The difference between different types of saved files
Have you ever received a file and been confused about what you can do with it? Then we can help you because your definitely not alone. Here you can find a quick run through of the most common image, photo and design files that you may come across so you won’t ever be stuck scratching your head at an email attachment again.
Here are some of the most common image, photo and animation formats that you will come across via email.
JPEG
A JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is one of the most common image file types you’ll encounter on the internet due to its manageable sizes. It goes through a process called lossy compression which reduces the file size enough for everyday digital use. Lossy compression (as opposed to lossless compression) means that some of the detail of the image is lost as the file size is reduced, making the quality a little worse.
PNG
A PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a high-resolution file compression format. PNG files compress images without losing any detail or quality by grouping patterns together. They are often used on websites where good looks come above performance for example: photography, design and illustration websites.
GIF
A GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is an image file format that is used to make animations or images. GIFs use fewer colours than most image files, which in order helps to massively reduce the file size. They can be combine multiple different images into a single file, creating a short animation that plays on an endless loop.
TIFF
A TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) images are files that don’t lose any quality or detail. TIFF files are rare, as their file size is too big for most websites to handle. As well as image, photo and animation attachments you may come across Digital Design files. Digital design has its own set of file types which most of the time can only be used with the software they were originally created with (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign). This means that if you receive any of the below, you’ll need the Adobe Suite to open them.
PSD
A PSD file is created using Adobe Photoshop and can be anything from edited photos, to graphics for websites or social media. PSDs include all the individual layers used to create an image so they can be accessed and edited later. But this means PSDs must be converted to JPEG or PNG before being used by anyone apart from designers.
AI
An AI file is created using Illustrator which is one of the Adobe Suite design tools and again can only be opened using this program. Illustrator is often used to make website graphics and illustrations.
INDD
A INDD file is a native to Adobe InDesign Software which is used to lay out everything from books, newspapers, magazines, flyers and even websites.
EPS
A EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) file are mostly used when designing vectors which are special graphics that can be scaled to any size without distorting or pixelating the image. EPS files can only be accessed by using Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop and these are commonly used when creating large-scale visuals, such as banners or window displays.
If you would prefer to download this article for future refrence cick the button below.