Now when you open , save , import or export anything in Photoshop one thing always matter that is their Format.
Formats means type of file, sometime some formats open in only specific software only. Like .psd file only opens in Photoshop for re edit. But sometime these formats can be import in other software, like .ai files of adobe illustrator can be import in photoshop.
Every format has an extension. like Photoshop has its extension .psd.
Every extension starts with DOT “.” just like .psd, .ai, .max etc as they are written with file name like an image named as flower of JPEG format so its name will be flower.jpg
Regular formats used in Photoshop are:-
- PSD is format of Photoshop file in which you will save all your working so that you can re-edit it anytime .These files are also called as master files. Only disadvantage of these files are that they are really big in size.
- JPEG is widely used image format. You can see it becomes default format in digital media. It is most favorable format for sharing pics on web. Whether it is photo sharing websites or facebook. Advantage of this format is that it is compressed so low on size but on other hand downfall is also same that as it is compressed you have to compromise with the quality.
- PNG is another important format in today’s media world. As it has transparent background it is very effective format in editing. As it has transparent background you can save your clip arts in it or you need png pics to merge multi pics easily. We will use it many time in coming tutorials.
Biggest advantage over JPEG is that it compress image with lossless file format so that you can save it multiple times without losing quality.
Its Disadvantage in web media is that it is not supported by old browsers, but you can ignore this as if you are making media for today’s and future technology. - GIF is older format than jpeg also. It is first choice for web graphics but not for web photos as it can only display 256 colors.
For Web Designing it is for sure that GIF is #1 as it is suited for banner and buttons , it is small in file size and supported by all popular browsers.
It supports transparency but not like PNG it supports one level transparency means either it is fully transparent or fully opaque so because of this image get harsh impression. - PDF – To share files and document it is very popular format. It is like electronic document folder.
Graphic Formats in Detail :
BMP – It is a simple way to save images. BMP is also called as Microsoft Windows Bitmap. It is saved in large grid of dots. It save up to 24 bits images. So that it save in small size. BMP images saved as .bmp extension.
TIFF – These days TIFF became a popular format specially in page layout applications. Its full forms is Tagged Image File Format. It is used to exchange high quality raster images in programs , including scanning. Most of the graphic programs support TIFF format. Its extension is .tiff .
PCX – In childhood we all used paintbrush, but very less people know about its format or extension. PC original paintbrush format is PCX. It is popular to save low quality images with less size. As its color pallet is limited to 256 colors so its file is smaller in size. its extension is .pcx .
GIF – Its full form is Graphic Interchange Format. It is popular in sending and sharing graphics. It is limited to 256 color palette. Color palette is adjustable and include those colors which is required by image. It does not support alpha channel means transparency. .gif is its extension.
JPEG – Full form of JPEG is joint Photographic Experts Group. It retains all color information in an image. It usually used on net to save images with continuous tone. It compress image in that way so that file size remain low. It saves only vital information to reduce file size. It support CMYK , RGB and Grayscale color modes. It doesn’t support alpha channel, means no transparency in images. JPEG file extension is .jpg .
PNG – is another important format in today’s media world. As it has transparent background it is very effective format in editing. As it has transparent background you can save your clip arts in it or you need png photos to merge multi photos easily. We will use it many time in coming tutorials.
- Biggest advantage over JPEG is that it compress image with lossless file format so that you can save it multiple times without losing quality.
- Its Disadvantage in web media is that it is not supported by old browsers, but you can ignore this as if you are making media for today’s and future technology.
- Its extension is .png
PICT – PICT contains both bitmap and vector data. But its is mostly use in Macintosh computers.
