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                               Image file format

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   This article is about digital image formats used to store photographic and
   other images. For disk-image file formats, see Disk image. For digital
   file formats in general, see File format.
   Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
   "Image format" redirects here. For the camera sensor format, see Image
   sensor format.

   Image file formats are standardized means of organizing and storing
   digital images. An image file format may store data in an uncompressed
   format, a compressed format (which may be lossless or lossy), or a vector
   format. Image files are composed of digital data in one of these formats
   so that the data can be rasterized for use on a computer display or
   printer. Rasterization converts the image data into a grid of pixels. Each
   pixel has a number of bits to designate its color (and in some formats,
   its transparency). Rasterizing an image file for a specific device takes
   into account the number of bits per pixel (the color depth) that the
   device is designed to handle.

Contents

     * 1 Image file sizes
     * 2 Image file compression
     * 3 Major graphic file formats
          * 3.1 Raster formats
               * 3.1.1 JPEG/JFIF
               * 3.1.2 JPEG 2000
               * 3.1.3 Exif
               * 3.1.4 TIFF
               * 3.1.5 GIF
               * 3.1.6 BMP
               * 3.1.7 PNG
               * 3.1.8 PPM, PGM, PBM, and PNM
               * 3.1.9 WebP
               * 3.1.10 HDR raster formats
               * 3.1.11 HEIF
               * 3.1.12 BAT
               * 3.1.13 Other raster formats
               * 3.1.14 Container formats of raster graphics editors
          * 3.2 Vector formats
               * 3.2.1 CGM
               * 3.2.2 Gerber format (RS-274X)
               * 3.2.3 SVG
               * 3.2.4 Other 2D vector formats
               * 3.2.5 3D vector formats
          * 3.3 Compound formats
          * 3.4 Stereo formats
     * 4 References

Image file sizesEdit

   The size of raster image files is positively correlated with the number of
   pixels in the image and the color depth (bits per pixel). Images can be
   compressed in various ways, however. A compression algorithm stores either
   an exact representation or an approximation of the original image in a
   smaller number of bytes that can be expanded back to its uncompressed form
   with a corresponding decompression algorithm. Images with the same number
   of pixels and color depth can have very different compressed file size.
   Considering exactly the same compression, number of pixels, and color
   depth for two images, different graphical complexity of the original
   images may also result in very different file sizes after compression due
   to the nature of compression algorithms. With some compression formats,
   images that are less complex may result in smaller compressed file sizes.
   This characteristic sometimes results in a smaller file size for some
   lossless formats than lossy formats. For example, graphically simple
   images (i.e. images with large continuous regions like line art or
   animation sequences) may be losslessly compressed into a GIF or PNG format
   and result in a smaller file size than a lossy JPEG format.

   For example, a 640 × 480 pixel image with 24-bit color would occupy almost
   a megabyte of space:

           640 × 480 × 24 = 7,372,800 bits = 921,600 bytes = 900 KiB

   With vector images the file size increases only with the addition of more
   vectors.

Image file compressionEdit

   There are two types of image file compression algorithms: lossless and
   lossy.

   Lossless compression algorithms reduce file size while preserving a
   perfect copy of the original uncompressed image. Lossless compression
   generally, but not always, results in larger files than lossy compression.
   Lossless compression should be used to avoid accumulating stages of
   re-compression when editing images.

   Lossy compression algorithms preserve a representation of the original
   uncompressed image that may appear to be a perfect copy, but is not a
   perfect copy. Often lossy compression is able to achieve smaller file
   sizes than lossless compression. Most lossy compression algorithms allow
   for variable compression that trades image quality for file size.

Major graphic file formatsEdit

   Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
   See also: Comparison of graphics file formats § Technical details

   Including proprietary types, there are hundreds of image file types. The
   PNG, JPEG, and GIF formats are most often used to display images on the
   Internet. Some of these graphic formats are listed and briefly described
   below, separated into the two main families of graphics: raster and
   vector.

   In addition to straight image formats, Metafile formats are portable
   formats which can include both raster and vector information. Examples are
   application-independent formats such as WMF and EMF. The metafile format
   is an intermediate format. Most applications open metafiles and then save
   them in their own native format. Page description language refers to
   formats used to describe the layout of a printed page containing text,
   objects and images. Examples are PostScript, PDF and PCL.

  Raster formatsEdit

   Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
   Further information: Raster graphics

    JPEG/JFIFEdit

   JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a lossy compression method;
   JPEG-compressed images are usually stored in the JFIF (JPEG File
   Interchange Format) file format. The JPEG/JFIF filename extension is JPG
   or JPEG. Nearly every digital camera can save images in the JPEG/JFIF
   format, which supports eight-bit grayscale images and 24-bit color images
   (eight bits each for red, green, and blue). JPEG applies lossy compression
   to images, which can result in a significant reduction of the file size.
   Applications can determine the degree of compression to apply, and the
   amount of compression affects the visual quality of the result. When not
   too great, the compression does not noticeably affect or detract from the
   image's quality, but JPEG files suffer generational degradation when
   repeatedly edited and saved. (JPEG also provides lossless image storage,
   but the lossless version is not widely supported.)

    JPEG 2000Edit

   JPEG 2000 is a compression standard enabling both lossless and lossy
   storage. The compression methods used are different from the ones in
   standard JFIF/JPEG; they improve quality and compression ratios, but also
   require more computational power to process. JPEG 2000 also adds features
   that are missing in JPEG. It is not nearly as common as JPEG, but it is
   used currently in professional movie editing and distribution (some
   digital cinemas, for example, use JPEG 2000 for individual movie frames).

    ExifEdit

   The Exif (Exchangeable image file format) format is a file standard
   similar to the JFIF format with TIFF extensions; it is incorporated in the
   JPEG-writing software used in most cameras. Its purpose is to record and
   to standardize the exchange of images with image metadata between digital
   cameras and editing and viewing software. The metadata are recorded for
   individual images and include such things as camera settings, time and
   date, shutter speed, exposure, image size, compression, name of camera,
   color information. When images are viewed or edited by image editing
   software, all of this image information can be displayed.

   The actual Exif metadata as such may be carried within different host
   formats, e.g. TIFF, JFIF (JPEG) or PNG. IFF-META is another example.

    TIFFEdit

   The TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format is a flexible format usually
   using either the TIFF or TIF filename extension. The tagged structure was
   designed to be easily extendible, and many vendors have introduced
   proprietary special-purpose tags – with the result that no one reader
   handles every flavor of TIFF file. TIFFs can be lossy or lossless,
   depending on the technique chosen for storing the pixel data. Some offer
   relatively good lossless compression for bi-level (black&white) images.
   Some digital cameras can save images in TIFF format, using the LZW
   compression algorithm for lossless storage. TIFF image format is not
   widely supported by web browsers. TIFF remains widely accepted as a
   photograph file standard in the printing business. TIFF can handle
   device-specific color spaces, such as the CMYK defined by a particular set
   of printing press inks. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software
   packages commonly generate some form of TIFF image (often monochromatic)
   for scanned text pages.

    GIFEdit

   The GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is in normal use limited to an 8-bit
   palette, or 256 colors (while 24-bit color depth is technically
   possible).^[1]^[2] GIF is most suitable for storing graphics with few
   colors, such as simple diagrams, shapes, logos, and cartoon style images,
   as it uses LZW lossless compression, which is more effective when large
   areas have a single color, and less effective for photographic or dithered
   images. Due to GIF's simplicity and age, it achieved almost universal
   software support. Due to its animation capabilities, it is still widely
   used to provide image animation effects, despite its low compression ratio
   compared to modern video formats.

    BMPEdit

   The BMP file format (Windows bitmap) handles graphic files within the
   Microsoft Windows OS. Typically, BMP files are uncompressed, and therefore
   large and lossless; their advantage is their simple structure and wide
   acceptance in Windows programs.

    PNGEdit

   The PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file format was created as a free,
   open-source alternative to GIF. The PNG file format supports eight-bit
   paletted images (with optional transparency for all palette colors) and
   24-bit truecolor (16 million colors) or 48-bit truecolor with and without
   alpha channel – while GIF supports only 256 colors and a single
   transparent color.

   Compared to JPEG, PNG excels when the image has large, uniformly colored
   areas. Even for photographs – where JPEG is often the choice for final
   distribution since its compression technique typically yields smaller file
   sizes – PNG is still well-suited to storing images during the editing
   process because of its lossless compression.

   PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF (though GIF is itself now
   patent-free) and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color,
   grayscale, and truecolor images are supported, plus an optional alpha
   channel. The Adam7 interlacing allows an early preview, even when only a
   small percentage of the image data has been transmitted. PNG can store
   gamma and chromaticity data for improved color matching on heterogeneous
   platforms.

   PNG is designed to work well in online viewing applications like web
   browsers and can be fully streamed with a progressive display option. PNG
   is robust, providing both full file integrity checking and simple
   detection of common transmission errors.

   Animated formats derived from PNG are MNG and APNG, which is backwards
   compatible with PNG and supported by most browsers.

    PPM, PGM, PBM, and PNMEdit

   Netpbm format is a family including the portable pixmap file format (PPM),
   the portable graymap file format (PGM) and the portable bitmap file format
   (PBM). These are either pure ASCII files or raw binary files with an ASCII
   header that provide very basic functionality and serve as a lowest common
   denominator for converting pixmap, graymap, or bitmap files between
   different platforms. Several applications refer to them collectively as
   PNM ("Portable aNy Map").

    WebPEdit

   WebP is an open image format released in 2010 that uses both lossless and
   lossy compression. It was designed by Google to reduce image file size to
   speed up web page loading: its principal purpose is to supersede JPEG as
   the primary format for photographs on the web. WebP is based on VP8's
   intra-frame coding and uses a container based on RIFF.

   In 2011,^[3] Google added an "Extended File Format" allowing WebP support
   for animation, ICC profile, XMP and Exif metadata, and tiling.

   The support for animation allowed for converting older animated GIF to
   animated WebP.

   The WebP container (i.e., RIFF container for WebP) allows feature support
   over and above the basic use case of WebP (i.e., a file containing a
   single image encoded as a VP8 key frame). The WebP container provides
   additional support for:

     * Lossless compression – An image can be losslessly compressed, using
       the WebP Lossless Format.
     * Metadata – An image may have metadata stored in EXIF or XMP formats.
     * Transparency – An image may have transparency, i.e., an alpha channel.
     * Color Profile – An image may have an embedded ICC profile as described
       by the International Color Consortium.
     * Animation – An image may have multiple frames with pauses between
       them, making it an animation.^[4]

    HDR raster formatsEdit

   Most typical raster formats cannot store HDR data (32 bit floating point
   values per pixel component), which is why some relatively old or complex
   formats are still predominant here, and worth mentioning separately. Newer
   alternatives are showing up, though. RGBE is the format for HDR images
   originating from Radiance and also supported by Adobe Photoshop. JPEG-HDR
   is a file format from Dolby Labs similar to RGBE encoding, standardized as
   JPEG XT Part 2.

   JPEG XT Part 7 includes support for encoding floating point HDR images in
   the base 8-bit JPEG file using enhancement layers encoded with four
   profiles (A-D); Profile A is based on the RGBE format and Profile B on the
   XDepth format from Trellis Management.

    HEIFEdit

   The High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) is an image container format
   that was standardized by MPEG on the basis of the ISO base media file
   format. While HEIF can be used with any image compression format, the HEIF
   standard specifies the storage of HEVC intra-coded images and HEVC-coded
   image sequences taking advantage of inter-picture prediction.

    BATEdit

   BAT was released into the public domain by C-Cube Microsystems. The
   "official" file format for JPEG files is SPIFF (Still Picture Interchange
   File Format), but by the time it was released, BAT had already achieved
   wide acceptance. SPIFF, which has the ISO designation 10918-3, offers more
   versatile compression, color management, and metadata capacity than
   JPEG/BAT, but it has little support. It may be superseded by JPEG 2000/DIG
   2000: ISO SC29/WG1, JPEG – Information Links. Digital Imaging Group, "JPEG
   2000 and the DIG: The Picture of Compatibility."

    Other raster formatsEdit

   This list (which may have dates, numbers, etc.) may be better in a         
   sortable table format. Please help improve this list or discuss it on the  
   talk page. (May 2021)                                                      

     * BPG (Better Portable Graphics) - an image format from 2014. Its
       purpose is to replace JPEG when quality or file size is an issue. To
       that end, it features a high data compression ratio, based on a subset
       of the HEVC video compression standard, including lossless
       compression. In addition, it supports various meta data (such as
       EXIF).
     * DEEP - IFF-style format used by TVPaint
     * DRW (Drawn File)
     * ECW (Enhanced Compression Wavelet)
     * FITS (Flexible Image Transport System)
     * FLIF (Free Lossless Image Format) – a discontinued lossless image
       format which claims to outperform PNG, lossless WebP, lossless BPG and
       lossless JPEG 2000 in terms of compression ratio. It uses the MANIAC
       (Meta-Adaptive Near-zero Integer Arithmetic Coding) entropy encoding
       algorithm, a variant of the CABAC (context-adaptive binary arithmetic
       coding) entropy encoding algorithm.
     * ICO - container for one or more icons (subsets of BMP and/or PNG)
     * ILBM - IFF-style format for up to 32 bit in planar representation,
       plus optional 64 bit extensions
     * IMG (ERDAS IMAGINE Image)
     * IMG (Graphics Environment Manager (GEM) image file) - planar,
       run-length encoded
     * JPEG XL - started in 2017, supports both lossy and lossless
       compression, claims to outperform legacy JPEG, PNG, GIF
     * JPEG XR - JPEG standard based on Microsoft HD Photo
     * Layered Image File Format - for microscope image processing
     * Nrrd (Nearly raw raster data)
     * PAM (Portable Arbitrary Map) - late addition to the Netpbm family
     * PCX (PiCture eXchange) - obsolete
     * PGF (Progressive Graphics File)
     * PLBM (Planar Bitmap) - proprietary Amiga format
     * SGI
     * SID (multiresolution seamless image database, MrSID)
     * Sun Raster - obsolete
     * TGA (TARGA) - obsolete
     * VICAR file format - NASA/JPL image transport format
     * XISF (Extensible Image Serialization Format)

    Container formats of raster graphics editorsEdit

   These image formats contain various images, layers and objects, out of
   which the final image is to be composed

     * AFPhoto (Affinity Photo Document)
     * CD5 (Chasys Draw Image)
     * CPT (Corel Photo Paint)
     * KRA (Krita)
     * MDP (Medibang and FireAlpaca)
     * PDN (Paint Dot Net)
     * PSD (Adobe PhotoShop Document)
     * PSP (Corel Paint Shop Pro)
     * SAI (Paint Tool SAI)
     * XCF (eXperimental Computing Facility format, native GIMP format)

  Vector formatsEdit

   Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
   Further information: Vector graphics

   As opposed to the raster image formats above (where the data describes the
   characteristics of each individual pixel), vector image formats contain a
   geometric description which can be rendered smoothly at any desired
   display size.

   At some point, all vector graphics must be rasterized in order to be
   displayed on digital monitors. Vector images may also be displayed with
   analog CRT technology such as that used in some electronic test equipment,
   medical monitors, radar displays, laser shows and early video games.
   Plotters are printers that use vector data rather than pixel data to draw
   graphics.

    CGMEdit

   CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) is a file format for 2D vector graphics,
   raster graphics, and text, and is defined by ISO/IEC 8632. All graphical
   elements can be specified in a textual source file that can be compiled
   into a binary file or one of two text representations. CGM provides a
   means of graphics data interchange for computer representation of 2D
   graphical information independent from any particular application, system,
   platform, or device. It has been adopted to some extent in the areas of
   technical illustration and professional design, but has largely been
   superseded by formats such as SVG and DXF.

    Gerber format (RS-274X)Edit

   The Gerber format (aka Extended Gerber, RS-274X) is a 2D bi-level image
   description format developed by Ucamco. It is the de facto standard format
   for printed circuit board or PCB software. ^[5]

    SVGEdit

   SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an open standard created and developed
   by the World Wide Web Consortium to address the need (and attempts of
   several corporations) for a versatile, scriptable and all-purpose vector
   format for the web and otherwise. The SVG format does not have a
   compression scheme of its own, but due to the textual nature of XML, an
   SVG graphic can be compressed using a program such as gzip. Because of its
   scripting potential, SVG is a key component in web applications:
   interactive web pages that look and act like applications.

    Other 2D vector formatsEdit

     * AFDesign (Affinity Designer document)
     * AI (Adobe Illustrator Artwork)
     * CDR (CorelDRAW)
     * DrawingML
     * GEM metafiles (interpreted and written by the Graphics Environment
       Manager VDI subsystem)
     * Graphics Layout Engine
     * HPGL, introduced on Hewlett-Packard plotters, but generalized into a
       printer language
     * HVIF (Haiku Vector Icon Format)
     * Lottie
     * MathML
     * NAPLPS (North American Presentation Layer Protocol Syntax)
     * ODG (OpenDocument Graphics)
     * !DRAW, a native vector graphic format (in several backward compatible
       versions) for the RISC-OS computer system begun by Acorn in the
       mid-1980s and still present on that platform today
     * Precision Graphics Markup Language, a W3C submission that was not
       adopted as a recommendation.
     * PSTricks and PGF/TikZ are languages for creating graphics in TeX
       documents.
     * QCC, used by Quilt Manager by Quilt EZ for designing quilts.
     * ReGIS, used by DEC computer terminals
     * Remote imaging protocol
     * VML (Vector Markup Language)
     * Xar format used in vector applications from Xara
     * XPS (XML Paper Specification)

    3D vector formatsEdit

   This section may contain material unrelated or insufficiently related to   
   the topic of the article; the off-topic material is the topic of another   
   article, List_of_file_formats#Computer-aided_design. Please help improve   
   this section or discuss this issue on the talk page. (May 2021) (Learn how 
   and when to remove this template message)                                  

     * AMF – Additive Manufacturing File Format
     * Asymptote – A language that lifts TeX to 3D.
     * .blend – Blender
     * COLLADA
     * .dgn
     * .dwf
     * .dwg
     * .dxf
     * eDrawings
     * .flt – OpenFlight
     * FVRML – and FX3D, function-based extensions of VRML and X3D
     * glTF - OpenGL Transfer Format
     * HSF
     * IGES
     * IMML – Immersive Media Markup Language
     * IPA
     * JT
     * .MA (Maya ASCII format)
     * .MB (Maya Binary format)
     * .OBJ Wavefront
     * OpenGEX – Open Game Engine Exchange
     * PLY
     * POV-Ray scene description language
     * PRC
     * STEP
     * SKP
     * STL – A stereolithography format
     * U3D – Universal 3D file format
     * VRML – Virtual Reality Modeling Language
     * XAML
     * XGL
     * XVL
     * xVRML
     * X3D
     * .3D
     * 3DF
     * .3DM
     * .3ds – Autodesk 3D Studio
     * 3DXML
     * X3D – Vector format used in 3D applications from Xara

  Compound formatsEdit

   Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
   See also: Metafile

   These are formats containing both pixel and vector data, possible other
   data, e.g. the interactive features of PDF.

     * EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)
     * PDF (Portable Document Format)
     * PostScript, a page description language with strong graphics
       capabilities
     * PICT (Classic Macintosh QuickDraw file)
     * WMF / EMF (Windows Metafile / Enhanced Metafile)
     * SWF (Shockwave Flash)
     * XAML User interface language using vector graphics for images.

  Stereo formatsEdit

     * MPO The Multi Picture Object (.mpo) format consists of multiple JPEG
       images (Camera & Imaging Products Association) (CIPA).
     * PNS The PNG Stereo (.pns) format consists of a side-by-side image
       based on PNG (Portable Network Graphics).
     * JPS The JPEG Stereo (.jps) format consists of a side-by-side image
       format based on JPEG.

ReferencesEdit

    1. ^ Andreas Kleinert (2007). "GIF 24 Bit (truecolor) extensions".
       Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
    2. ^
       Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
       Philip Howard. "True-Color GIF Example". Archived from the original on
       22 February 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
    3. ^
       Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
       Arora, Vikas (3 October 2011). "WebP-Mux (RIFF based container)
       framework". Google Groups. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
    4. ^
       Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
       "WebP Container Specification". Google Developers. Retrieved 4 April
       2020. CC-BY icon.svg  Text was copied from this source, which is
       available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
       License.
    5. ^
       Link: mw-deduplicated-inline-style
       "Gerber File Format Specification". Ucamco.
   Retrieved from
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   Last edited on 11 February 2022, at 21:02
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