File formats
- 2. What is a file format? A file format is a choice you get when saving work. For example if you are going to save an Indesign document you can be given the choice in what sort of file format you want to save it under. If you are just looking for a viewing format to check it from time to time the best and most common format is the JPEG. Looking at the Image you can see there are lots of formats to choose from but the most common and most well known is of course the JPEG. GIFs are suited to certain formats usually done in 30 FPS. “There are wide variety of different file formats (PSD,RIF, BMP, JPG and so on” This image is a simple picture of showing the amounts of file formats and where you can find them.
- 3. What are the most common image file formats used in design based work? Like I mentioned in the previous slide the most common file format used worldwide is the ‘JPEG’ format but there are other well known formats that can be used to open the work. Each format has it’s own features and pros and cons. “This type of file is processed by the camera’s computer” There are other formats for example the next best known formats are (raw, jpeg, tiff, psd, png and gif) These are the following most well known file formats. Of course the next one people would recognise would either be Gif or PSD. Gifs was first used on websites banners to help with advertisment. The above image just basically shows 12 of the most popular file formats. These are the most common and easiest to use.
- 4. What are the benefits and constraints of each file format? Pros: JPEG: Small file sizes easy to use if you plan on having multiple images. They are easily accessed on the internet. Raw: Close to same at Tiff but less space used. Retains all quality for more severe editing. Cons: JPEG: The image is reduced down to an 8 bit image chanel. Every save of the same Jpeg deteriorates the image over time. Raw: Have to be converted to something else before using. Very big file sized one of the biggest of all formats.
- 5. Pros and cons (Cont…) Pros: Tiff: Don’t lost any image data when using this format. Once find something to edit on it makes it clearly easy to edit. PSD: You can layer images and add or remove parts of the image easy. Easy to edit images on and more effective. Cons: Tiff: Very large file. Makes it hard to send on emails. Hard to find software that edits it clearly. PSD: File size can be very large if the image has high resolution and layers. Very hard to know if it a large file or not until you try transferring it.
- 6. Pros and cons (Cont…) Pros: Png: Can be used for 24bit colour. Which is better than most other formats. Very good for editing and makes image clearer than most other formats. Gif: Can use over 256 shades of colours without losing data space. Still useful for advertising. Cons: Png: Makes big image sizes even larger so avoid using on large images. Could get confused with Tiff they both seem very similar. Gif: Can have a very large file size usually larger than Png. Most people take it as a joke nowadays than they did before memes became mainstream.
- 7. Typically, what kind of design work would each type be used for (Print, interactive, moving image, exhibition)? Most of the format types would be used for different types of the 4 stated above. Some for example PSD can be used if you want to edit anything for an article ranging to newspaper front pages. PSD has multiple uses. Typically any of the formats could be used with any of the above 4. Examples given could be for pictures or picture frames you might want one edited for you so (PSD). The exception would be GIF since it is a moving image, so moving image would suit that one. There are multiple types of formats dozens of them of course I’ve only listed 6 and are only going to talk about 6. All 6 can be used in different methods. I mainly use JPEG when I want to save an image and use it for work or for my desktop wallpaper. Typically most of the formats would be used for interactive except for the ones I have mentioned. Except Gifs and PSD. PSD would graphic design because of the layers. Tiff and raw would be for photography because of their high resolution.
- 8. What is the difference between a raster and vector image? Raster: Raster images are mainly always saved as Tiff and Jpegs any image you acquire on the internet is made on many many pixels. If you was to stretch the image too much is will go all pixelated and blurry. Raster images are basically any image you get on the web any image you save from the internet is always raster. Even if you put the vector image on the web it will become pixelated making it a raster image. “begins to pixelate when magnified at high percentages”. Vector: The main use of vector images are any images that are made on formats that do not involve photographs. Example given will be a face you have drawn in paint that would be a vector image if you zoom in it will show no pixels. The comparison between raster and vector is that raster involve photographs and the internet whereas vectors are mainly used for birthday cards or billboards. Vector images can only be transported by saving in the same format of which you created them in.
- 9. Vector & Raster These 2 images are showing what a vector is and that it is compared to the raster image. This is a good example. This image shows the same as a comparison and a raster image. The comparison image is a very good image to use.
- 10. What is a metafile? A metafile is a piece of graphical information in a certain format that can be transferred between systems or programs and will allow it to open. The metafile will hold multiple pieces of data and allow it to be able to be opened and transferred. There are multiple examples of metafiles the most common one i seem to find is CGM(computer generated metafile) this can be used on multiple platforms whereas. WMF is only operational on windows.It should say metafile companion at the top of the monitor if it has worked. The images i have used to help show metafile are good images. They look very similar and have been opened up on different software since that is what makes the image a metafile image.
- 11. What type of work would they be for? Some of the file formats are quite easy to guess what they would be for for example a PSD file would be used for photoshop and the JPEG file format would be for people who take images from the internet maybe if you wanted a new desktop wallpaper or you wanted to take some memes from the internet all of the images would be JPEG. Photographers would use TIFF and also RAW since the RAW file comes from the camera itself and the easiest thing to transform it to would be TIFF. I have stated other uses of file formats in the ‘pros and cons’ slides. There are very limited software that does not accept file formats many of the formats are just what they got processed into when they are taken for example RAW is only around because that's what it comes from the camera the chance you get most people change it to a TIFF or JPEG so that the file is not too big. The smaller the size the easier it will be to transfer from source to source if it is a JPEG it can be used on near enough all softwares.
- 12. Compare the file formats It is straightforward what the different file formats are by now. The Raw is different the the JPEG format because RAW is the largest file format whereas the JPEG file format is used just for the internet basically. The PSD is different the RAW since if you used a RAW file on photoshop ti would be so difficult to move it around and then exporting the image would take hours. Whereas if it gets adapted to the PSD it is easier to export and open since it would of been taken down in size and makes it around photoshop.
Editor's Notes
- #3: The complete animation course (Chris Patmore) Pages 106-107. Digital Manga workshop (Jared Hogdes) Pages 42-43.
- #4: Complete photography course (John Garrett & Graeme Haris) Pages 24-35
- #5: http://www.graphicrating.com/2009/05/01/gif-jpg-and-png-file-formats-pros-and-cons/
- #9: Graphic design school (David dabner) Pages 70-71
- #11: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/metafile