| File Extn. |
Full Form |
Type |
Bit Depths |
More Info |
Applications |
| GIF |
Graphics Interchange Format |
bitmap |
1 - 8 |
Popular format for creating still
and animated images for the web. |
Popular image editing
softwares:
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe PhotoDeluxe
Corel Photo-Paint
Corel Painter
MGI PhotoSuite
Micrografx Publisher
Microsoft Paint
Paint Shop Pro
Ulead PhotoImpact
Popular illustration softwares:
Adobe Illustrator
CorelDRAW
Macromedia Freehand
Creature House Expression
Microsoft Draw
Serif DrawPlus
Quark XPress
Animation & presentation softwares:
Macromedia Flash
Gif Animator
Microsoft Powerpoint
|
| JPEG |
Joint Photographic Experts Group |
bitmap |
up to 24 |
Designed for maximal image compression. Is used
extensively for the web. |
| CDR |
CorelDRAW |
vector |
24 |
Native format to the popular design
application program, Corel Draw. |
| AI |
Adobe Illustrator format |
vector |
- |
Native format to the popular design
application program, Adobe Illustrator. |
| PSD |
Photoshop |
bitmap |
1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 |
Native format to the popular design
application program, Photoshop. |
| PDF |
Portable Document Format |
bitmap/ vector |
1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 |
Is the format of Adobe Acrobat documents. It
is in essence a Postscript file and as such can contain high quality
vector and raster information or be reduced for use on the web. |
| CGM |
Computer Graphics Metafile |
metafile |
1 > 32 |
Used by manufacturing industries for technical publishing and
Intranet applications. Also oil exploration - seismological graphics. |
| BMP, DIB |
Windows Bitmap |
bitmap |
1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 |
Considered the standard Windows file
format. |
| PNG |
Portable Network Graphics |
bitmap |
1 - 48 |
Concieved as a GIF replacement with many
advantages, import/export by applications limited but becoming more
common. |
| PCD |
Photo-CD |
bitmap |
24 |
Proprietary format, contains 5 image
sizes (6 in Pro form). |
| PCT, PICT |
Macintosh PICT |
metafile |
1 - 24 |
Native to Apple operating system. |
| TGA |
Targa |
bitmap |
8, 16, 24, 32 |
For storage of 24 and 32-bit truecolour
images. |
| SVG |
Scalable Vector Graphic |
vector |
24-bit colour |
Drawn by a drawing engine in real time from
instructions written in ASCII text i.e. not a bitmap. |
| EPS |
Encapsulated PostScript |
metafile, PDL |
1 |
PostScript level 2 adds compression
(including JPEG). |
| TIF, TIFF |
Tagged Image File Format |
bitmap |
1 - 24 |
Number of subtypes can cause conversion
difficulties, lossy (JPEG) compression added in version 6. |
| WMF, EMF |
Windows Metafile |
metafile |
1 - 24 |
The standard Windows graphics format -
supported by most Windows applications. |
| PCX |
PC Paintbrush |
bitmap |
1, 4, 8, 24 |
Often used as an interchange format. |
| PIC |
Lotus 123 |
vector |
6 colours |
Lotus 123 specific. |
| DXF |
AutoCAD |
vector |
256 colours |
Often used by/for CAD type applications
but can cause import difficulties. |
| DRW |
Micrografx Designer/Draw |
vector |
24 |
Native format to the popular design
application program. |
| HPG HPGL,PLT |
Hewlett-Packard Graphics
Language |
vector |
|
A format commonly used on plotters. |
| WPG |
Wordperfect Graphics |
metafile |
256 colours |
Used mainly for graphs, tables and
charts. |
| FIT |
Flexible Image Transport
System |
metafile |
unlimited greys |
Used as an interchange formats (e.g.
astronomical data). |
| SPF |
Still Picture Interchange
File Format |
bitmap |
1 - 24 |
The 'official' JPEG, incorporates many
more features than the standard JPG format. |
| QXD |
Quark XPress document |
metafile |
1 - 24 |
This is particular to Quark and only opened by that program. It works
as a Postscript output format. |
| FLA/SWF |
Macromedia Flash format |
- |
- |
Creates animated, vector-based Web content. |
| PPT |
Microsoft Powerpoint format |
- |
- |
Creates presentations for various purposes. |
