jpeg, which allows you to choose the amount of compression, and therefore the file size and quality, that you want. I always recommend editing and saving your photos in a lossless format, but when it is time to export them for the web I would use a common lossy format such as. The most popular lossless image formats are.

It’s not uncommon to come across both types when you are looking at photos on the web. And lossless images, which store an exact pixel-by-pixel representation of the image, but in doing so, require more space. Lossy images, which can be described as image formats that do not store a perfect copy of the original image and thus have smaller file sizes. The main difference between all of these image formats comes down to two things: compression and compatibility.Īll of the files I mentioned previously fall into two main categories. Other more advanced image editors (such as Adobe Photoshop) offer additional formats like. TechSmith Snagit will present you with options such as. Common Image File TypesĪfter you are done editing, you save it and you are prompted with a window that asks you what type of file would you like it saved as. The topics I am going to cover are how file types differ, common web sizes, vector versus raster art, and digital versus optical zoom.

But, which image file formats do you need? In my role as a video editor, I deal with graphics, videos, and images on a daily basis and have learned a lot about which ones work best for specific situations. You’ve grabbed the perfect screen shot or taken a photo, done a little editing, and now you need to get it out to the world.

High quality file formats for pictures