the RIFF bitstream format method for storing data in "chunks", and thus is also close to the 8SVX and the AIFF format used on Amiga and Macintosh computers, respectively. It is the main format used on Windows systems for raw and typically uncompressed audio. The usual bitstream encoding is the linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM) format.