Which file format do I use?
I have to an extent understood the basics behind file
formats but I have never really grasped which is for what purpose. Through
trial and regular error I have gained an understanding of which file formats to
steer clear of and which the printer likes when it is time to print. As a rule
I tend to stick to the PDF as typically they seem to give the best general results
but for actual images what is the suitable format to use?
A bit of research has me understand that there are graphic
formats suitable for printing and those for on-screen viewing or online publishing and within each group
there are formats better suited to
particular tasks than others.
Generally use GIF, JPEG or PNG for online publishing and use
EPS and TIFF for print publishing.
More specifically a:
GIF is for simple Web
graphics having limited colours, they are very small fast loading graphics for
Web.
JPEG is best for photos when you need to keep file size
small, they are not suitable for images with text, large blocks of colour or
simple shapes as crisp lines will blur and colours shift.
PNG is a small file with no loss in quality.
EPS very suitable for high resolution printing of
illustrations though they are known to be a tricky format to work with
TIFF produces large files with no loss in quality.
This is a useful link to a more in depth understanding of
picture file types:
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