All About File Formats
Mr. Butler
John Jay High School
Department of Technology
Why Study File Formats?
Important to recognize which formats
should be used with the appropriate
task
Your not wasting your time spending
hours working in the wrong file format
Help understand the different file
formats and help you choose the right
one for each project
Native file formats
Native file formats
When you save a document in the
same format as the program you’re
working in.
Ex. If you save a Photoshop image as a
Photoshop file (instead of as a TIFF of
JPEG).
Non-Native file formats
The type of file formats that each
software program can create or accept
Sometime you cannot open new files
in old programs
Ex. Using Microsoft Word XP at school
and trying to open it at home using
Microsoft Word 98
Non-Native file formats
Exporting or saving as non-native file formats
Export a file or Save As with a different
name and format
Importing and opening non-native file formats
Importing – bringing a non-native file into an
existing page of an application
May also be called insert, Get Picture, Place
Open – just as if it was its own native format, some
programs may just open it!
File Formats that Photoshop
can open on a Mac
TIFF files
TIFF files
TIFF is an acronym for Tagged Image
File Format
Is a raster (bitmapped) file format
Almost every raster program, such as
image editing or paint programs, can
save as TIFF’s and can be import TIFF’s
TIFF is also the best format to use
between Windows and Macintosh.
Scanning as TIFF
TIFF was originally created for
scanning
LZW compression
Compression means the information in
the file is squished so the file takes up
less disk space.
There are two generic types of compression:
Lossy – some data in the files is lost
Lossless – no data is lost during compression
LWZ stands for Lempel, Ziv, and Welch (the
three creators of compression)
EPS files (vector)
Encapsulated PostScript
DCS files
DCS files
The DCS format is an acronym for
Desktop Color Separation
DCS was developed by Quark to allow
programs to read CMYK files correctly.
PICT files
PICT files (Macintosh)
PICT is short for “picture”
Created by Apple for images on the
first Macintosh systems
A PICT file can contain both vector
and raster information
BMP files
BMP files (Windows)
Windows has a BMP format (windows
Bitmap)
BMP files are primarily used to create
the wallpaper images that fill the
background of the Windows screen
WMF files (windows)
The WMF stands for Windows Metafile
Is a vector format for use on the
Windows platform
Should only be used with multimedia
programs (only when needed)
GIF files
GIF file format
GIF is an acronym for Graphical
Interchange Format
Pronounced “gif”, not “jif” because it
stands for “graphical”
GIF format can be displayed on any
computer
GIF was originally created by
CompuServe Online for transferring
images online
GIF file format
GIF images are found everywhere on
the World Wide Web
GIF image must use the Index color
mode, which has a maximum of 256
colors (8-bit)
PNG files
PNG file format
PNG is an acronym for Portable
Network Graphic
Pronounced “ping”
Similar to GIF
PNG files can support 24-bit color
(millions of colors) and transparency
without jagged edges
JPEG files
JPEG files
JPEG is an acronym for Joint
Photographic Experts Group
Pronounced “jay peg”
JPEG is a compression format that
makes images into smaller files
JPEG is a lossy compression
Many stock photo companies save their
images with JPEG compression
PDF files
PDF files
PDF is an acronym for Portable
Document Format
It is a compression scheme that
embeds, right within the file
All the necessary information to view a
single document is present:
Text, images, page breaks, fonts, etc.
Any Questions
Take a moment and finish up any blank
questions on your notes sheet.
