About image file formatsWhat are file formats? You may only understand graphic file formats as the particular extensions given to pictures or images when they are saved on any storage device. That's not bad guys, you've learnt your lessons well ... but image file formats are much more than those three letters following the name of the file (GIF, JPG, BMP, TIF ...). Those innocent letters just tell the format in which data is stored in a file. Forethemore this is the most important element determining the speed with which it can be read, the ease that applications will have to access it and also the space it takes up on your storage device. It's hard stuff and w'll try to avoid mathematical explanations whenever possible ( I don't like mathemtix. Do you? If love them you may find hidden treasures in the list of reference books below.). Althought it's a tough subject, you should understand it before going to the creative stage because this really matters when you'll have to save your work on your hard disk or wherever. So stay tuned and get ready with the aspirin... List of file formats : |