Image Formats

4 Different Types of Bitmap formats

What it is, what it does

JPG/JPEG - This image format is good for any images that have 256 bit colours or bigger which is ideal for average photographers. You have basic control of changing the compression percentage to reduce the size of the file however you feel is acceptable. JPEG is well known on the web for its good, efficient compression algorithm. Even though there is a reduction in quality due to its compression method, you can alter the level of intensity. Most wizards offer the options "mode" or "quality". The disadvantage of this compression is that it doesn't please real photography enthusiasts because you don't capture the raw data collected. There is a "RAW" format you can use instead which doesn’t reduce any data collected.

GIF – The respected audience that would use GIF’s is forum sites like Reddit where things are discussed or laughed at. GIF can animate, display slideshow of images to create a moving image. You can alter the timings for images so the pace can be varied. This format was the first of 3 formats which was used widely in the dial up days. Past improvements have been made to reduce the slight oversized file size with dithering and transparency. Anything can be changed in the export phase so it could be lossless without image degradation if set correctly. Ultimately this wouldn’t be suitable for newcomers since there is better compression methods that handle image sizes better. If you’re running very old systems then GIFs have a higher chance of running without problems. Bit depth colour isn’t too great with Gifs and it’s best to keep away if you’re deciding for a file format.

BMP – This format is a very old format previously used in the older versions of Windows, raster based images (pixel based) are a good fit for BMP files. “Bitmap Picture” was in full control by Microsoft Corporation by Version 3.0 and it was presently stable. This format was developed a long while ago meaning that the most basic abilities like grayscale doesn’t exist.