Entry

How do I choose an image format?

Dec 3rd, 2004 02:21
Tania Glover, Matt Gregory,

When choosing an image format, there are several questions you should 
ask yourself:
What am I going to do with the image?
Is this a production or a design release?
Will I be porting it between platforms?
Examples:
  You want to create an image for use in Web Pages, so size is an 
issue 
and browser support is important, but you want to maintain excellent 
asthetic appeal.
  the three choices here would be png, jpeg and gif.  To choose the 
best image look at the specific strengths and weaknesses of each one.
  You want a loss-free high-quality image for use as a backgroud or to 
print out, but you can't send it to friends if they can't view the 
format.  Your choices are somewhat limited in this one.  You could go 
with Jpeg on full or high quality but then some people will have 
trouble turning it into a background.  If layering isn't an issue I 
would leave it as an uncompressed bitmap.
  If you are working with a production image (unreleased) then always 
save at highest quality.  If you are using photoshop then keep the 
image in .psd format.  Otherwise, save your image in another format 
which maintains layer and history information.
Reference Url:
http://www.superfineprinting.com