FormatsFile Formats

7/28/2019 FormatsFile Formats

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File Formats

JPEG

The JPEG file is an image file and one of the most common types of

picture formats as the size of compression can be adjusted. A JPEG filewill typically achieve 10:1 compression. It has been used since 1992 .

A JPEG file will not define which colour encoding is being used for theimage. Also when a file is converted into a JPEG some of the informationin the image will become lost. The JPEG file will also no support imagelayers and flatten the file. Finally the JPEG file will only support 8 bitimages, which causes many issues as most digital cameras can operatebetween 12 16 so when the file is converted to a JPEG certaininformation is lost yet again.

Advantages of using a JPEG file is that it has a very small memory sizeand due to it being able to support the 24 bit colouring it enables you tohave access to over 16.7 million different colours. The JPEG format has a

compression level that can be adjusted from a scale of 100 different values. When using a lowcompression level the files size will be reduced however the quality of the File will remain close tothe original image.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)

The TIFF format is a format that often saves 8 bits to 16 bits per colorbeing red, green or blue, for 24-bit to 48-bit totals, Some digital camerascan save in TIFF format. However TIFF image format is not widelysupported by web browsers. TIFF remains widely accepted as aphotograph file standard in the printing industry. TIFF can handle devicespecific colour spaces, such as CMYK defined and OCR.The bad thing with TIFF file formats is that they have quite a large memory

and use a lot more space than JPEGS, Digital cameras will not be able tosave as many photos in the native TIFF format, another problem with itshuge size is that because of this you may not be able to send the imagethrough an email.TIFF files do not use compression by default, one of the big advantages ofthis is that there is no loss of image detail when you save the file. Anotheradvantage of TIFF files is that they can be edited with most image editingsoftware such as Photo Shop.

TIFF was created as an attempt to get desktop scanner vendors of the mid 1980s to agree on acommon scanned image file format instead of having each company promote various format files.At the start TIFF started as an binary image format because that was all that desktop scannerscould handle at the time. These days TIFF is a popular format for high color-depth images.


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GIF

It was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 to provide a color image format for file downloading.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is limited to an 8-bit palette which is equivalent to256 colors reducing the graphic quality of the image by a great amount. The GIFformat file supports animation images and is used to provide image animation effects.

One of it main disadvantages is the large size of it which brings up a lot of issues whentrying to upload to the Internet or even saving.An advantage of GIF files is they support images containing a degree of transparency,This makes them better for images like icons or logos that need transparentbackgrounds to be displayed correctly. Also Gif files are animations, this is where ituses picture after picture in quick succession to make it seem as if it is moving when inactual fact its just the picture changing.

PDF

The PDF image format was created in the early 1990s as a new way to share documents, early

versions of the PDF file did not have support for external hyperlinks reducing the formats usefulness

on the web.

Some advantages of PDF files are; They offer a high resolution in images in a fairly small

file format, they are suitable where specialised fonts are used or needed and PDF are good

for manuals and forms due to the layout which will recreate your original document.

Some disadvantages are the user must have a plug in called Adobe Reader installed in

order to access the document, if the file is too large it can take a longer time than most things to

download and range from a quick 1-2 minutes to 5-10 minutes and finally the PFD documents are

often formatted to print vertical whilst most monitors are generally horizontal which leads to users

scrolling much more than often.


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RAW (Raw Image Format)

The Raw file format was by created for the need to provide long term publication for long term

document projects. It was founded by Photojournalist Brenda Ann Kenneally and Laura Lo Forti in

2007.

There is no single RAW file format, each camera company createsthey own RAW format and in some cases have a different format per

camera type which can cause problems if you are planning to buy a

new camera and can cause problems for their editing if their

software isnt as up t date with the camera.

The RAW file is larger than the JPEG file ranging from 2-6 times as

big which means it will take up a lot of space and be unable to take as

many pictures per second as it needs more time to save.

RAW files are unable to be printed as they are not supported by

printers and require you to convert them into compatible software

before printing such as JPEGS.

The advantages of a RAW file is due to it being a big file it carries more detail than a standard JPEG.Also the camera settings in the camera are not applied to RAW files which will prevent the wrong

camera settings such as contrast being applied to the image.

WMF (Windows Metafile)

The WMF is a image file designed for Microsoft Windows during the 1990s, The WMF is intended for

transfer between applications which may contain bitmap components and vector graphics.

Advantages of the WMF file is that it works well with Office, they can be resized without any

distortion and can be large images with a small amount of memory.

A disadvantage of the file is only a few applications support the direct editing of a Metafile.

PGF (Progressive Graphic File)

The PGF file was created to replace the JPEG format and was developed in the year 2000.

The advantages a PGF file has is that it has a superior compression performance compared to other

formats like the JPEG, it possesses multiple resolution representation which means with this there is

no need for separately stored images and it has progressive transmission. Due to the hierarchical

structure of the DWT a progressive refinement process with

scalable resolution can be integrated naturally.

FITS (Flexible Image Transport System)

FITS is and digital image file format which is used to store and

transmit scientific images making it the most used file format in

astronomy. It was fist standardized in 1981 and has been

updated since then. Unlike most of the image formats FITS is

primarily designed for scientific data and includes lots of

provisions for describing spatial and photometric information.


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