Website Graphics
Undertanding Image Types

You have no doubt heard people talking about JPEG's GIF's and other images. But what does that mean and why do you need to know?

Image formats are different languages that make up the picture you actually see. Each format has limitations and unique properties that make it suitable for certain applications. But to read the image, your program must understand the language.

It would be nice if everyone in the world spoke english, but we know that is not the case. We can not even get everyone in the United States to speak english, so the hopes of having one image format is unlikely.

The problem is that when you take a picture or build a graphic you want everyone to be able to see it. However in many cases they would need the program you used to build it. Since everyone does not have the same program there are acceptable formats for web browsers that you must use.

Many people make the mistake of going and buying a graphics program for $10-$20 and the program makes cool images. But, they are PCX, PMB, JFT files and can not be converted to common file formats.

The only 2 formats that are 100% web compatible are JPEG and GIF images. Although some browsers can read PNG, BMP, ART and TIFF files, it is likely that most people will not be able to view those images. But just like language translators, images can be translated into different formats. Yes, sometimes things are lost in translation.

For example, saving a BMP image (Windows Bitmap) with 32,000 colors into a GIF image (Compuserve Bitmap) with only 256 colors will make the image look grainy and much less clear. Essentially it will be the same image, but with much less info and much smaller. There is never an exact translation, or everything would already be the same.

You can save the BMP image as a JPEG file and the image would be much more clear and incorporate all the colors of the original BMP. JPEG files are the standard for photos and digital cameras because they are compressable and allow great detail.

GIF images are low in quality however they allow multiple frames and can be displayed as a moving image. All of the animated clipart you see is GIF formated files. This is a varriation of the Windows Bitmap developed by Compuserve, one of the early internet service providers. GIF images also allow for transparent backgrounds. This makes it a good format for images that need to be placed over textured backgrounds or multiple colors.

The most important thing you need to know is that you really only have 2 options JPEG and GIF formats, so avoid other options and save your files as one of those 2.