Digital Graphics File Formats

Ross Hardman

Raster Graphics

• Raster Graphics are made up of Bitmaps.• Bitmapped images have a fixed resolution

which means that resizing can result in distortion.

Vector Graphics

• Vector Graphics are made up of start and end points, with curves, points and angles between them.

• Vector Graphics can be scaled as big or small as needed as they have no loss of definition.

• Vectors are perfect for logos as small as a business card or as big as a billboard.

Raster Graphics

JPEGStands For Joint Photographic Expert Group

Used For/Example JPEGs can be used for photographs and web formats, photos on social networking applications are JPEGs.

Advantage Very difficult to find a software programme which doesn’t support JPEGs

Disadvantage JPEGs lose quality with multiple edits due to compression and recompression each time its edited.

TIFFStands For Tagged Image File Format

Used For/Example Desktop publishing (popular with graphic designers)

Advantage Adobe InDesign documents saved as TIFFs can save multi-page documents to a single TIFF file

Disadvantage Uncompressed TIF images can take up a lot more space than a JPEG, this means digital cameras can not save as many photos in the TIFF format

GIFStands For Graphics interchange format

Used For/Example A series of images played one after another in a loop to create the appearance of a video.

Advantage Short digital animations, usually on the internet, mainly for entertainment purposes.

Disadvantage Don’t really have a purpose outside humour.

BMPStands For Bitmaps Image File

Used For/Example Same uses as TIFF and JPEG files.

Advantage No loss of compression when changing the image size.

Disadvantage Has a large file size so has the same disadvantages as TIFF files.

Vector Graphics

PSDStands For Photoshop document

Used For/Example Used for image manipulation like the front cover of magazines.

Advantage Saves layers, page formatting information, swatches etc.

Disadvantage Supports transparency, so you don’t know how much the image has been edited.

AIStands For Adobe Illustrator Art

Used For/Example Logo creation as well as graphics to represent a company.

Advantage Can be scaled big and small as vectors have no loss in definition.

Disadvantage Couldn’t find any

FLAStands For Flash File

Used For/Example Used to create animation and games.

Advantage Can produce high quality files with a small file size.Can include sound and video.

Disadvantage Flash files don’t work on IPhone or IPad

WMFStands For Windows Metafile

Used For/Example Used for logos.

Advantage Can be scaled big or small with no loss of compressionHave components of both Bitmaps and Vectors

Disadvantage Has come across many vulnerabilities since 2005

File Format Capture and Optimising

CompressionDefinition Lossy compression is the way in which

files sizes are reduced by reducing the amount of information that is saved.

Advantage Can help fill pages with desired images.

Disadvantage Images become more pixelated as they are compressed.

Image CaptureMethod Scanner

How is it used for image capture of graphics

Can digitise physical images like sketches, physical products or mixed media products

Method CameraHow is it used for image capture of

graphicsTaking pictures.

Method Graphics TabletHow is it used for image capture of

graphicsPiece of technology that allows you to control the mouse like a pen allowing for enhanced control of drawing etc

OptimisingWhy would you optimise? Images that have been uploaded to the

internet to ensure easy viewing on the web.

How can you optimise? Reducing image size Reducing bit depthReducing resolutionCompressing images

Advantage to optimising Allows for easy image viewing on the web.

Disadvantage to optimising The larger the file size the longer the download time.